Kialoa, a Bend-based company that makes outrigger and stand-up paddleboard paddles, has merged with Werner, a Washington paddle manufacturer.

Since the start of the year, Werner Paddles and Kialoa Paddles have been one company, said Meg Chun, who owns Kialoa with her husband, Dave.

Kialoa’s nine employees, including the Chuns, will continue to operate the paddle manufacturing business out of the company’s southeast Bend facility. At the moment only the financial operations have been absorbed, Meg Chun said.

“Everyone is staying,” she said. “We’ll continue production here. We’ve all been hired by Werner.

“We’ve know each other for a long time. They’re a Northwest business, family run and small. They’re interested in keeping the brand intact. They’re purchasing this because of our brand.”

The two companies started talking about merging last summer, said Taylor Robertson, Werner Paddles marketing and sales director.

Werner, a family owned business in Monroe, Washington, has been in business for more than 50 years making canoe, kayak and stand-up paddles, Robertson said.

Kialoa makes those kinds of paddles as well as paddles for Hawaiian outrigger canoes and dragon boats.

“Meg and Dave Chun were looking to grow,” Robertson said. “They wanted to focus their energies on sales and marketing. Kialoa will become a Werner Paddles brand.”

Werner Paddles, with its 60 employees, can provide access to less expensive components for the Kialoa paddles, which are assembled by hand, Meg Chun said.

Outrigger canoe paddles are hand-made to suit the paddler.

“This is a natural fit for us,” Robertson said. “Both the brands will complement each other. We’re looking to grow paddle sports in all avenues and facets.”

In 2018, Kialoa sold 10,500 paddles, Meg Chun said. At the height of the stand-up paddleboard paddling craze, the company sold 19,000 paddles.

The Chuns started Kialoa paddles in the garage of their home in Hawaii in 1991. When they moved to Bend, they produced paddles in a refurbished building at the Old Mill District.

A short time later, the business was moved to Redmond before settling in its space in southeast Bend.

Dave Chun will continue to design new paddles, Meg Chun said.

The sale will enable them to focus their energies on sales and marketing.

The company employs a brand ambassador system for marketing and uses the internet for most of its sales.

Until the stand-up paddle business took off in the mid-2000s, the bulk of the couple’s business was in Hawaii in outrigger canoe paddling.

When the stand-up paddle market went viral, it didn’t take long for sales growth to overwhelm the small business in 2006.

That’s when a $50,000 training grant from the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership enabled Kialoa to grow the business and seek manufacturing advice that enabled the company to eliminate waste during production.

The paddles can be found in REI, Tumalo Creek and Stand on Liquid in Central Oregon.

Moving to Bend provided the paddle makers access to a paddling community and a place to grow their business, Chun said.

— Reporter: 541-633-2117, sroig@bendbulletin.com