Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2021/06/19/discmania-ends-relationship-with-innova/
After teasing news about the status of the Discmania Originals disc line1 earlier this month, Discmania founder and CEO Jussi Meresmaa today announced the dissolution of the company’s 15-year collaboration with Innova. Meresmaa said plans for the future of the Originals line will be made available on Monday, June 21.
Jussie Meresmaa Discmania Innova
“Over the past 15 years, we have created the brand together that is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. We’ve had a great run,” said Meresmaa. “Me personally, and the entire Discmania family, will be forever grateful to the opportunity you gave us. Now, it’s time for us to turn a new page in Discmania’s story.”
Meresmaa made posts to the Discmania Collectors and Throwers Group on Facebook earlier in June alluding to a fractured relationship.
“As many of you know, there has been a severe lack of Discmania Originals during the pandemic,” said Meresmaa. “It has been far from ideal. The truth is that we have made substantial orders of Discmania Originals to Innova since the demand started to grow in 2020. We have pushed the production as much as we could. Innova has prioritized their own production and other brands’ production over us. That is a fact that we cannot control.”
He would also later clarify usage rights of their production model with Innova in the same group, writing, “Innova owns all molds and mold parts that are used to make Discmania Originals. They control that. Discmania own all their disc names.”
Discmania declined to comment for this article. Innova could not be reached for comment by press time.
Discmania was the first company to have three different manufacturers making molds for it when it announced deals with Sweden’s Latitude 64 and China’s Yikun in early 2019. At the time, Meresmaa confirmed the continued relationship with Innova was important as it was Discmania’s biggest manufacturer contract and was in the company’s biggest market.
“I can’t really form what’s the official Innova opinion on this because obviously this is a really new thing and this has been pretty secret for most of the people around the tight core group,” said Meresmaa in 2019. “[Innova’s] Harold [Duvall] and Dave [Dunipace] understand our business decisions and our relationship will continue. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to form over the next couple of years, but I’m pretty sure that they also want us to succeed. We are still distributing Innova in Europe where we’re their main business partner when it comes to disc golf in Europe. So it’s a complicated question to answer, especially if I’m not representing them. But the feeling I have got with the discussions with these fine gentlemen, our partnership will continue and most likely going to be stronger.”
“We need to deliver on time and it makes our job easier if we have more opportunities and more places we can actually get the supply,” continued Meresmaa. “Obviously, we want to build the Discmania brand. We’re talking today about our partners Latitude, Innova, and Yikun, but I want to transfer that discussion into the future that we are talking about Discmania. That’s our brand that we want to thrive. Wherever there is a manufacturer, a supply partner, for us that can bring us value we are open to the discussion. In the long run, we want to serve our customers whether it’s you, the fan, or a sporting goods chain, in the best possible way. Having a factory in Europe, China, and the US makes that job easier for us.”
Innova-molded Discmania discs had become increasingly scarce since the surge of disc golf demand during the pandemic. The company has not yet said anything about the future of US-based production for its discs.
An official announcement from Discmania regarding its Originals line is scheduled for 9 am MST on Monday, June 21. Stay tuned to Ultiworld Disc Golf for more coverage of this developing story.
molds manufactured by Innova Discs ↩