Yoyofriends started in 2016 as a brand based on fpm, a yoyo manufacturer, fpm wanted to start their own brand with designs that showcase their manufacturing capabilities.
However, making a brand is not as easy as it seems. A yoyo brand needs to find the right players, communication, and connections along with their products. In 2018. Multiple players joined yoyofriends, making yoyofriends a beautiful collaboration of the yoyoers and the manufacturer team. Players are the ones that yoyos the most, and connect with the community. We have a strong player presence, connecting with their respective communities across the globe, directly communicating with the manufacturer team to create the brand.
In Their Own Words
How did the idea for Yoyofriends come about?
Hi, This is Yiyang Wang (Philip) from yoyofriends. I joined yoyofriends in 2018 and since then the idea of yoyofriends changed a lot. Right now yoyofriends has the manufacturing side located in ShenZhen,China. The player side is located all around the world, with me being the leader based in Texas, USA. Since yoyofriends was created before I joined, I asked manufacturing side about the origin.
Yoyofriends started in 2016. The boss/founder back in the days personally talked to the OEM customers about yoyos and various products. Once he met a customer refusing to work with him/the company because the customer thinks the products made in China are of very low quality and just not up to par. He then took that to heart and decided to found yoyofriends, aiming at high quality products and designs.
Now my side of the story. I was a competitive yoyoer till 2018. My favorite yoyoer is Marcus Koh and I follow his journey closely from turning point to Auldey then starting his own company, ThrowRevolution. I am also heavily inspired by the show Blazing Teens when I was little, and I think it would be so cool to run a yoyo team. I actually decided to retire from the yoyoing scene in 2018 after my 3rd place finish at the South Central Regional yoyo contest. One of my friends who designs yoyos, Danny Yu, contacted me about fpm wanting yoyo players on their team. I have no idea what fpm is back in the days, but after a couple months, I stumbled on the video of Brandon Vu using the yoyofriends Hummingbird.
I then realized it was actually yoyofriends! I then got in contact with them. This began a long journey of partnership to where we are now. I first started helping them test yoyos. Then sponsoring players. I remember the first player who joined after me, I drove about an hour to meet with him and his parents at a Panera bread. I then learned more about designs and ideas and now fully oversee most of yoyofriends’ operations. I think it is in 2019/2020 when I changed the motto for yoyofriends to manufacturer and players united. Changing how yoyofriends is now a collaboration of sponsored yoyo players all around the world, valuing every player’s input. Everything design, name and colorways goes through the players combined with one of the best yoyo manufacturers in the world.
What does a day in the life look like for you running Yoyofriends?
Everyday for me is pretty different. I set up a rule about posting every other day on the yoyofriends instagram page, (I think yoyofriends facebook and twitter are similar). I would contact the manu teams and the player what to post, whether it’s a promotional photo or a trick circle from one of our players. I directly run the yoyofriends instagram. I am also the main contact for yoyofriends on reddit and discord, so I would see if there are stories I need to share, and customers that need to be helped. I always think about more yoyo ideas all the time, that will probably become a yoyofriends yoyo eventually. I write the yoyofriends story on most of the yoyofriends’ yoyo. I keep a lookout on potential yoyo players that would be a good fit for team yoyofriends. I also am always thinking of logo and name ideas for the yoyos greenlit for production. I also talk to the yoyofriends players if they need yoyos or accessories. Testing out prototypes and working along with the players and manu team on what to change and finalize if the yoyo is good for production.
Walk me through your creative process
My creative process is different all the time. I think Peregrine and the Overclock was some ideas I thought of back in 2018 when I was in a car with my friend talking about yoyo designs. Most yoyos now start with an idea, purpose and goal. I think of what is missing in our lineup, a fingerspin yoyo? A yoyo for speed or acceleration? An all out comp yoyo that would benefit our yoyo players on stage? I then think of a general shape and construction and present it to the manu team. The manu team will then contact me to have a rough draft of the yoyo. I then send every design and idea to the yoyofriends player team and ask about opinions and changes. I look at our player performance and input as well. I think Yahoo wants a wider yoyo, so we immediately started the 53mm monometal comp yoyo project just for him. When a player gets a signature yoyo, I would interview them and use my expertise and knowledge to guide them to make the perfect yoyo for them. As for naming, I take a lot of inspiration from everyday stuff like shows and video games. The particle series started with Naruto going Baryon mode. We named some of yoyos taking inspiration from video games like Destiny 2 and Horizon Forbidden West and many more.
What’s your favorite memory of running Yoyofriends?
I have a lot of great memories for yoyofriends, there are too many to choose a favorite. I would say one of my favorites on the retail side is getting into yoyoexpert. I am a long time yoyoexpert fan and it was really awesome to talk to Andre at Nats and write stories to finally get into yoyoexpert. For yoyo side, I would say the peregrine. Back in the days some yoyofriends designs are not made in house and hummingbird was so great, we cannot stand up nor surpass it for a very long time. Peregrine was the first time I think with me being the lead designer and the boss being the main designer to finally have a product that stand up to the hummingbird. It also set up the high standards and quality we have today. For the player side, I would say watching James Heder placing 2nd in the Florida State yoyo contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XstN7THOMmQ I am sure my favorite yoyofriends memories is yet to come.
What’s your favorite release to date?
I would say the Peregrine series and the Ultracut. Peregrine as I mentioned above finally stood up to the performance of the Hummingbird coming from in house yoyo designs. The ultracut is one of my favorite monometal and can comfortably do well on the modern competitive stage. I am super proud we can achieve this unprecedented performance at this price.
What’s your next release and what makes it so exciting?
Our next release will be a high performance budget plastic yoyo called Rio. Named after the 2011 musical adventure comedy film. It is our highest performing plastic yoyo yet. The shape is based on the yoyofriends Dove and AoE, we then increased the width, weight and weight distribution by changing the metal spacer to plastic seating. Then moving the saved weight to the rims. The result is by far our best performing plastic in just about every aspect. It plays almost like a competitive mono metal yoyo. On top of that it can fingerspin well too, because we based the center cup loosely on the yoyofriends Strand. I seriously think it is one of the best plastic in terms of performance and quality, all at a low cost of around 25 dollars.
What’s in store for Yoyofriends in the future?
Tons of new releases. We have about 10-15 ongoing projects. A lot of player signatures are coming to suit their specific needs on the competitive stage. The players are also preparing for the upcoming PNWR and US National yoyo contest, we hope some players will reach 1A finals at US nats.
If you could go back and do one thing differently what would that be?
I would say to be more open minded. I sometimes have a lot of ideological differences with the manu team in the earlier days. I think eventually we all sorted it out as the chemistry got better. I wish I am more open to what they say and their decisions earlier and respect what they are coming from as well.
What do you think sets your company apart from others?
First, I think fpm plays a huge role. Since yoyofriends is based on fpm, all our yoyos are manufactured there. I think fpm is one of the best yoyo manufacture quality wise. I actually have OCD in terms of yoyo vibe and smoothness and I am so glad yoyofriends yoyos have one of the best, if not the best quality in the scene. They really use yoyofriends as a platform to push the limit on weight distributions and materials, ranging from crazy SS rim designs to Damascus, Copper, Magnesium, Brass and even tungsten. We can also keep the price fairly low as well while providing the highest quality. I also think the manu team really listens to us players. Every single design, naming, etc are double checked by the entire yoyofriends’ play members. Around 80 percent of our lineup are ideas from the sponsored yoyo player. The manu team really let me, the players run the show and give us so much power. Especially signature yoyo where players have basically full control on the design, construction, naming, colorways etc. Even if it is not a signature, we will take feedback from the players and make yoyos that suit them better on stage. We will do whatever it takes to make the player’s dream yoyo and ideas come true. I am also very fluent in both Chinese and English, so I can communicate perfectly with the players and the manu team, ironing out every single detail for a smooth operation. The boss also treats me with the utmost respect and is very open in terms of ideas, what to do and even criticisms. I also want to give a special shout out to the contacts I communicate with everyday on the manu team, they are some of the nicest people to work with ever.
Any advice to aspiring companies/creators?
I don’t have much to say as I know companies are run differently and I respect that. The only thing I want to highlight is to find a couple anchor players that really care about the company. For yoyofriends I think that would be me, Tony Sung and Tomoki Toyama. We together help yoyofriends reach new heights around the world, whether it’s promoting, designing etc
