It’s a big month at Origami Paddler!
Boy, it has been a monumental undertaking kickstarting our project in 2020. Working as fast as possible during shutdowns and a global pandemic to not only start up the manufacturing, source all the accessories, and create a great experience for you from the moment the box lands on your doorstep has been a huge challenge! Even though doing everything over zoom isn’t as fast as in-person, the good news is that we are almost there! And despite the adversity, we are making great progress in delivering a safe product of the highest quality and value to you.
It is normal for established companies to take 9 -12 months to bring products like ours to market, and we were trying to do it from scratch within 7 months of the end of our Kickstarter campaign. Like pretty everything else on the planet, the COVID pandemic caused some unexpected challenges with some of the components, and the bottom line is we are not going to start shipping in March as planned, and we own that. We apologize.
We have a proven system for making and folding the Origami Paddler that has worked really well in our testing. That's not the problem - it is just taking longer than expected to polish the design and get the components and accessories delivered. The pandemic, global shipping delays, and now the weather have all impacted our timeline, but we are putting in long hours every day to find and implement solutions to every problem.
I want to stress that we, and especially the recreational industry, have had many supply chain issues locally, nationally, and internationally that are beyond our control, and we now expect to be 4 to 6 weeks delayed to start our production. So we anticipate starting to ship at the end of April, instead of in March as previously stated. We know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but we wanted to let you know as soon as we could determine the expected delay time. As we have said before, our focus is on Safety, Quality, and Value to bring you Easy, Awesome, Freedom! We have to make sure as much as possible that everything is going to work as expected so that you treasure being a part of the Origami Paddler community. So with gratitude for your patience and in compensation for the pushback, we decided to include a shoulder strap with every order. That is a $20 bonus!
We are blessed to have over 15,000 Paddlers on order right now. We are exploring ways to make investments to increase our production capacity to manufacture more Origamis every month. That means that once we begin manufacturing, we should be able to catch up, which will help mitigate the impact of the pushback. We are delighted with the numerous little design breakthroughs we have had along the way that make for a higher quality product that supports a sustainable world community. And we are looking forward to the future goal of having an Origami disassembly plant, making the OP closer to 100% recyclable.
Rest assured, the Origami is an amazing project, our team is growing, and we are racing to production. And we have been encouraged by the interest of investors, the number of pre-orders we have received, and the amazing Origami Paddler family that has grown since we started on Kickstarter late last July. You are getting an amazing deal even with the setback, and we are sure that the wait will be worth it once you experience the Easy Awesome Freedom of being on the water!
Sincerely,
Tim, Paul, and the entire Origami Paddler Team