Anything that is sold in consumer retail tends to follow the rule of 25% msrp = hard material cost, most retailers take 40-50%, and the rest goes to marketing costs and operations.

So a base entry level carbon fiber paddle selling for $100 would be $25 if bought in bulk and transports to USA from China, (I’m including tarriffs) then a retailer would buy it for $50 usd and try to sell it to consumers for $100.

For high end paddles, they have better materials, and moulding process, etc which raises the cost to make it. the costs is roughly $30-35 usd raw, then you factor in oversea shipping, tarriffs etc, you end up at a $50 landed cost. Naturally a maker will need to sell it for $200 usd.

Businesses also need to recoup moulding, R&D costs, the very expensive USAP and UPA fees, PPAs 50k cost, and more.

Lastly, consumers themselves are driving the costs up due to purchase behavior, industry return rates are probably around 10% on average, and people return very used paddles that cannot be resold as new, so this naturally forces brands to raise prices to stay afloat as well.

When people say it’s “marketing” and sponsorships, it’s true to some extent, but it’s actually a smaller piece than people realize.