Aqualung and Whites-What's it all Mean?

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Dive Right In Scuba 2

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Most recreational divers out there spend very little time trying to understand what goes on behind the scenes at the myriad of companies that manufacture the equipment that they use. Nor should they really, the stuff works and provides an amazing dive experience. Or should they? The acquisition of White’s manufacturing by Aqualung is one example that could be easily dismissed by many divers, but to most it really means something! This molding of two great the time honored entities stands to change the dive industry as we know it. The question is, how? Well, to understand it let’s take a quick look at the two companies.
White’s manufacturing started off in 1956 as a small dive shop in Canada that manufactured wetsuits and later went on to become the first manufacturer of drysuits in North America. Led By Frank White-the Son of the founder, the company boasts a strong research and development team of active divers who understand what the average diver wants and needs in a solid, well built drysuit. As an example of this, the team at White’s manufacturing saw an industry need for a more flexible and streamlined drysuit. This desire led them down the path of taking a drysuit shell and covering it with a thin neoprene skin that would take the brunt of the abuse a diver would put on it. This is how the “Fusion” drysuit was born and since then has become a staple of the drysuit industry.
Aqua-Lung has maintained its status as one of the longest lived and most well respected dive manufacturers out there. As I learned in my NAUI Scuba Diver course many moons ago, it was began in 1943 as a joint effort between two Frenchmen, a Navy Lieutenant named Jacques Cousteau and the engineer Emile Gagnon when they invented a self contained apparatus that allowed a man to breathe underwater. The units were marketed and sold from a sporting goods store in Southern California by Rene Bussoz. A few twists and turns later, the name Aqua-Lung was patented and the rest is as we say...history. Since that time Aqua-Lung has been constantly striving to stay at the cutting edge of the dive and watersports industry.
So, what does the synergy of these two powerhouses in the dive industry combining forces mean for you as the “diver in the water”? Well, as I see it this is the coming together of two companies with a solid background of research and development of some of the most advanced equipment out there. First, with White’s and their know how on dry goods and second to none manufacturing protocols as well as a team of active divers designing some of the most solid drysuits out there. Secondly Aqua-Lung with their longstanding reputation along with a commitment to producing the best and the most advanced products in today’s dive market. I’m confident that you would agree that there is quite a bit of opportunity for us to benefit from this!
 
Interesting post thank you. what interests me in the light of what you have wriiten above about active divers influencing production, is the size curve for the whites fusion (Woman's range) as well as the solafx from aqualung. I have found that for me personally, I dive a medium short usually, in the fx range i would have to take a large or XL to fit my build, which eaves a huge amount of spare leg for a short guy like me. The large short is not available in our market. On the whites fusion, i had several people fit a demo suit, where in the hip and eg area there was not enough room. again i am talking short people. Is this a problem in our market only or have you found the same?
 
I totally understand that the R&D power that Aqua-lung brings with it. However I am not sure if I like all of the consolidation. If we are talking about Aeris/Oceanic that were always 1 company but are now merging brands to a single line or Aqua-lung buying Whites. I think competition brings innovation. Yes sometimes competition brings use useless features to one up each other, but Whites was knows for its out of the box thinking and I think that thought is lost in a marketing monster just looking to gobble up the market share.

I was thinking I would get a fusion but I am now waiting to see what changes.
 
I totally understand that the R&D power that Aqua-lung brings with it. However I am not sure if I like all of the consolidation. If we are talking about Aeris/Oceanic that were always 1 company but are now merging brands to a single line or Aqua-lung buying Whites. I think competition brings innovation. Yes sometimes competition brings use useless features to one up each other, but Whites was knows for its out of the box thinking and I think that thought is lost in a marketing monster just looking to gobble up the market share.

I was thinking I would get a fusion but I am now waiting to see what changes.

Frankly, there'd probably be MORE innovation if you had half as many manufacturers. Seriously, off the top of my head I can name TWENTY "different" reg manufacturers each offering somewhere between 4 and 8 versions of essentially the same thing. How many more companies does the industry need before we'll see something that's genuinely appreciably different than the reg J.Y. Cousteau used in 1943?

The industry is small enough to begin with so its hard for any player to generate enough revenue to stay in business from one day to the next... much less invest anything towards true innovation.

If someone at a large hedgefund were inclined to do the math I bet they could buy the ENTIRE industry - manufacturers, agencies, and every retail shop. Then close HALF of everything. (Let's not quibble over details but you could simly buy HALF the industry and quickly put the other half out of business or cripple them and pick the remains up for pennies on the dollar.) Plow 25% of the savings into R&D, pocket the other 75%, then resell everything at a profit. Hell, Bridgewater or Och-Ziff could do it as a summer intern project.
 
Frankly, there'd probably be MORE innovation if you had half as many manufacturers. Seriously, off the top of my head I can name TWENTY "different" reg manufacturers each offering somewhere between 4 and 8 versions of essentially the same thing. How many more companies does the industry need before we'll see something that's genuinely appreciably different than the reg J.Y. Cousteau used in 1943?

The industry is small enough to begin with so its hard for any player to generate enough revenue to stay in business from one day to the next... much less invest anything towards true innovation.

If someone at a large hedgefund were inclined to do the math I bet they could buy the ENTIRE industry - manufacturers, agencies, and every retail shop. Then close HALF of everything. (In actuality you could buy HALF the industry and put the other half out of business.) Plow 25% of the savings into R&D, pocket the other 75%, then resell everything at a profit. Hell, Bridgewater or Och-Ziff could do it as a summer intern project.

Truth.
 
The sad part is that Whites is now part of the Aqualung price control system. No more deals on Fusions, I guess.
 
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Whites was acquired by Aqua Lung just about 5 years ago now. As Aqua Lung did with the Seaquest line, Deep Sea, US Divers, and other brands, they eventually phased out (replaced) the name with "Aqua Lung". Isn't that all that's happened recently? If you bought a Whites suit within the last few years, it was Aqua Lung. The most noticable difference between a Whites suit from 2013 and the ones I saw at DEMA 2014 was simply branding. The Aqua Lung Dry (aka Whites) office is still in BC, Canada.
 
If someone at a large hedgefund were inclined to do the math I bet they could buy the ENTIRE industry - manufacturers, agencies, and every retail shop. Plow 25% of the savings into R&D, pocket the other 75%, then resell everything at a profit. Hell, Bridgewater or Och-Ziff could do it as a summer intern project.

Nice thought but in the buyouts I have seen, the fund often used the company as collateral at least in part for its purchase, consolidated things, laid off a lot of staff including most of the R&D and service departments, then sold off the valuable parts, leaving a stripped down corpse laden with debt. If you are interested in turning over a quick profit, there is no point in having R&D. R&D is only relevant for long term growth and survival. R&D, good customer service, and quality control only hurt the short term bottom line.
 
Nice thought but in the buyouts I have seen, the fund often used the company as collateral at least in part for its purchase, consolidated things, laid off a lot of staff including most of the R&D and service departments, then sold off the valuable parts, leaving a stripped down corpse laden with debt. If you are interested in turning over a quick profit, there is no point in having R&D. R&D is only relevant for long term growth and survival. R&D, good customer service, and quality control only hurt the short term bottom line.

Oh yeah... that's why I said "if they were inclined" in my post. Plus, I was using the blue-sky silly idea of buying "an industry" rather than "a company" >> doing so provides tons of stripping down opportunities. First of all, we could stop the nonsensical redundancy of a half-dozen companies selling the exact same re-badged gear.

It's actually a good strategic exercise. I've got a workshop I run for clients where we assume we are a VC firm that just bough the company. We ask ourselves "What would we do..." And they we DO many of THOSE things.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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