Duo Boards SUP 2024 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: 2024 SUP Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Duo Boards
Interviewee: Paolo Cesari - Product Manager and Graphic Designer

Carry overs were the go-to choice in 2023 to help clear the retailers & distributors existing inventories. Did the strategy pay out?
The DUO brand is completely different from all other boardsports brands. These are boards with an International Patent that are half rigid (in the planing part) and half inflatable and with a target not oriented towards top performance but towards ease, versatility and ease of transport: once the inflatable part has been deflated and folded, the board finds accommodation in a wheeled trolley bag that can fit in the trunk of a car, can be transported on a plane without excess size or can be stowed comfortably in a boat without creating excessive bulk. For this reason the products do not need to be changed every 1 or 2 years. In 2024 the Sup and Windsurf boards are the same as in 2022.

When do you think supply and demand will balance out and why?
Definitely oversupply. The search for the lowest price in production to obtain a greater sales margin has determined very high Minimum Order Quantities on the part of suppliers (almost always Asian) and if we combine the exaggerated production numbers compared to potential customers with the advent of brands that have practically sprung up out of nowhere without a history of boardsports behind him, the problem became apparent in all its gravity. Finding complete SUPs for less than €300 in large supermarket chains says a lot. After this commercial earthquake, only those with “sufficiently robust shoulders” and a credible story will survive and everything will start again, even if with lower numbers than in the past.

What is your product strategy for next season? Bold and fresh or a more cautious approach?
To answer this question I would return to the answer of the first one. The DUO collection was created to allow anyone to start and have fun once they have learned, being able to enjoy the convenience of a “foldable” product, with the peace of mind of not having a dangerous board as more than half of it is inflatable towards the nose but with performance very close to composite boards as the planing part is rigid and made exactly like the standard composite boards, with rockerlines specifically designed to guarantee excellent speed and maneuverability. Our policy of not renewing either the products or the graphics too often is proving successful, as there is no real risk of loss of value. Once you have experienced all the comforts of a DUO you will fall in love.

Which inflatable models are you pushing in 2024? Anything new in the technology/material front to report?
2024 is the year of the final explosion of foiling to the masses. We have two new models expressly dedicated to the discipline, the Foiler and the Plate (which has a further innovative and patented feature). The Wind and Windsup boards remain unchanged and both already have the possibility of being used with foils thanks to the double boxes combined with a Tuttle Box.

(hardboard brands only) How important is the hardboard category for your business? Which boards are still relevant in 2024?
We produce hardboards without inflatable parts only under our other brand, I-99 Cesare Cantagalli. Certainly the experience acquired in more than 40 years in the design of hardboards for all disciplines, from school boards to the most extreme funboards and racing, helps us in the development of the composite sections of our DUO boards. For this 2024 we are focusing a lot on our new Foiler and Plate jewels, but without ever neglecting the most multi-purpose board on the entire world market, the Windsup, which allows for 6 different disciplines.

How are you supporting retailers through this difficult period?
Not being an economically rich brand because we do not have large investors or holding companies behind us, as in some other cases, we have also started selling our products through a new online shop (tecnounlimited.com) which allows you to purchase all our productions for all the brands and honestly we are very satisfied with how it is going. Most stores have long since stopped taking pre-orders, which helped to better calculate production at the factories, lowering the risk of too many inventories. What we are proposing is the possibility of purchasing a board from the online shop and also sending it directly to the trusted shop, guaranteeing a profit margin without particular effort. We believe this solution can recreate or consolidate that trust in us and our products.

Key Products:

DUO WIND V2 129/140:
The evolution of new era in windsurfing. The new DUO WIND V2 Series are a true revolutionary innovation, which fit perfectly that ideal performance necessary to allow the board to stiffer for earlier acceleration planning, top speed control and carvings during speed jibes and turns… “just like a normal board”. All the footstraps and fin boxes are uniformly integrated into the fiberglass section, …“just like a normal board”. All the DUO WIND V2 Series are stowed away inside a trolley bag which can be carried as a backpack or pulled on its wheels… “added value compared to a normal board”. Size the bag : 130 x 80 x 15 cm.

Duo_windsup

DUO RIG Complete 5.3/6.3:
“windsurfing has never been so easy”, Together with the hardtail+inflatable Duo boards’ series, the DUO FUNCTIONAL RIG becomes the most versatile combination ever for your performance with very easy transport and hand carry.….in very few minutes, inflate, rig-up an be out there! The DUO FUNCTIONAL RIG comes available with a sail choice of a 6.3m. or 5.3m. made of Dacron and clear Mono-film. The short-batten system helps the sail light-weight and to be incredibly very fast rig & de-rig, immediately foldable and stowed on to its designed compact backpack together with the rig components. Our innovative MSS (mast-sleeveless-system) without the mast sleeve allow the DUO sail a super-light-feel and very easy handling on your water starting as well as standing up-haulling start-ups avoiding draining out water.

DUO FOILER:
The DUO collection has widen his original and exclusive Patent DUO Hard-Tail-Inflatable concept range to excel in the new Wing-foiling discipline. The New DUO FOILER 6’0”. and 6’6” are very compact and travel-friendly inflatable wing-foiling boards with equal (if not superior) performance ability of any composite board in the market. The moulded composite tail section of the board, made of high-density PVC and Carbon Fibers, guarantee the feel and response of the hydrofoil to your feet and the strength needed on the most stressed area where foil-box trucks and foot-straps inserts need to hold up heavy loads of pressure and torsions.

DUO_foiler_deck