One thing has remained constant over all the years of growth and change: the urge for perfection at all levels, in order to end up with another technically perfected, high-quality product. This is the hallmark of ADVANCE – then as now.
Rolf Zeltner and Robert Graham founded ADVANCE in 1988 and began the development and production of paragliders. Both came originally from sailmaking and sail development. The first prototypes were sewn together by the founders in their own workshop. Later, a factory was established in Alsace (France). Valery Chapuis joined them in 1990 and took charge of sales from then on. From the very beginning, ADVANCE paragliders have stood out from the competition for their distinctive features such as winglets and semi-circular cell openings. These features still characterise every ADVANCE paraglider to the present day.
In 1993, the EPSILON series was introduced to complement and complete the model range. The EPSILON became the best-selling model. The same year, Housi Bollinger became world champion in Verbier flying an ADVANCE OMEGA. From then on, ADVANCE established itself conclusively as one of the world’s leading paraglider manufacturers. It was also joined during this period by mountain guide and photographer Thomas Ulrich. His impressive photographs have shaped the brand up to the present day. In the meantime, Thomas has become a full-time adventurer and renowned outdoor photographer.
Continuously increasing demand for ADVANCE paragliders led to the construction of a new production facility in Vietnam in 1994. Later, all production was moved to Asia, while the subsidiary in Alsace became a service and repair centre and store. With the advent of the powerkites, Robert set about immediately on the development of his own ADVANCE products. Production was later expanded to include kites for use on water as well as the powerkites. In 1998, the development team around Robert Graham was expanded with the addition of Olivier Nef, a former ADVANCE competition pilot.
ADVANCE Kites, the renowned brand for land and water kites, was sold in 2004. Since then it has been an independent company based in Italy. ADVANCE also said goodbye to its designer and founding member Robert Graham as well as to Olivier Nef. The new head of development is the German aerospace engineer Thomas Ripplinger. He is no stranger to ADVANCE, having after all played an advisory role in the development of the ALPHA 3 and BI BETA 3.
In 2005, ADVANCE became world champion for the second time in the company’s history. Steve Cox won the title in Brazil. The successful conclusion of the restructuring is bearing the first fruits. With the current models ADVANCE has an extremely successful range of paragliders and is perfectly equipped to face the future.
