Alliance Mag 2012

by Team, February 8, 2012

Humanoid founders Kyle Schmidt and Joel Hilliard were given the opportunity to sit down with Alliance Wakeboard Magazine and talk about what’s in the works for the coming year. This is the unedited script. This is the greatness of the vast internets – no need for space restraints.

Alliance : Give us your company’s general terms and descriptions for traditional construction and flex/hybrid/stored energy construction.

Kyle: Our boards are manufactured utilizing sandwich construction. We don’t make “flex” boards, but our boards have different flex patterns to accommodate different riding preferences and styles.

Alliance: How have your construction processes changed in the past few years? What are the benefits to the end consumer through these changes?

Kyle: Not much has changed from last year to this year as far as manufacturing is concerned, except maybe that we are one more year older as a company and applying that years worth of experience towards building better product.

Alliance: What is the most technically advanced board you produce? Why?

Joel: The Humanoid 1up line is the most technically advanced because it is built with our highest quality materials and has contours that we machine into the wood core at a very high level of detail. These contours give the board a super stiff flex pattern for a more traditional response off the wake.

Alliance: How much influence does your pro team have in the design process of new board models?

Kyle: Our riders are an integral part of board design and revisions. All of our current designs have been revised and improved at the request of either our team or crowd sourced feedback. We listen first and foremost. If they’re happy, we are confident that their revisions will help customers feel the same way.

Alliance: Who is your board shaper/designer and what makes their designs credible?

Joel: Kyle Schmidt, years and years of wakeboard experience on and off the water.

Alliance: Where are your boards made and why?

Joel: I like this question. Do you think the wake industry can support a brand that sells $800 wakeboards? Very few people want to financially test that assumption right off the bat. The short answer is if the wake industry wants innovations in performance, materials, style and differentiation between brands in the near future you have to go where labor cost is cheap. During this process of manufacturing overseas, we have discovered a model that allows us to test our theory that U.S. manufacturing can be successful…baby steps.

Alliance: In two words define your 2012 board line.

Kyle Schmidt: No Foam

Alliance: Is there one design aspect that is the most important for binding design? Durability? Support? Fit? Response?

Joel: For our first model of bindings, we let functionality really drive the design. Good design translates into high durability and precise fit – both the most important factors in our opinion. You have to be comfortable when you’re riding, so fit is very important, but the only way you can stay on the water riding is if your bindings hold up.

Alliance: Boots tend to wear out faster than boards do. What have you done to increase the lifespan of your boots?

Kyle: I could tell you we use the best materials, designs and manufacturing, but that’s cliche. Instead I’ll tell you we’ve invested in years of footwear development experience to ensure our bindings hold up to the rigors of riding. Joel: We also test on animals.

Alliance: How important is stiffness in a boot?

Kyle: We believe this is a preference determined by the rider/customer because some riders like support in different areas of the boot. We’d like to think we got this one right for the majority of riders out there and offer some functional features to adjust different areas of the boot to accommodate as many preferences as possible.

Alliance: If you could mount your bindings in any manner, would it increase your ability to design a better boot?

Kyle: Yes, if only magnets were lighter.
Joel: Biff in Back To The Future II was a big inspiration for our 2013 bindings. That movie predicted everything pretty accurately, except the Cubs winning the world series – and floating cars.

Alliance: What’s the future for base plates? How do they affect your binding design?

Kyle: I think the interface between board and binding will always require some sort of base plate, whether that base plate is a part of the binding itself or separate is evolving. I predict we will see some changes to this area of binding development in the near future.

Alliance: What is the biggest change in binding design you’ve made over the last year?

Kyle: I think adding them to our line is the biggest change we’ve made. We’ll turn some heads in this part of the industry.