Info Aqualung Financial Troubles

[BoltSnap]

Back then Mares just wanted the DACOR dealer network to further penetrate the US market, nothing more. Putting DACOR sticker on a Mares regulators was just a placebo for the DACOR dealers to make the transition. It maybe the same thing all over again with AL/Apeks.

 

[sbijou]

Back then Mares just wanted the DACOR dealer network to further penetrate the US market, nothing more. Putting DACOR sticker on a Mares regulators was just a placebo for the DACOR dealers to make the transition. It maybe the same thing all over again with AL/Apeks.

Or maybe, pare down the existing AL/Apeks lines while keeping the financially viable SKU's and retain the Aqualung / Apeks branding on them. Win Win. New products could be cross branded with multiple nameplates.

 

[sbijou]

Or maybe, pare down the existing AL/Apeks lines while keeping the financially viable SKU's and retain the Aqualung / Apeks branding on them. Win Win. New products could be cross branded with multiple nameplates.

But isn't it sad when decades ago (it feels like yesterday when you'd be salty from a dive in the Keys driving on Card Sound Road listening to Mr. Buffett on the cassette radio) when there so many strong brands full of innovation in a competitive marketplace. New , neat stuff would come out every year and you couldn't wait to get your hands on the new catalogs. R & D actually existed (but now superseded by "Marketing") and your vision about the future was all about what you were doing that evening. Things got a heck of a lot more complicated.

 

[Luis H]

The interesting thing is that Mares regulators are in many ways the old Voit-Swimaster designs, like their diaphragm first stages and their second stages with the vortex tube are pure Voit-Swmaster DNA.

Voit-Swimaster designs also have a strong US Diver (now Aqualung) heritage in them. Voit was a rubber company that made some of the rubber products for US Divers, while US Divers made the mechanical parts of the early Voit regulators (at least that is the stories I have heard and read, and you can tell from the design and manufacturing).

Voit-Swimaster did develop the vortex tube and other regulator designs separate from US Divers, but all the original designs were from US Divers.

That is why the HP seats for Aqua Lung (previously US Divers) and Mares (previously Voit) are interchangeable to this day.

The Swimaster MR-12 became the Mares MR-12. And a trivia piece of information: the "MR-12" stood for Military Regulator, one hose, two stages.

I just hope that Aqualung and Mares do not consolidate too many resources. I hope they maintain some independence. Aqualung name is too big, but if they start sharing too many resources, we are going to lose some creativity and some competition.

Some cooperation is OK… Like Huish Outdoor, with several of its brands…

 

[BoltSnap]

Some cooperation is OK… Like Huish Outdoor, with several of its brands…

French and Italians who come from competing backgrounds cooperating? Yeah, right.

Did you see what the French Aqua lung did when they bought Omer, the Italian Spero company?

 

[Luis H]

French and Italians cooperating who come from competing backgrounds? Yeah, right.

Did you see what the french Aqua lung did when they bought Omer the Italian Spero company?

I hear you, but a portion of Aqua Lung was Technisub, which is also Italian.

I don't know about Omer or Spero.

I am hoping they do OK. It has to be better than being own by an investment company.

 

[jellycatsdad]

I hear you, but a portion of Aqua Lung was Technisub, which is also Italian.

I don't know about Omer or Spero.

I am hoping they do OK. It has to be better than being own by an investment company.

Well, Scubapro is part of the SC Johnson(via Johnson Outdoors) menagerie. And the funny part is while the household goods side of SC Johnson is a private company, Johnson Outdoors, fka Johnson Wax Associates is publicly-held.