I was thinking about this a couple weeks back when Deane and I got into a discussion about paintball. He was asking about my “Contract Killer” hat. It’s my day to day stocking cap that I wear into work and of course to client meetings but don’t worry, I always make sure to take it off and shove it in my pocket before I get near there front door. Don’t want to scare off any clients! This hat brought up a good discussion about what Contract Killer was about. After the discussion and thinking about it a little more, I realized that the Contract Killer brand really represents what tournament paintball truly is.
Tournament paintball is an odd combination, due to the fact you need a strong team to win at a national level, however it is very much an individual sport. Although jerseys, pants, goggles and marker setups are often mandated to be the same due to sponsorships, everything else, including stickers, bandannas, beanies, head band and even belts are all about fashion. Paintball fashion runs very parallel with the rest of the snowboard/skateboarder fashion of the time. This fashion is really what accentuates the oddity of paintball “teams”. The overall appeal to be an individual. Even though tournament paintball is a team sport, the individual is often held up much higher than what you would find on most teams. This I believe is also because of the relative small jump between national level amateur players and professional players. Therefore everyone is really reaching for that next level consistently even if it is with a different team that can take them to that next level. This really forces each player that is trying to get to that next level to put themselves out there as an individual.
If I haven’t totally lost you yet, here is where the similarities to the Contract Killer line comes in. Hybrid (the parent company of the Contract Killer name) started as a small aftermarket parts company, much the same as most of the top level paintball companies in the industry. The company grew quickly as it progressed into the apparel of paintball. It’s look really personified what the industry was going after and therefore grew very quickly. This was all happening at the same time national paintball was really becoming marketable and growing a breakneck speeds. Soon it became apparent, what people were really craving this Hybrid brand for was it’s ability to make them stick out as an individual. This is when the Contract Killer line hit in conjunction with the idea of a Contract Killer. Up to this point the majority of sponsors, sponsored a team. Now with Hybrid’s focus on individuality they decided to focus only on individual sponsorships for these high paid professionals referred to as “Contract Killers”. These were people that were paid to kill…on the paintball field. The idea and the brand stuck. At least for a good 4 or 5 years. They had really exploded in the market and were starting to create everything they could put their brand on. As paintball grew, so did they.
Finally this last year, with the impending recession, Hybrid and the “Contract Killer” line went into a sort of dormant state as the paintball industry started to up prices on product and has really start to fall into a dormant state overall. Reason being, hobbies depend on disposable income. Paintball is a hobby that requires a very large amount of that disposable income. Therefore, when things get tough, paintball gets pulled down faster.
Overall the line of Contract Killer has really gone full circle, right along with tournament paintball. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the national level paintball scene really redefine itself after this latest lull right along with Hybrid’s next line.