Matt Birch, founder and owner of Loxley Darts recently took to X (formerly twitter) to answer questions from fans of the brand, to give them an insight into the going's on at the brand.
A few years ago, I worked closely with Matt and the Loxley team to help with some promotional material and reviews of products and we have since kept a good relationship. Thank you to Matt for allowing me to publish this AMA on this website. Questions were asked by users of X and their handles are included in the questions also.
Q: Lots of people have asked about Loxley losing Ryan Searle, Matt Edgar, Jules van Dongen etc. recently and asking what happens next? (@MatadorDarts)
A: All 3 left with my blessing. Loxley can't afford big money contracts at the moment as it's built solely from my life savings and no outside investment.
If Loxley is seen as a "feeder club" helping relative unknowns develop and go on to get big contracts elsewhere then job done! For the future perhaps Loxley will take on small investments but that would be from real darts fans to carry on the community feel of Loxley rather than faceless Venture Capital who give zero f***s about darts.
Even then the focus would still be on helping up and coming players.
Q: What excites you about the future of darts? (the object not the sport!) Do you see any particular design/shape/grip as being the 'next big thing'? (@BazDarts)
A: Ooh that's a great question. I think it's very rare for a new shape to come along like the Robin did. I'd love to come up another 'untouchable' shape but any design has to function as a dart and for a reason.
As technology progresses I think grip is where the innovation will lie.
Q: Have there been any big business disagreements between you and Dom since starting loxley? (@180Nomad)
A: I have been sole owner since last summer, he has gone his own path due to personal rather than professional reasons.
Q: How do you manage to always sign players that would provide unique player darts? Because all of Loxley’s player darts seem to be quite unique and without comparable models. Is that something that just happens or is that something that you plan for? (@jjheisman)
A: It's not something I plan when signing players. But we work together to try and really get the players personality into a dart.
Q: What's your favourite dart that you have made? (@BraemarGareth)
A: 1) Tuck 25g - was my first ever design and still love it
2) Robin Model 1 - so unique and different but it works so well
3) Ryan Gen 2 - tv 9 darter
4) Katana - simple but looks complex
5) Baked Beeney - sexy dart and @AaronBeeney is the greatest
6) Hood - coming in autumn
Q: When releasing a new dart how many sets do you get made? Must be very hard judging how many they will sell. (@Flexiboards)
A: It really depends on the dart. Usually 100 to 200 per weight. There's a new dart in production coming in only 1 weight and 500 sets are being made. 4 other darts in the works also in 1 weight and those are 200 of each. As a side note the big brands will be doing 300 to 500 per weight with some pro players darts being far far more than that.
Target will be draining the entire Earths core of raw tungsten deposits to make Luke Littler darts. I wouldn't even want to guess at how many thousands.
Q: Obviously you're only one person who's busy and can only be in one place at once. How do you find talent to sign and what do you look for in a player?
A: Mostly it's on recommendation, trusted sources recommend player X and I then investigate.
For example Owen Bates was introduced by Ryan Searle. Scott Baker was recommended by Edgar and Ryan O'Connor.
Thanks, once again to Matt allowing me to publish the answers to his question on the site. If you want to ask Matt any questions, he's very open and honest about Loxley on his X (formerly twitter) account. You can find it linked below.
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