ALUULA – The Composite Revolution that has changed Wind Sports forever
ALUULA – what is behind this magical word?
ALUULA is the brainchild of a British Columbia based team of experienced chemists and engineers who share a common passion for exploring and enjoying the outdoors. The initial objective of their ALUULA project was to engineer composite materials that would better serve the sports and pursuits that they loved the most.
First in their sights were kiteboarding and wing foiling.
The standard legacy materials and seaming techniques, originally adopted from the sail industry, had stalled technical advancements of kites. Then in recent years, the new sport of wing foiling saw unprecedented levels of market growth. With wing construction techniques closely aligned with those of kiteboarding, it faced the same challenges with material development plateauing.
With interest in these sports driving the requirement for innovation, an arms race of sorts developed to create lighter and stronger materials that would enhance the performance, durability, and safety of both kites and wings. From the outset of the development process, the weight and performance objectives in the field of wind sports were clear, but it was also understood by the ALUULA Composites team that these materials would be exposed to harsh sun and abrasive beach environments. So to succeed, the next generation of composites would have to be tough as well. The challenge was on.
First introduced in 2019, ALUULA’s innovative composite textiles quickly transformed what was possible in wind sports. The team had succeeded in creating a product that seemed to achieve the impossible. Not only was it significantly lighter (around half the weight), but it was also significantly stiffer and stronger. It was essentially the Holy Grail of materials… Similar to the way carbon fiber revolutionized the cycling industry, the use of ALUULA’s composite fabrics in kites and wings have completely reconfigured wind sport engineering.
A kiteboarder using an ALUULA-infused kite can now fly in much lower wind strengths, redefining the limits of what was previously believed possible, and the kites are also stiffer and perform much better when the wind gets stronger too. Most recently, the first ever “Double Megaloop” was achieved by professional kiteboarder Giel Vlugt, using an ALUULA-powered kite… A move that riders have been striving to achieve for over 15 years.
Event after event, in different locations around the world and in all wind conditions, professional riders using ALUULA-based products are driving kitesurfing and wing foiling to previously unseen levels of performance, and sealing top-of-the-podium spots in the process.
What exactly is ALUULA?
ALUULA is a new class of composite materials built from components with eight times eight times the strengthto weight ratio of steel, and yet lighter than nylon, polyester or aramid. Using a patented fusion process, ALUULA Composites has developed a unique way to fuse high tech fibers and technical films together without the use of heavy glues. By bonding materials at the molecular level, ALUULA is creating some of the lightest, strongest and most durable composite materials ever created.
It’s only the beginning…
Although wind sports set in a marine environment formed the perfect natural proving ground for this new generation of light, strong and durable composite materials, the implications of its recognized benefits resonate far beyond its initial objectives. Simply put, the arrival of ALUULA’s lightweight composites has opened the door to a whole world of new possibilities, across a huge range of industries. And we’re just getting started.
About ALUULA Composites
ALUULA Composites is a Canadian company founded by a team of highly experienced chemists and engineers who share a common passion for exploring and enjoying the outdoors. They have created a new realm in dimensionally stabilized multilayer materials that are the result of an innovative bonding of co-polymer layers, creating composites which are extremely light, highly tear and stretch resistant, and are easily fabricated into a multitude of products across a wide range of markets. ALUULA Composites strives to develop products and processes that are not hazardous to our environment and minimize the footprint we leave behind.
If you have any questions, please email: info@aluula.com or visit www.aluula.com
