A recent visit to the Lula production halls, near the capital city of Prague, was a significant step towards understanding the production technologies and advantages of the Lula product and a step towards establishing closer cooperation with this manufacturer.

2024 was a significant year for the company. Lula acquired Panenka Company, a paddles producer and also a subcontractor and thus expanded its product portfolio to include dragon-boat paddles, carbon and carbon-kevlar touring paddles, and expedition kayak paddles with split shafts.

Lula also acquired a production of carbon, carbon-kevlar, and carbon-diolene paddle shafts.

Lula also established a new production hall for dry Pre-Preg manufacturing technology (Pre-preg is a composite material made from “pre-impregnated” fibers and a partially cured polymer matrix, such as epoxy) used for high level tourists paddles.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how the company has grown and how it is prospering. The most important aspect for Hladík-Trading is that Lula no longer buys any components from a subcontractors, but produces everything on its own production lines, which means it has all the production processes and the output quality of the paddles and shafts under control.

Lula products are gaining popularity among athletes in canoe slalom and rafting, as well as among tourists and adventurers, going on their trips around the world. A new market segment is dragon-boat paddles, however, the top quality and the paddle weight of 360g are excellent parameters for a successful entry into the market.