Harlem Kitesurfing was put on the map mainly by a young, international big air team, led by Italian brothers Lorenzo and Leonardo Casati. Together with past and present riders like Lana Herman, Sarah Sadek, Clément Huot, Stino Mul and Lewis Crathern, they won major titles and set record jumps, mostly on the Peak and the Thrive. Aaron Hadlow also joined as a team rider in 2024. The Brit won the PKRA freestyle world title five times in a row from 2004 to 2008 and took the Red Bull King of the Air in 2015 and 2016.

The Casati brothers grew into the faces of the brand. Lorenzo had already won the Red Bull King of the Air in 2022, before he joined Harlem. On Harlem he won the King of the Air qualifiers in Tarifa and at Cold Hawaii in 2024, and finished second in that year's King of the Air, on a Peak that was still in development at the time. 2025 became his standout year: Lorenzo was crowned GKA Big Air World Champion, won the Red Bull Megaloop Challenge on our own home spot of Noordwijk in the Netherlands and claimed his second King of the Air title in Cape Town. Leonardo finished second there and, at 16, was the youngest finalist ever. A year later, at 17, he became GKA Big Air World Champion himself, and at Cold Hawaii 2026 Leonardo, Lorenzo and Stino Mul took all three podium spots.

Harlem is on the podium in the women's division too. Slovenian rider Lana Herman joined the team in 2024 as Harlem's first female competition rider. That year she was runner-up at Full Power Tarifa, and in 2025 she finished third at the King of the Air. Sarah Sadek, who grew up in Cairo and is based in Dahab, finished third at the Lords of Tram in France in 2025, on a 5m Thrive. Elsien Zijlstra, Dutch big air champion in 2023, joined Harlem in 2024.

Harlem riders are also known for jumps you won't forget in a hurry, often in storms. In June 2025 Baptiste Bourdoulous jumped 34.4 metres high on Mykonos with a hydrofoil under his feet: the highest foil jump ever recorded! In January 2026 Clément Huot went 37.3 metres into the air during Storm Goretti in Brittany on a 7m Peak and an Ascent, at the time the highest twintip jump ever. In October 2026 Lewis Crathern went even higher at Bracklesham Bay: in gusts of more than 50 knots he set a WOO world record of 42.6 metres, also on a 7m Peak. By then Lewis was already a well-known name: he was a four-time British champion, won the very first Red Bull Megaloop Challenge in Cape Town in 2012 and jumped over Brighton Pier in 2010.

The Netherlands is well represented too. Stino Mul from Bloemendaal, a stone's throw from Haarlem, joined the team in 2025 and made the podium at Cold Hawaii in both 2025 and 2026. Outside big air, Swiss rider Andrea Zust won her third hydrofoil world title in a row in 2026. And with Figo van Ekeren, who joined the team in 2026 at just 12 years old, Harlem is building the next generation as well.

Want to ride the same gear as the team? If you're after height and hangtime, check out the Harlem big air kites, including the Peak. More into unhooked tricks? You'll find the Hadlow Pro among the Harlem freestyle kites.

All Harlem kites and wings are built at Brainchild Production in North Macedonia, a European factory that runs entirely on solar power. For Harlem, sustainability comes down to three things: production in Europe, gear that lasts longer and techniques that use less water and fewer raw materials.

Brainchild was founded by Ralf Groesel, who also leads design at Harlem. That puts design and production in the same hands. The Hadlow Pro Bar and the Descent board come from Brainchild too, and boards like the Launch V2 are also made in Europe.

The best-known innovation is PROWELD. Instead of stitching the leading edge segments together, Harlem welds them. The result is a frame that is 20% lighter and has 30% more torsional stiffness than that of other performance kites. Harlem also works with light canopy fabrics such as FlyLite and the 32 g/m² Lite_X cloth in the Thrive LiteX, combined with laminated Mylar struts that are both light and stiff.

Sustainability goes beyond the factory. The graphics are applied with Digital Eco Printing, a technique that uses four times less water than traditional printing methods. On some models it also lets you have your own design printed. Harlem uses recycled webbing and thread and aims to use up to 90% recycled materials by 2029. Newer kites and boards carry a Boomtag, an NFC tag that lets you register your gear and track it down if it goes missing, and the Launch comes in plastic-free packaging.

Harlem started out surrounded by broken kites, and a kite you can repair lasts years longer. Something worn on your bar? No need to replace everything straight away: in the Harlem spare parts you'll find parts for the Lead Bar, among others. Missing a bladder or valve? Check out our kite spare parts.