With this article, that will be enriched in the coming months, we take you on a journey to the beginnings of the NEO brand. A story of passion, craftmanship, design, common sense, and freedom guided by the quest for excellence. It is written by the men and women that for over 10 years have contributed, continue to contribute, and will contribute to weave this beautiful French story nourished by a unique know-how.
The history of NEO is closely related to that of its founder, Eric Roussel, a passionate paragliding pilot for over 30 years. He started flying when he was 17 years old. Since his first flights, he knew he would combine his passion for free flight with his creativity, the common thread of a professional future closely linked to the development of paragliding gear.
His career started at brands such as ITV and Edel, before leaving France to join the South Korean brand GIN.
Throughout the years, NEO’s founder became a reference in the paragliding world. His experience in the design and manufacture of paragliding gear allowed him to develop a fine expertise of the activity.
After 20 years of experience in the world of free flight, and more specifically in the paragliding world, he felt the increasing urge to innovate and change. With the desire to go beyond the simple minor adjustments sometimes too widespread in the environment, as well as the desire to inject innovation into the activity.
He then took the opportunity to create products that truly inspired him. Innovative products that meet his own creative vision and not only a commercial demand. The philosophy of NEO and its founder is to design and manufacture their products for paragliding, mountain, and outdoor sportsby following their own rules. A direction that is far from the “classical” marketing view in which the goal is only to meet the demand of the client without making them “dream”.
NEO is the result of the desire to return to the basics, guided by passion, the love for beautiful products, and innovation. NEO and their employees are also motivated by a common passion for craftmanship: to create unique products in their own workshop. For over 10 years, NEO is also a creative force thanks to innovation and local manufacturing.
The situation was peculiar 10 years ago: unemployment, overconsumption, waste… Overconsumption was not an issue, but it has become major problem for society throughout the years. It has resulted in a disconnection from our natural environment. A terrible situation: people became addicted to buying, instead of spending time outside, in the mountains…
Common sense therefore pushed the founder to start his own brand outside of the rules of a society that heads towards standardization, dictated by globalization. A sort of rediscovered freedom, at the source of the direction that allowed NEO to become a pioneer: not only in innovation, to respond to a lack of evolution in the fundamentals of paragliding equipment, but also in the relocation of the unique French expertise related in textiles. All this at a time when globalization governed all economic actions in favor of a race for expansion. This might seem obvious today, but what could be more normal than designing and manufacturing paragliding and outdoor gear directly at the place of practice and contribute with the local economy at the same time!
“People come to Annecy to fly... then, why fly with gear made on the other side of the world?
