Rou Chater chats to Iain Hannay the general manager of Ozone to see what makes the brand tick and where their values lie and why you should consider riding Ozone kites in the future. Find out all about it right here!

This issue we chat to Iain Hannay, General Manager at Ozone Kites about the brand, their core principles and why you should consider an Ozone kite as your next purchase. Born from a love of paragliding the brand has been in the sport since the very early days, using their own factory to produce all their equipment has some very distinct advantages, get to meet the rest of the team and find out what keeps them stoked on kitesurfing!

What is your core focus as a brand, and what do you think makes you different?

We are a product-focused, rider/pilot owned brand. Our goal has always been to create exceptional gear and to share memorable sessions with our friends and customers. 

Here at Ozone, we are the only brand that create all our products ourselves, instead of farming out the manufacture to OEM factories. This gives us a massive amount of control over the quality, design changes and production control of our products. By having our own factory (sharing it with our paragliding brand), we can focus on real changes in progression and maintain a healthy market place for all Ozone customers. 

Who makes up the main team behind the products and what experience do they have?

We are a small team of self driven individuals who are based all over the world. We are all connected to most of the processes from idea to delivery but we all have our own roles to keep us from going bonkers.

Torrin Bright – Product manager

Torrin started with Ozone as team rider and tester and now looks after the whole design and product process. Torrin still rides at a very high level in all disciplines and is involved in giving feedback on all products that come onto our range. 

Rob Whittall – Head designer

Rob has designed paragliders, speed wings, race kites, wave kites, snow kites all his life and has also flown paragliders and hang gliders at world champion level. Rob races motorcycles and so understands the needs for performance and quality in design.

Dominik Zimmermann – Assistant designer

Dominik started trimming kites during the early days of buggy racing and was a pioneer in the snowkiting world. His trimming skills and experience with performance has helped create some fast kites over the years. Dom won the gruelling snow kite race of Ragnarok when the first race foils came out.

Stu Yarrow – Assistant designer and CAD coder

Stu is a passionate snowkiter and paraglider pilot and is also an incredibly skilled code writer. Stu designed our single skin kite the Explore (now V2) for snowkiting and also writes all the code for our in house design software that we share with our paragliding company. Stu also was paramount in the implementation of our laser cutting machines in the factory last year.

Tibo Dos Santos

Tibo is our boards designer who has brought the knowledge of composites and moulding technology to our factory and a whole new board range for us two years ago. We now have a great knowledge of production outside of sewing which brings the ability for many new products in the pipeline. 

Then we have a team who brings these products to our network of distributors, dealers and schools.

Andy Banks – Graphic designer

Andy does all our graphic design on the kites, adverts and website, he is stretched between the product team and our marketing needs. Andy has been with us for 10 years, is based in Raglan in New Zealand and has brought to us 100s of designs over the years.

Hannes Burner – Customer and custom kite management

Hannes is based in Barcelona area and looks after all our custom kite projects, all our customer service issues and also helps with the general sales strategy and rides our products more than any of us. When he is not riding he stands up at his desk, no one has ever seen Hannes sitting down.

Ruben Lenten – Brand ambassador

Ruben has been working with us as a brand ambassador for two years now and has been driving our social media channels and organising a team program while recovering from his injury. We are all very much looking forward to having Ruben back where he belongs and that is flying high! 

David Tonijuan – marketing manager

David started with us this year as our marketing manager and due to his strong riding skills and many years of riding as a pro in the kite world he knows who to take a good shot, he knows all the best places to go and what it takes to make products look good in the market place. David is also on the cover of this magazine!

Matias Nombarasco – Order System and Website coding

Matias is a multi sportman and multi talented coder. When not paragliding, para-motoring or kiting Matias is working on the code of our bespoke B2B order system and also working on our website and is also a connection to the paragliding company as we share much of the code.

We also have 3 strong and passionate owners, Matt Taggart, Mike Cavanagh and David Pilkington who keep us all in check. Also an amazing team of logistics and accounting people in the paragliding office in France; Karine, Chloe and Isa.

Together, we are Ozone.

How much testing and product development goes into making a final product?

We don't change our models every year, as it doesn't give us enough time to properly develop all the kite models to have a significant benefit change for our customers. It takes us 2-4 years to develop each new model version. This method ensures whenever we release a kite it is ready for the market and more importantly the riders who will enjoy it.

Which product are you most proud of in your line and why?

That’s personal! I love the Chrono V4 for lightwind foiling as it has all the performance of the R1 V4, our legendary race kite, but it is easier to use. When the waves are on, and the wind is 30 knots, then there is nothing more pleasing than a 6m Reo V5 for hooning down waves.

What's the most challenging part of running your brand?

I guess the most challenging part would be keeping healthy communication between all of us, and to make sure we are all on the same page. Even though we are just a ten strong team, spread across five different countries, we are fortunate enough to have good set up and, most importantly, a reliable team of self-starting, passionate people.

What's the most rewarding?

The most rewarding part of my day is when our new product models get delivered, and the wind is on.

What does the future look like for Ozone, what innovations, different areas and new products are in the pipeline?

We are always working on something at Ozone and some projects make it onto the market, while others don't, but regardless, we still fuel our passion and curiosity. 

Can you describe who the typical Ozone rider might be? - By this, I mean the guy who buys your gear, who are you pitching yourselves too, not the pro riders.

I don't think there's a 'typical' Ozone rider, as we have such a broad range of kites and boards. We make sure that all our customers, who are into kite sports, can find a model in our range that suits their riding style and ambition.

We are basically pitching to customers we'd like to share a session with…

Why should someone choose you over another brand in the shop?

If you are looking for value for money; our kites hold their value longer as we have no closeout sales because we don't overproduce. 

If you are looking for performance; our design team and paragliding production facility give us the edge over most brands.

If you are looking for something specific; we have 17 models of kites to choose from!

If you are looking for an all-rounder; we have the Enduro V3; probably the best kite in the world.

What phrase best sums up the brand?

Inspired by Nature, Driven by the Elements.

Videos

Enduro V3 - You Define the Limit
Explore V2 - Expand Your Snowkiting Adventures
Our New Gear Is Finally Here
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!

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