Duotone WHAT'S NEW Magazine 2023

We’re living in fast changing times, where the future is quite hard to predict yet offering a lot of opportunities. The biggest challenge in the last 12 months for Boards&More have been problems in the supply chain. Startingwith shortage of rawmaterials, Covid shutdowns in factories and massive delays in shipments, made reliable planning impossible. Despite these problems, Duotone has reactedmost flexible and shown a double-digit growth in the last 12month. Apretty good success by every single employee involved. To safely steer through choppywaters, my key has always been a very agilemanagement and a lot of communication. Duotone Kiteboarding has always been on the forefront of innovation, now with three product segments, Originals, SLS and D/LAB, both bars with a brand-new update, a really cool split board, a youth Twintip and a youth Surfboard and more. Personally, for me the most impressive products in 2023 are the D/LAB kites. On my last holiday in Mauritius, I had the pleasure to use a Neo D/LAB pre-production kite. To be honest before using it, it was difficult for me to imagine a D/LAB Neo is really better compared to a SLS Neo - not even talking about the extra costs. After 10 days on D/LAB I just can say, I would definitely spend the money! It turns faster, drifts much better and has a better low end. I for sure had some sessions in One Eye, when the normal kite wouldn´t have worked. Truly magical sessions. Regarding the development of Duotone Kiteboarding for 2023 I believe 2023 will be a quite challenging year, we have to increase prices and at least at the moment, there is more than enough gear in the market. On the other hand, we still struggle to fulfill the full demand of the market for Duotone kites, which is a good sign for me that our products are highly requested. I think that our SLS & D/LAB technology really make a difference in performance, which gives us an advantage over the competition Duotone is having a huge revival of the Young Blood Camp. For Duotone the future of kiting is mandatory to get young people motivated to go kiting. The young blood camps should inspire young riders and also their parents to get involved in this amazing sport and lifestyle. Duotone Pro Centers took a rapid development in a very short time we cooperated with 9 centers, 2 more are soon to come. On target and vision of us is to grow the sport and with it, the community. Schools and centers are really important, because there a customer often has the first contact with kiting and our brand. This first contact often decides if people stay in kiting our not, stay with Duotone or not. Our target with Duotone Pro Centers and also ION Club is to give our customers the best possible experience, with up to date material, competent and safe teaching and a friendly ambiance. A dream would be to have qualified centers at each hot spot of kiting. We at Duotone love kiting, therefore we want to push all aspects of it even further! Starting with little details like a pigtail, to huge industry changing innovations like the D/LAB concept. We want to inspire all kiters from young to old to develop themselves with the academy, young blood camps and our partner centers. Especially in challenging times, this will make the difference and thrive Duotone further and further! T I L L E B E R L E 0 3 0 3