Canadians have to be craftier than Americans when it comes to expensive triathlon products. Americans, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis each have their dollars. The thing about all these currencies is, they all buy about the same stuff in their various countries, that is, a loaf of bread in the U.S. is going to cost two and a half Yankee bucks, and a loaf in Canada will cost the same in Maple Leaf bucks.
However, the Canadian buck is not as valuable as the U.S. buck. Therefore, were an American to want to buy a loaf of bread cheaper, he'd go to Canada, get his American bucks changed for 30% or 40% more bucks of the Canadian variety, therefore allowing him to buy a third more bread. (If you wanted to buy shotgun shells, I imagine you'd get more bang for your buck in Canada).
Anyway, that's one reason why Americans buy their prescription drugs in Canada. Drug companies seem to price their products relative to the buying power of the people in the country in which their drugs are sold. Therefore, Canadian drugs are cheaper, apples to apples, which is why they're now exporting these drugs to America.
The converse is true. When Canadians have to import a product priced to sell in America, their dollar only goes two-thirds or three-quarters as far. So Canadian retailers have to get crafty. You'll often see these retailers with their own store brands, because they're forced to cut out the middle man. For example, instead of buying a bunch of Specialized or Bianchi or QR or Giant or Felt bikes, many of which are made in the Orient, they'll import a container of Acme or Brand X bikes that look as close to identical as possible to the branded bikes. Canadians can either pay the going rate for the Specialized or Felt, or take their chances that Brand X, at 20% less, will get the job done.
Nineteen is an example of that idea. The owner of Nineteen is also the owner of Endurosport, probably the most sophisticated tri shop in Canada and one of the top half-dozen or so in North America. He figured out how to get a pretty good tri wetsuit built in the Orient, and then thought, hmm, if we can export drugs to the U.S. at a discount, why can't we export triathlon wetsuits as well?
Nineteen's wetsuits look curiously like QR's in some respects (neck and overall pattern fit), somewhat like Orca's in others (shoulder and arms), and a bit like Ironman wetsuits as well (chest panels, and boxier-than-Orca pattern shape). I don't think Nineteen fashions itself an expert wetsuit innovator. I liken it to hair care products, or stuff that makes you smell better. You'll see a recognizable brand name, say, CALVIN KLEIN, in bold letters, with "Compares to" in small letters just above it. Nineteen is not the place to loo for the next big thing. Nineteen's great weapon is its lack of an ego. Rather than stubbornly making the same crappy neck or bad patterns for years, it's the king of feature amalgamation.
"We like Orca's suits a lot," said Nineteen's owner, Dan Rishworth. "Its suits have very nice shoulders and arms. But its patterns are a bit short in the torso. So we borrowed from QR's neck and nice-fitting patterns, and Ironman's comfortable chest panels. We think we have a suit that fits well, like QRs do, and will also hold up well because of that Chinese glue that's stronger than steel. Plus, of course, we've made a suit we can sell for prices people can afford."
The one negative I'd mention about Nineteen's approach is that it does occasionally stray a bit from tried and true features. It advertises, "2mm neoprene in lower legs for maximum flexibility," and is rationale is that very good swimmers—such as might buy its top of the line suit—sometimes find that their legs float too high. As a result these top swimmers can't easily execute their kick. My own view is that this represents a subset of quality swimmers, namely IMers and backstrokers. For those people, the better place to put thinner rubber is in the thighs. That is the place where the kick starts, and that larger mass of thicker rubber is what impedes one's kick. However, it's moot, because two-beat distance freestylers don't have this problem, and your average joe has the opposite problem: He can't float his feet. Best to leave the legs at 5mm thick.
The Tsunami (pictured at right) is Nineteen's flagship. It's a $400 fullsuit, and compares to Orca's P-Flex and QR's Hydrofull. It's feature rich, with Yamamoto's SCS #39 rubber. Patterns are good, neck is good, rubber is good, price is good.
The Riptide (pictured at top) sits in the middle, with fullsuits costing $299. At first, I though this was the least interesting of Nineteen's suits, as I was apprised that the rubber was different than that used in Nineteen's Tsunami. However, I discovered that the rubber is the same (#39 SCS), only the jersey is different. Because the stiffest part of a Yamamoto rubber panel is the SCS coating, it's of little import whether the jersey on the rubber's other side is especially stretchy. Therefore, while this is the underperformer for Nineteen in the sales category, it's actually a pretty darn good value.
The Pipeline is the most interesting of Nineteen's suits, because here is where the Canadian pricing structure is really felt. QR's Ultrajohn (sleeveless) and Ultrafull are priced at $259 and $209 respectively. The Pipeline's prices are $229 and $169. Retailers will tell you that $170 for a sleeveless suit is and important price point to hit. The Pipeline hits this price, and with a suit that looks curiously like a QR from the neck down to the waist.
One ought not to think that a company has to be the most ingenious, or have best engineers, or be the most creative, or have the keenest vision, to represent the best value or be the most successful. Consider the computer you're probably using to read this overview. It's most-likely using the copy of an operating system Apple developed. Likewise, Nineteen has copied a lot of what others have invented. And, it's got that Canadian pricing paradigm on its side. If you buy your Viagra and Cialis from Canada, why not your wetsuit? Saving that money might get you just as excited.
