About us
Skydive Now - About Us
Skydive Now. Great Products, Great Prices, Awesome Service!
We haven't always been a skydiving kit store and resource portal. We actually started off as a Skydiving agency before realising that the kit store was where our true passion lay. Our kit store was slowly phased in as part of atransition,and was really started in the early part of 2016.
Skydive Now as you see it now is the second generation website which was built in response to the rapid growth of the business during the summer of 2016. Significantly faster servers, increased payment protection and security and a much larger catalogue of products were just a few of the main features.
What Do We Want To Achieve?
We want to provide awesome customer service!
Seriously, we take note when it happens to us (and when it doesn't) and we want all our customers within the UK and those in Europe to feel that we have done a great job. Speedy dispatch (usually the same day) and honest advice are two of the core principles of our business. For those of you that have already ordered from us, we hope you noted some of the little extras we drop into packages, and for those that haven't; These extras range from everything from pull up cords, pens and mugs, to freelog books, gloves andgoogles.
Our History
Our humble beginnings (Sept 2014) and the start of the Skydive Now agency. The kit store started during thatyearswinter months after it became apparent that thelocalexperienced skydivers were looking for a more local supplier.
We started out with a few simple things like log books which we designedourselves,and got some great feedback on them, so we made and stocked a few other items - and so it began.
2015
As the agency part of the business grew, so did the kit store - with ever larger notable names such as NZ Aerosports, Boogieman, Flex-Z adding to the list of already established dealerships. During the autumn of2015we took the unusual step to move away from being an agency and focussoleyuponthe kit store. It was a huge decision, but one that we have never looked back upon and never once wished we hadn't done it.
The weather for 2015 ended up being the worst season in over 20 years (of the staff and instructors that could recall that length of time) and we looked forward to a better 2016.
2016
The business grew so quickly during the late summer, that we actually reached the technical capacity of the website and servers! Brexit brought an unexpected boom for us with an influx of EU orders, and we started looking at systems that could enhance our EU customers experience with additional languages translations.
One of the largest physical changes involved the office move from 'The Victoria Building' to a central location opposite the Middlesbrough train station into the newly furnished 'BOHO 6'.
Again, the weather for the year was pretty terrible, with a series on Monday and Tuesday midweek days that were bright and summer-like, a stark contrast to the weekend before. Thankfully, we did get a late(ish) summer, so it wasn't all bad.
We expanded our ties with other DZ in the North, and again expanded our dealership range, most notably including the Sunrise Manufacturing (Wings) for the sports kit and UPT (Sigma Tandem & Vector)
As 2016 draws to a close, we look forward to another record-breaking year and wish all the DZ and Skydivers / loyal customers a very good 2017!
2017
What a great year this was! New dealerships with a number of notable manufacturers and suppliers and a partnership with some local manufacturers too!
It was another record-breaking year for us, and we started running our mobile DZ shop too. Thanks to Cark and Brid for letting us rock up and attend!
The largest change was made in the last few months of the year and was a huge success for the university clubs and DZ \ AFF schools - A range of essentials (goggles, gloves, altimeters, audibles etc) got up to 35% off for the groups that need them the most. If you're a university club, or AFF school, then get in touch as we are running it all through 2018!
New orders for countries as far out as Thailand, South Africa, New Zealand, Greece and Saudi Arabia have truly expanded our delivery network to a global scale!
We're looking forward to a great 2018 and hope to see you all in the skies soon!
2018
A pretty decent year with a few wild rides thrown in for good measure. We tried jumpsuits and our own high end tailored gear this year to see how well things went and although the suits have been put through some extreme 'landings' they all held up very well. We did decide in the later part of the year to wind down the clothing section as even a stock suit needed more precision tailoring than we could accommodate for with a next day dispatch. For those lucky enough to get one, we hope it serves you well in the air and for many hundreds of jumps!
We've also reached capacity again at our new offices that we moved to over the 2017/18 period - in part due to the massive expansion of the stock we hold like helmets (which use up a lot of space). Skydivers really do like the surprise of a next day delivery for a product they anticipated would take 3 weeks to manufacture.
Two lucky people got a surprise in the annual raffle. Every skydiver who purchased from us was automatically entered and one lucky person got a FlySight with the top prize of a brand new Cookie Fuel!
With the GDPR regulations, this was the first and last of the raffle prizes until we can organise an 'opt-in' raffle for existing and new customers.
2019
A wild start to the year with some unusual T-Shirt wearing weather in Feb! - Of course it was predictably followed by hailstones and snow a week later.
The skydiving market (and pardon the pun on this one) has been up and down with some months seeing almost no jumping near us. The arrival of the Cookie G4 shook things up a bit and people queued up for the pre-orders!