The impact (or lack thereof) of smaller yo-yo brands on yo-yo

General Yo-Yo
21

YYR Sleipnir - 7075
Sengoku Kenshin - 7068

1 Like
22

Isn’t the Hummingbird 7068 as well?

1 Like
23

Kenshin was made way before the Hummingbird

24

Well, who’s a smaller brand, then? Most of those brands are still run by like 2-3 people. Even YYF only has a handful of people operating it (I think Ben, Stephanie, and two other people). Same with One Drop—they’re two guys who own a machine shop. It sounds like we’re talking about a brand’s level of establishment/newness, not size.

I’m not bringing this up just to be pedantic. I think what’s at the heart of the perception that smaller, boutique companies don’t contribute as much is simply because they’re new and still establishing themselves. Of course they’re gonna play it a little safer—they need to build awareness and recognition as a safe buy—and might not be able to sponsor right off the bat. But you do see many of these companies sponsoring players/contests and taking more risks once they get established. But by that point, we’re already saying “yeah but they’re not small anymore.”

I do get OP’s point—there is a fair bit of the yoyo equivalent of shovelware on the market today—but you see that from both new and established brands. So I don’t think it’s fair to blanket state that newer(“smaller”) companies don’t push the envelope or leech funds from the big boys who can afford to sponsor more. That’s not what OP was saying but I do think that’s at the heart of some people’s dislike for newer, smaller companies.

1 Like
25

Ah, I missed the subtlety of MarkD’s post that he was talking about who did it first.

1 Like
26

CoreCo is doing some interesting stuff while being a “smaller” company. The Standard is pretty unique and the AlleyCat was early in the “new school responsive” group (and remains outstanding).

5 Likes
27

Proliferation is also coming from numerous Chinese companies who have upped their game to the point where we pay attention to them now. But you have to realize that they are not just selling to us, but to a domestic population much larger than ours. By comparison, their manufacturing output is going to seem like a proverbial flood of product.

28

Depends on their finances. You’ve got to work really, really hard to make something that’s unreliable. I think a ‘flop’ would revolve more around a failed marketing campaign than the yoyo itself.

I could see this being a thing that happened if a new brand made 500 of their first yoyo then hit the market overpriced. They’d be drowning in unsold yoyos for a year or two and if they were budgeting on making their money back in a few months to pay off a credit card, they’d be in trouble.

A run of 100 is costly but isn’t too huge, and if you are smart about pricing you should recover costs with 50 sales (that’s a pretty standard retail markup). I’m still selling Hipster Highlife’s. I released 100 of them two years ago. I paid back my costs and the two friends who helped with costs a year ago, so I’m not worried. They’ll sell eventually.

100% it’s a discussion worth having, thanks for bringing it up!

6 Likes
30

I started my book with a discussion of that topic specifically to lay down some definitions to work with. I created 3 tiers that can definitely be disputed. Basically
Boutique - 1 person, infrequent small batches
Small brand - 1 person, larger batches, more frequent releases
Big brand - More than 1 person, larger batches and ubiquity in online stores, possibly brick and mortar
(YYF and Duncan can be found in retail stores, so they count, MYY is common the world over)

4 Likes
31

Kyo Alph was the first yo-yo I recall being marketed with using a stronger aluminum alloy.

1 Like
32

Kyle Weems really did a lot of cool stuff, huh. Updating my list with more details, thanks!

33

I was part of a gruntbull run that was organized on YYN probably about 10 years ago. I originally sent my Alph and they told me to pick another yoyo due to the different aluminum and anodizing difference. I didn’t have a ton of raw yoyos to pick from so I thought “I’ll just send this Dert instead.” Lmao.

3 Likes
34

I think Yoyofactory were using 7075 before Yoyorecreation.

2 Likes
35

Thanks! This is the type of information I lacked when creating the thread. Definitely will admit that I entered this discussion with a lack of a lot of relevant knowledge and a lot of assumptions. But it’s not information that I can find out without helpful responses like yours.

It definitely seems like I was wrong in my initial post and had a mental bias towards thinking of the smaller brands that do focus on more popular design trends as opposed to the larger picture. @Glenacius_K was helpful in this regard as well.

2 Likes
36

Yes. Skylines, among select others, were all 7075.

1 Like