Who are Immersion Research Europe? Tell us a little about the company and its history.

Immersion Research was founded in 1997 by John and Kara Weld. They started off by making board shorts and then thermals. The line up and company grew every year but John and Kara are still running the show. Today, IR makes some of the most innovative, smart and practical gear available.

Immersion Research Europe

At the end of 2010, Immersion Research did not have a proper distributor in Europe, so it was tough to get many items of our gear on this side of the Atlantic. IR saw this as an opportunity to sell to customers directly using an online store. Immersion Research Europe was born!

We take orders on our website and ship directly to European customers from our base in the UK.

Immersion Research Europe is just now in the process of expanding to a new, larger location. This new set up will mean a much larger amount of stock can be held in the UK, allowing us to get gear to our customers faster.

All in all, we are a small company. Quality is important to us and we really want to keep our customers happy.

Are there any unique selling points you guys want to shout about?

Plenty!

Firstly, as our gear is not in shops and there is not really a third party distribution company. The company operates with very little overhead costs. This allows us to price our products EXTREMELY well!

Have a search for the price of gear outside of Europe and then do a direct conversion to £ or € and then compare that to the same item on www.immersionresearch.eu. Notice any difference? We cannot think of many companies that can also make this claim.

Secondly as we do direct sales, we are the undisputed experts of our product range. No one else will be able to give you a more informed response on any questions on our products. This can be extremely helpful when it comes to awkward sizing issues, getting the best spraydeck for your boat or getting something a bit more special (like a cagdeck) constructed.

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Thirdly, IR makes items that are simply unrivalled. We think our line up of thermals (especially the Union Suit one piece) have no equal.

Watched any paddling video in the last few years? You’ll notice that pretty much everyone pushing the limits of the sport uses one of our spraydecks. Even kayakers that have deals with other companies choose to use our spraydecks over models they could get from their own sponsor at a cheaper price.

The rest of our line up has the same quality and for this year we have made it much brighter and bolder.

Which product/brand does every staff member have in his or her kit bag?

Staff? There aren’t enough of them to give you a proper answer here. All our team paddlers have a Union Suit thermal though.

What is your best selling product?

This can vary with the seasons. We tend to sell a lot of Union Suits in winter but recently our new 2015 Guide Short line up has been very popular.

Sales can noticeably increase when it rains or before everyone goes on holiday at the start of summer.

In terms of new products what are your predictions for the next year?

For the coming year…our established industry benchmark products like thermals, shorts and spraydecks should continue to sell well.

Look out for more IR dry wear on your local runs. Our new colourful line up of dry tops and suits are well priced, solid designs that come with a honest guarantee. These products have a long established reputation in the USA and North America and we want to bring that same reliability and performance to our side of the Atlantic. The 7Figure, Arch Rival and Rival products lines are our most impressive drywear items to date.

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For the future? That is classified. Perhaps there will be more drywear items that will suit paddlers that don’t have Y chromosomes. You’ll have to watch out to find out for sure. We are always refining our designs.

Look out for our team paddlers being very active. We support some of the most enthusiastic, motivated and talented individuals. Our Facebook is never short of interesting updates.

Can you try before you buy?

Usually that can be a little tough. This is a draw back of direct sales. The aim is to get the right fit first time though. Our website has extensive size charts that are tailored to each individual product. You can also drop us an email and one of our extremely knowledgeable team can assist you in selecting a size. We pride ourselves on having very few returns.

If something doesn’t fit, you get it back to us in the UK and we will get you the right size or give you a refund. Simple.

Trade shows and events are things that interest us very much! Attending events such as the National Student Rodeo, Wet West Paddlefest, the Tyne Tour and Pyranha Fest have allowed us to let people see the gear up close and try things on. If anyone wants to see IR at an event near them then this might be possible. Get in touch with us – eusales@immersionresearch.com

What kind of kit do you have available on demo?

We don’t really let people run off with brand new drysuits unfortunately (does any shop?). We often have team paddlers with a few spare pieces of gear or a few used spraydecks that can be tried when we attend events.

Like us on facebook – http://www.facebook.com/immersionresearcheu