UP, NOVA, Advance, Kortel, Air Vuisa, Ozone, Gin and the other brands available in Vietnam — what each is good at and who it suits.
Choosing a paraglider is about more than the fabric. Every manufacturer has its own design philosophy: some focus on durability, others lead in ultralight wings, others dominate competition or acro flying.
Below are the brands Mebayluon distributes in Vietnam, followed by the other names Vietnamese pilots fly.
🇩🇪 UP Paraglider (Germany)
UP is a German manufacturer based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, known above all for build quality: precise stitching and some of the most durable cloth on the market. That matters for pilots who fly a lot, since the wing holds its shape and porosity far longer.
The company started in 1970 in the US building hang gliders and moved into paragliders in 1990. The range runs from school wings through to high-performance models such as the Trango series.
💡 A detail few people know: UP's first paraglider — the Flash, in 1990 — was designed by a Korean designer named Gin Seok Song. It sold well, but he never designed another wing for UP. Instead he went on to found his own company: Gin Gliders. Two of the big names on this list share a single root.
🌐 Website: up-paragliders.com
🇻🇳 Mebayluon is the UP distributor in Vietnam.
🇨🇭 ADVANCE (Switzerland)
ADVANCE is a Swiss manufacturer in Thun, operating since 1988 and sitting at the premium end of the market: meticulous finishing, elegant design and genuinely good performance. It is the brand many of the world's leading pilots choose, particularly for cross-country racing and the Red Bull X-Alps.
Alongside wings, ADVANCE also makes harnesses and accessories. The Sigma, Iota and Omega lines all have strong reputations.
🌐 Website: advance.swiss
🇻🇳 Mebayluon distributes ADVANCE in Vietnam.
🇦🇹 NOVA (Austria)
NOVA is an Austrian brand based in Terfens, founded in 1989 by Hannes Papesh — who sewed the company's first wing on his mother's sewing machine. It is known for clean design and a strong safety record, and above all for hike-and-fly wings: ultralight gliders you can carry up a mountain on foot and fly down.
Lines such as the Mentor and the Ion are familiar choices for intermediate pilots worldwide.
🌐 Website: nova.eu
🇻🇳 Mebayluon distributes NOVA in Vietnam.
Air Vuisa is a Serbian manufacturer specialising in reserve parachutes — the piece of equipment every pilot hopes never to use, but must carry and must be able to trust.
When choosing a reserve, size is the deciding factor: it has to match your all-up flying weight. 🇻🇳 Mebayluon distributes Air Vuisa reserves in Vietnam.
🇫🇷 Kortel Design (France)
Kortel Design is a French maker specialising in harnesses, known for careful hand-built construction and comfort on long flights. Their harnesses are a common choice among cross-country and hike-and-fly pilots.
🌐 Website: korteldesign.com
🇻🇳 Mebayluon distributes Kortel Design in Vietnam.
🇫🇷 Ozone (France)
Ozone, a French manufacturer, dominates the competition scene. At the 2019 World Championship, 83 of 150 pilots flew the Ozone Enzo 3, and only two of the top twenty flew anything else. Ozone is a French company.
Beyond competition wings, Ozone has a broad range from school gliders to XC wings, plus speedflying and paramotor lines.
🌐 Website: flyozone.com
🇰🇷 Gin Gliders (South Korea)
Gin Gliders was founded by pilot Gin Seok Song — the designer behind UP's first paraglider in 1990, before he set up on his own. The company is one of Asia's largest manufacturers, present in every segment. The Bolero is a familiar school wing, while the Boomerang competes at the top level.
Gin is also among the brands most used by Vietnamese pilots.
🌐 Website: gingliders.com
🌍 Other brands you'll see in Vietnam
🇩🇪 U-Turn (Germany) — the best-known name in acro wings, built for aerobatic pilots. 🌐 u-turn.de
🇪🇸 Niviuk (Spain) — beautiful, meticulous construction, strong in lightweight and performance wings such as the Klimber and Artik. 🌐 niviuk.com
🇩🇪 Skywalk (Germany) — based in Grassau, Bavaria; the Chili, Cayenne and Mint are well regarded for performance per euro. 🌐 skywalk.info
🇰🇷 Davinci (South Korea) — an Asian manufacturer with competitive models in the performance segment. 🌐 davincigliders.com
🇦🇺 Flow Paragliders (Australia) — a younger brand with bold designs, popular with younger pilots. 🌐 flowparagliders.com
🇵🇱 Dudek (Poland) — with ITV, one of the two strongest names in paramotor wings. 🌐 dudek.eu
🇬🇧 BGD – Bruce Goldsmith Design (UK) — the brand of former world champion Bruce Goldsmith. 🌐 flybgd.com
🇮🇱 Apco (Israel) — in Vietnam you mostly see their reserves and paramotor equipment rather than their main wings. 🌐 apcoaviation.com
🇧🇷 Sol (Brazil) — widely used in Vietnam years ago, less common now. 🌐 solparagliders.com.br
There are many more paraglider manufacturers worldwide — the list above covers the names Vietnamese pilots meet most often.
🇻🇳 Back2Fly — a Vietnamese flying-gear brand
Back2Fly is a Vietnamese brand founded by pilot Le Hoang Bach.
Its first product to draw attention was XUCTU, a speedbar for paragliding harnesses, designed by Bach Le around four years ago.
The brand's latest product is the Bello harness, designed and manufactured in-house. That is a notable step: a Vietnamese brand building a complete harness rather than only accessories.
🇻🇳 A fact few people know: many big brands are made in Vietnam
A great many products from the world's leading paragliding brands are manufactured right here in Vietnam — among them Advance, Nova, Ozone, GIN and Kortel.
Which means the wing a European pilot is flying may well have been sewn by Vietnamese hands. It is something even many pilots within Vietnam's own flying community do not realise.
🙋 Which brand suits a beginner?
The short answer: almost any of them. The major European and Asian manufacturers — NOVA, UP, Advance and GIN — all offer a full beginner range, meaning EN-A certified wings.
This is where new pilots often get it wrong: they assume they must find a "beginner brand". In reality every major brand covers the whole range, from school wings to competition gliders. So don't choose by brand — choose by certification class.
Some familiar EN-A and low EN-B lines:
UP Kantega or Summit
Advance Alpha or Epsilon
Nova Ion
Ozone Mojo
GIN Calypso
Skywalk Masala
Niviuk Hook
What actually matters is not the brand but whether the class matches your level, whether the size matches your all-up weight, and what conditions and goals you fly for. Ask the instructor who is teaching you before you buy.
📌 In summary
The paragliding world today is led by big brands such as UP, Advance, Nova, Ozone, GIN Gliders, Niviuk, Skywalk, BGD and Dudek — and there are many more besides. Each company has its own design philosophy, from ultra-light parachutes for trekking, commercial tandem models for experiential travel to ultra-high performance competition lines.
At Mebayluon Paragliding, we regularly update and experience many different types of parachutes to bring customers the safest and most enjoyable flights in Mu Cang Chai, Sapa and Hanoi. Understanding the world's leading paragliding brands is also a way to help sky lovers have a deeper look at this increasingly strong sport.
