Official statement from Mike Raper

Mike Raper © North Kiteboarding & North Foils

Mike Raper © North Kiteboarding & North Foils

Following North Actionsports' announcement of its global Brand, Product & Development consolidation to Europe, I will be concluding my full-time role as Chief Brand Officer at the end of this year. I will continue in a consulting capacity until mid-2026 to ensure a clean handover of brand, product, and long-term strategy.

This strategic restructure includes the closure of the New Zealand Brand & Design office and the redundancy of my position along with the team. To be clear: this change is not performance related. It is happening because North is exceptionally strong and its product pipeline is already 12 months ahead as we just delivered samples, prices, product collections for FW26/27, this has provided the brand with the breathing room to make the shift to NAG HQ in Holland. The 12-hour geographic timezone differences were challenging.

When I was approached to rebuild North eight years ago, we had no product, no suppliers, no materials, no systems, no team — only the heritage of North Sails and the belief that we could create the best watersports brand in the world.

Over the past eight years, we built:

• A complete end-to-end ecosystem of kites, wings, foils, boards, bars, hardware and components
• North Technology purchased Mystic and we built an amazing global sales force and operations hub in the heart of the logistics for Europe.
• A full global rebrand, transitioning from the historic "N" logo to the modern North Sails brand identity, which I led from strategy to execution — including brand structure, naming, visual language, and global rollout
• A development pipeline and testing program that became industry leading
• A high-performance materials program, including helping drive the creation of N-Weave45 and N-U80 composite materials
• Breakthrough innovations such as the Orbit, the Navigator Pro, Shiftlock system, and multiple patents across foils, kites, wings, and bar systems
• A new generation of athlete-driven R&D, focused on performance with ease of use.
• A global brand community built around performance, trust, and a clean, modern design language
• A world-class NZ-based innovation hub that delivered four full collections in the last 12 months
• A complete 2026/27 range already finished nearly a year ahead of launch
• A business that grew from zero to €45 million turnover, now the second largest Watersports brand globally.

After wrapping up my full-time responsibilities, I'll take a long break to ride, test, reset, and study. Then I'll begin planning my next chapter, one I'm extremely excited for.

North will always be part of my DNA.