UKC

PRODUCT NEWS: Alpkit Limited Edition Quickdraws

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 UKC Gear 04 Mar 2010
[Quickdraw McGraws, 3 kb]We've always wanted to do our own proper climbing gear, who wouldn't?

So we approached DMM to bash out a limited number of quickdraws for us to show we are serious about making serious gear.

And here they are: Alpkit McGraw's.

Fully spec'd DMM Prowires and dyneema slings, but with the Alpkit motif. Available as packs of 6 in either 12cm or 18cm, or as a mixed set of 12 with 5x12, 5x18 and 2x25cm.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=2550

In reply to UKC Gear:

Looking good!
Just ordered mine...
 Ewan Russell 08 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC Gear:
They look fantastic.
 gethin_allen 08 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC Gear:
I can't really see the point of these being made or people buying them over the standard DMM prowires. They are the same spec and price as standard DMM kit So these are for people who just want Alpkit stuff for the name or possibly the colour.
I've got a few alpkit items and have always been pleased with them and the sales support and turnaround times have been great but i've always thought that their aim was to produce quality cheap almost non-branded/home-brand stuff based on design and economical sourcing of materials etc. So just buying in something from a already well known producer and just sticking the Alpkit name on it and selling it just for the name seems wrong.
 nacnud 08 Mar 2010
In reply to gethin_allen: Because it's fun and they wanted too. You need more reasons?
 woolsack 09 Mar 2010
In reply to gethin_allen: Once you start getting into safety critical kit I'd rather know where it was coming from. I agree, I'm struggling to see the point of what they have done too though
In reply to woolsack:

Like they have said they want to start creating their own gear, and this is their way of starting off in this area of the market. Seems to be working fine so far.
 beardy mike 09 Mar 2010
In reply to The Green Giant: I think the point is they haven't "created" anything. The Prowire has been around for getting on for 10 years. It has been offered at the price of 8 pounds as an extender for at least 5. How is this anything new other than a rebranding exercise? There must be any number of companies who would be willing to create a karabiner for alpkit, including DMM. The reality is that tooling costs etc must be prohibitive for the creation of a new krab, so why bother if you can't compete in any meaningful way? Yeah it's a bit of fun, but come on, it's not really that fun is it? Now if they had marketed their "brick" chock, then we'd be cooking on gas...
 Blue Straggler 09 Mar 2010
In reply to gethin_allen:
> (In reply to UKC Gear)They are the same spec and price as standard DMM kit So these are for people who just want Alpkit stuff for the name or possibly the colour. So just buying in something from a already well known producer and just sticking the Alpkit name on it and selling it just for the name seems wrong.

I do see your point, but I think you've answered your own questions. They have already said they want to work with DMM and this is a limited run. The colour thing might swing a bit of business their way (aren't DMM prowires all blue/silver?)

It sounds like neither AlpKit nor DMM have finalised what their future arrangement might be, and they are just "seeing how it goes". Of course AlpKit aren't going to undercut DMM's prices on products made for them by DMM. Maybe there's a pipe dream of DMM branding its cheaper gear (do they a low-cost solid gate QD, for example?) as AlpKit, if it works out, and keeping the DMM name for the jazzier stuff? I dunno.
Don't forget, DMM don't do sleeping bags or roll mats or titanium mugs or rosewood chopsticks - maybe they fancy a bit of that action.
I'd quite like some orange QDs actually, might order some

As for the "buying them in", well that makes sense to me, and answers woolsack's point as well. AlpKit would struggle to break into the "safety-critical equipment" market on their own (just look at all the threads on this site asking "are Kong nuts any good? Is Quechua gear any good?" etc.
 beardy mike 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Blue Straggler: Oh behave. Kong is part of the same conglomerate as Cassin and CAMP, who are hardly trying to break into the market are they. Infact I seem to remember reading somewhere that as a whole that particular conglomerate is one of if not the largest producers of climbing equipment in the world. They're just not that well known in the UK... Quechua is hardly small either... Don't get me wrong but Alpkit is known for its good quality low cost equipment, mainly on the clothing and sleeping area. Personally if I were them I would be looking to do more of that rather than break into a market with small margins, high tooling and development costs etc...
 Blue Straggler 09 Mar 2010
In reply to mike kann:
> (In reply to Blue Straggler)

> [Kong] They're just not that well known in the UK... Quechua is hardly small either...


Oh I know that, sorry, I was just referring to the number of threads you get here asking about such-and-such brand that's either not well known in the UK, not well known for particular types of equipment, or both. I picked those two as random examples. I've got a fair amount of Kong wires (and the exact same wires can also be found branded as Zero G too....oh there's an example - the amount of people asking "are Zero G ropes safe?" )

So whilst we might say that Kong, Zero G etc have not made inroads into the UK market yet, I was saying that AlpKit have not made inroads into the "safety equipment" market yet, and appear to be trying to do this in some sort of partnership with a well established brand.

As for your final point...well AlpKit are clearly looking to spread their wings a bit. The bouldering mats were a slightly bold new venture for them iirc, as people had previously seen them as a place to get sleeping bags and down jackets. I'm sure that when they started out they pretty much announced that they were starting with "easy" products and hoping to expand into all sorts. But I dunno.

I'll leave the bunfight now
Alpnick 09 Mar 2010
In reply to everyone:

We are still focused on making quality, good value gear. This isnt going to change anytime soon. This product isn't meant to define any sort of new product line, remember as much as we are a brand we are also a shop. This is just one more thing that an outdoor shop can sell.
Although not an amazing saving "i think" we can still say we are the cheapest uk made quickdraw on the market. For some people the Alpkit name will be a plus and for many it would a minus, thats life.

There are probably 3 reasons that will work well for us doing them.
1) I get some new quickdraws
2) We can give to them climbers we sponsor
3) There great promo prizes

In the background we gain a little more experience selling specialist climbing gear, but this perhaps is a longer term project.

Cheers

Nick
 beardy mike 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Alpnick: I Nick - wasn't trying to be mean at all - I hope it goes well for you, just don't understand the logic that well... most shops try to avoid climbing gear because of the crappy margins
 popebenedictus 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Alpnick:

I think some people are reading too much into this.

I like the Alpkit "we did it because we wanted to" approach.
It's quite refreshing.

 Ewan Russell 09 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC Gear:
for the record I was being sarcastic.
 Mowglee 09 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC Gear: They look cool. If they're £8 I'd buy them just for being red.
 Beaker 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Blue Straggler:

> Maybe there's a pipe dream of DMM branding its cheaper gear (do they a low-cost solid gate QD, for example?) as AlpKit, if it works out, and keeping the DMM name for the jazzier stuff? I dunno.

Seems pretty sensible to me. Wild Country have Clog for their low-end gear, but DMM has no equivalent (at least that I'm aware of).


> Don't forget, DMM don't do sleeping bags or roll mats or titanium mugs or rosewood chopsticks - maybe they fancy a bit of that action.

Crux, a DMM partner (not sure the details of the financial/corporate arrangement there), makes clothing and sleeping bags - but yes, lots of gaps still there to be filled!

Alpnick 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Beaker:

I'm sure DMM have that well covered, they probably dont need us as means to enter the low end of the price spectrum. However they are also a contract manufacture, and make lots of bits for lots of companies.

The Crux/Dmm tie up looks like an ideal alignment. Dmm already have strong sales and distribution, why duplicate this if you have non competing brand.

Cheers

Nick






 gethin_allen 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Alpnick:
I think your three reasons fit fine, Giving them away as promo prizes and giving them to your sponsored climbers is an excellent way of getting your name around in a different area/market, and getting new kit is always good especially if it's free.
 Blue Straggler 09 Mar 2010
In reply to Alpnick:

Thanks Nick, and I'm sorry for speculating on what your business plans might be! I was just trying to defend AlpKit from everyone shouting "this is really stupid"
 thin bob 10 Mar 2010
In reply to UKC Gear: if I didn't have enough qd's I'd be in there! Two excellent british companies......and 'just because we wanted to' is fantastic.
Am still annoyed I never bought any Alpkit shoes
 Jody 15 Mar 2010
In reply to thin bob:

I just want to say that mine (12 bore) have just arrive and they look amazing ( maybe 'amazing' is a little over the top for a quickdraw, but 'good' didnt quite cut it).

A great krab on a great sling, a snazy colour, and for only 8.50€ each.

Also fantastic service, as they arived in Finland after 5 days (including a weekend) for only 6€ postage.

Kiitos!

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