"all the thai brands are probably made in the same factory and ive had windy sandee thaimai and twins and cannot see any differance between them, alas over 30 years so dunno about prices"


No they are not. Just because you are unable to see the most obvious differences doesn't mean they are made in the same factory. To be perfectly frank the differences are bloody obvious. Just placing a pair of Sandee, Windy, Twins and Fairtex next to each other (or looking at photos on the web) shows very obvious and stark differences. The shape and size alone are completely different, not to mention the finish on the leather, the internal hand compartment and a bunch of other stuff.

Thai Brands

Windy, Sandee, Twins, Top King, Thaismai and Raja are all family businesses with their own factories in Bangkok.

Windy, Twins, King, Top King and Raja are all family owned businesses who are members of the same extended family. The original being Windy (Thailand's first equipment brand and over 70 yrs old), the remainder being sons, cousins etc of this family who over the years have has various fallings out and gone their own way to do their own thing.

Sandee and Thaismai are standalone businesses with no connection to the Windy/Twins dynasty or each other. Sandee is Thailand's second oldest brand after Windy but very small in comparison to the rest. We can prove Sandee was manufacturing sometime in the mid 70s and is very likely further back than that but we cant find absolute proof (receipts, purchase orders etc) as before that not much paperwork was kept. Twins started production in the mid 80s and have grown into a huge global brand. Raja started in the late 90s.

Twins have a massive factory and make Twins and King brands. Windy factory is smaller than Twins but still pretty bloody big. When I visited the Raja factory a long time ago its wasnt so much of a factory but was the front yard of their house (to be fair a very impressive and large house but a house non the less).

Sandee have a small three storey factory and is a small business compared to Twins and Windy.

Thaismai is located in what is basically a corner shop with the office and retail until downstairs and the production upstairs. No idea about Top King as I haven't been there but the owner is part of the Windy/Twins dynasty. I haven't been to Boon either but from what I can gather its similar in size to Thailsmai. Boon is also nothing to do with any of the other brands.

Sandee produce mostly for the domestic Thai market, UK, Ireland and a smaller amount into mainland Europe. Whilst Twins and Windy are really massive with huge automated production Sandee is still made in the traditional way by hand by leather craftsman. Production of Sandee has doubled in the last 18 months.

Other Brands

Hayabusa and Rival are made in China

Most other (non Thai) brand are made in either Pakistan, India or China. (Bad Boy, Adidas, Reebok etc) It is these factories which make for multiple brands.

There are brands which are licensed (e.g. Bad Boy, Adidas, Reebok etc) that are made all over the place. The licencee pays the brand owner a fee for the right to use their brand and is up to them to get it produced. So Bad Boy on the UK may not be made in the same factory or even same country as Bad Boy USA etc, etc.


What makes Thai Brand so high quality with such a good reputation is two things

1. They produce for their domestic market which is obviously professional Muay Thai gyms. Crap products simply wouldn't last in Thailand so they have to be good.

2. They are all owner operated. i.e. the owners of the brand also own the factory. So quality is controlled by the same people. They don't licence out or subcontract to third parties. This is the main reason why you don't see many Thai Brands on the high street. To achieve the margins required by retailers the brands would have to double in retail price or be made somewhere cheaper than Thailand (Pakistan or China for example)