2020 - THE YEAR TO REMEMBER
Dear Fans,
2020 is now in the books and what a year it was. In early March, all the plans for the season were thrown into the trash as the pandemic hit. The final nine months of the year were a constant battle against the virus, new regulations, and unexpected twists and turns. On the positive side, the sport of disc golf exploded, and it happened in a way no one was expecting. More people entered the sport than ever before. More discs, bags and apparel were sold than ever. Every manufacturer did their best to keep their machines running and ramped up their production. It might very well be that we will never see such a growth in such a short period of time again. At Discmania, our multi-partner strategy set in 2018 saved our company. Without our three manufacturing partners, we would not have been in the position to offer nearly as much as we did in 2020. Only one partner out of three was able to stay operative the whole time of the pandemic.
All our previously built inventories in both the United States and Europe were gone. Major issues of getting enough restocks combined with sellouts in minutes colored our year. We made a lot of new customers, but also disappointed many old ones. We did a lot of tweaks to our distribution policies during the season trying to accommodate our number one customer: you. Some of these new policies were great successes while others fell short. One thing I can say without a doubt is that we tried our best. We never gave up.
We have amazing fans. Many of you have been with us for years. Many of you have joined recently. If you've been with us since day one, found us in 2020, or somewhere in between, all I can say to you is, "thank you." Your passion fuels me and our team every single day. That passion keeps us going.
2021 - WHAT TO EXPECT?
2021 will be a year of "catching up" for us. The demand for disc golf will continue to be strong and there will be continued demand for discs from 2020. Many manufacturers will have difficulties meeting the demand. Also, distributors, as well as dealers, have their base inventories very low, so that only creates more demand. All this goes with us at Discmania too.
One of our core values in the company is openness. We want to be as transparent as possible towards our customers and share information that we have. When it comes to our three disc lines, this is what you should expect:
ORIGINALS
Due to the pandemic, the Originals line faced major challenges. We failed to meet the demand and expectations of our customers. At the same time, the demand for the Originals grew to an all-time high. During the 2020 season, we had to suspend some molds on our Originals lineup and we tried to concentrate on the most important molds.
For 2021, we currently need to suspend more and we expect to offer only four or five molds for our customers. This is far from ideal and we won't stop trying to fix the issues that got us to this point. Unfortunately, a lot of things are not in our hands. As we said before, this is only the current situation. Work continues to get us back to the levels that people like you expect from us.
EVOLUTION
Since introduction of the Evolution line, we have been modestly increasing the number of molds in the lineup. Each addition has been very carefully planned.
In 2021, we are adding three or four new molds into the lineup. I'm personally very excited about those. We will release a never-before-seen midrange and a few timeless, great molds. One very notable point is that we will transfer some of our Signature Series releases to the Evolution lineup. We expect Evolution production to continue to ramp up in 2021.
ACTIVE
Our Active line did very well in 2020. In Europe, it was the fastest growing product line. The volume, outlook, and price point are designed to a wide distribution and beginner level of play. Active will grow with four new molds and a new three-disc starter set that is superior to anything else on the market. We expect Active to continue to grow fast and not have supply issues.
OTHER PRODUCTS
2021 will be a somewhat quiet year outside our three lines of discs. We want to concentrate our efforts on making our golf disc offering as strong as possible to keep with demand. However, we will introduce new apparel lineups and make more Lizotte and McMahon merch.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some of this news is understandably disappointing to read. We certainly feel the same way. I want to underline that 2021 has just begun and there is a lot of time to make things better. We will be better. We are constantly working hard with our partners to get the discs you love. The work has never stopped and will never stop.
For the fans of our Signature Team players: We will do our very best to provide you Cloud Breakers, Night Strikes and Sky Gods. I'm confident that you will love what we have been planning for you.
Jussi Meresmaa
CEO
