Sail: icarex colors

Icarex pc31 is a very light, dimensionally stable polycarbonate-coated polyester-fabric for sails of equally light kites.

The number of available colors gets smaller from time to time, and we have, in 2024, only very small amounts of some special rarities left.

Label of an Icarex roll, 90 m.

Icarex PC31 means 36 g/m2 or 31 g per square yard gross weight including the polycarbonate coating on both sides. The raw weight of the uncoated polyester-ripstop-fabric would be quite a bit less, but the coating stabilizes the fabric especially along the bias. The result is a film-like material, stable and true to size.

Warp runs almost straight, weft not always. Nevertheless, icarex is a fabric of high precision.

The textile fabric, also called sail cloth, is translucent and can appear in different optical aggregate states, simplified three:

When floating in the sky, the weather, as usual, plays its role: diffuse or hard light, plus the color temperature depending on the time of day. The angle of the sail to the observer also affects brightness and saturation: the flatter, the more saturated the colors will be. These effects are stronger for cameras than our eyes.

The colors of our kites in icarex

These icarex colors here are usually in stock for the production of kites. 31 white and 32 silver are faster in production and often cost a bit less. Darker colors like british racing green cost a bit more and the production time is a few days longer.

31
white

A white kite, front view.
As a start a clear thing, probably the most beautiful of all colors. Just leaving out as much as possible, including color, it's that simple.

32
silver

A silver gray kite, front view.
Silver gray: with its technical appeal, it can look quite metallic and shiny, especially under the sun.

33
dark gray

A dark gray kite, front view.
Anthracite, asphalt, charcoal: This is for the really bold and fat kites.

36
yellow

A yellow kite, front view.
Yellow without a synonym: a friendly bright color.

39
superwarmred

A superwarmred kite, front view.
Orange-red, or freely interpreted also the Pantone-color of the year 2019. And the favorite color of Massimo Vignelli†.

46
blue

A blue kite, front view.
Azzurro, RockShox-SID-blue, a plain blue.

56
british racing green

A kite in british racing green, front view.
Especially for lovers of British sports cars. Also perfect for white lettering.

57
neon

A neon kite, front view.
Neon-yellow: extremely visible under all conditions. Luminosity and saturation of icarex fabric are very stable.

58
light green

A light green kite, front view.
Semi-fluo-green: a gently shining tint, yet quite subtle.

60
fluo orange

A kite in fluo orange, front view.
Signal-orange: always extremely visible, happy in sunlight. If visibility has the highest priority, choose this color for high flights.

Rare colors for the kites, on request

These colors are rarities and some of them are no longer officially available. They are not only hard to find, but also beautiful. The rare colors cost a bit more and the production time is a bit longer than with production colors.

34
black

A black kite, front view.
Black … better not. Completely black kites are brutally difficult to make. We use black icarex for most of the constructive parts and details of the kites.

35
crème

A creme color kite, front view.
Beige-colored, on request. This fabric hasn't been around for a long time. In case of special interest we may be able to find some for you. There used to be also brown, dark brown, chocolate.

47
midnight blue

A kite in midnight blue, front view.
Midnight blue: a dark tone with a strong saturation. Kites in this extremely dark shade are hard to manufacture. In stock from time to time, on request.

50
petrol

A petrol color kite, front view.
The official icarex color was called "slate". On request, we still have some running meters.

51
rose

A rose color kite, front view.
Was on request, has definitely gone.

52
magenta

A purple kite, front view.
Magenta, purple: That's the most saturated icarex color available.

53
grape

A grape colored kite, front view.
Extralight-purple, ultra-violet, lila: this was a beautiful translucent tone and it no longer exists. Besides a handful of "urban ninja ultralight" kites.

59
pink

A pink kite, front view.
Fluorescent pink, fluo pink: bold. As with all icarex colors, especially the fluorescent ones, the luminosity and saturation are very stable. Amazing, how many years such a kite can fly in the sun without aging. We have a limited stock.

pu
mint

A mint colored kite, front view.
Pastel-turquoise, glacier-colored, ice-mint: the only fabric still in the icarex PU series has not been around for a long time. The ripstops are thinner and rectangular, the whole fabric a little lighter and softer. We have a couple of yards left.

Zero wind kites in icarex:

Some colors for the collection of an art collector

Rare color samples for the kite collection of an architect.
Petrol-slate, white, rose, semi fluo green, silver, dark gray, and black.

Color-sampling: compact or wing are the kite-typologies. Every sail is cut out of a single, folded piece of icarex. Except for The urban ninja with its three panels. Or 4, if it's a delightful unique duotone collector's item.

Dyneema composite fabric and the Hyperlights

Besides icarex pc31 we also use Dyneema Composite Fabric on our kites. Contrary to the name, it's not a textile fabric or cloth, but a laminate. Between two Mylar films, raw Dyneema fibres are crosswise, orthogonally baked.

The lighter, almost transparent version with about 11.5 g/m2 is used at the I'll be back urban flow edition and C'est la vie, darling, as well as leaving rome. The slightly heavier variant of Dyneema in translucent white, green, blue or silver on the Hyperlights and the urban rhythm edition of the IBB. This laminate weighs around 17.5 g/m2 and is available also in other colors from time to time, e.g. a dimmed honey hue.