What's the difference between Butterfly and European rubbers?

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Yeah it's the case in a select few countries in East Asia but not even all of Asia, but definitely not the case in most of Europe and the rest of the TT playing world - other brands have plenty of representation elsewhere on the map

yep, that is because Asia is mostly Chinese or Japanese brands (and now a Korean).
Butterfly has a solid footprint for years

in Europe, your Stigas, Donics, Tibhar, Andro and even Joola, all have market share.
A lot of these brands sponsor clubs, and kids coming out of the clubs would start off with the brand that sponsors the club.
Butterfly also sponsors some brands, but ratio wise, Butterfly is a lot smaller in terms of "sponsorship" compared to East Asia.

In Taiwan, we hardly see Andro or Xiom for example.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

In Taiwan, we hardly see Andro or Xiom for example.

That's why they threw money at KCJ, as mentioned earlier the ESN brands are opening up the wallet for sponsorships these days, maybe more than Butterfly

 

[JackJohnson]

This is the case in Asia
Lots of juniors from Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
I would say more than 2/3.
Butterfly tend to pick them up early.
Don't offer a lot compared to ESN brands, but Butterfly quality makes the players stay.

and when they get better/more famous, but not famous enough, you could see them changing to ESN for more lucrative deals.
So far, some brands allow H3 on FH and you just need to use they blade and BH rubber.
Some brands says no, and giving up a H3 is a bigger problem than finding a ESN Butterfly rubber

The only player that I know who uses their sponsored blade and both rubbers being different to their sponsor is Hina Hayata. She uses her sponsored Nittaku H2 Blade with H3 Blue Sponge on FH (not sure if this is the DHS or Nittaku version) and Dignics 09c for BH.

It must be very hard for players to give up H3 BS for the FH if their sponsor does not allow it. I’ve seen some sponsors like Victas, Gewo and Xiom allow them to use a different blade to their sponsor (JWJ uses W968, AJH uses W968 and KNY uses W968 respectively). I feel like those players who decide to give up using H3 will be those players that have retired such as ZJK switching from Butterfly to Donic.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The only player that I know who uses their sponsored blade and both rubbers being different to their sponsor is Hina Hayata. She uses her sponsored Nittaku H2 Blade with H3 Blue Sponge on FH (not sure if this is the DHS or Nittaku version) and Dignics 09c for BH.

It must be very hard for players to give up H3 BS for the FH if their sponsor does not allow it. I’ve seen some sponsors like Victas, Gewo and Xiom allow them to use a different blade to their sponsor (JWJ uses W968, AJH uses W968 and KNY uses W968 respectively). I feel like those players who decide to give up using H3 will be those players that have retired such as ZJK switching from Butterfly to Donic.

for those kind of elite stars, it is very difficult to lock them in (with sponsored brand's good).
because it is simple, if you can make the same or better, I will use.
but if I use your inferior one, and I start loosing, will that look bad on me or look bad on you? we both loose.

Nothing can beat H3 at the moment, so many brands has allowed that.
In terms of blades, some will request and force, but for the elite few, the brands will actually happily change handles to help make it more like the sponsored brand's good. Of course some players don't even have the handle changes.
whether or not there is penalty or fines, it all varies.

 

[zeio]

Butterfly rubbers and most European rubbers both seems to be combinations of bouncy sponges and non-sticky/little sticky surfaces,but Butterfly is always considered as better ones,what caused this?

Count the number of Olympic and World Champions for Buttefly vs ESN and you'll see.

 

[Airoc]

Count the number of Olympic and World Champions for Buttefly vs ESN and you'll see.

If we go back 50 years you actually wouldn´t find that many Butterfly champions amongst all the players of Chinese rubbers and the Swedes with Coppa etc.
But even less ESN, that much is true.

And it´s surely no secret that many a well-known player would insist on playing tenergy instead of their sponsored rubbers after speed-glue was banned because the ESN stuff didn´t live up.

But today you could be a World Champion with an ESN rubber, if you could get past the Chinese ;-)

 

[zeio]

If we go back 50 years you actually wouldn´t find that many Butterfly champions amongst all the players of Chinese rubbers and the Swedes with Coppa etc.
But even less ESN, that much is true.

And it´s surely no secret that many a well-known player would insist on playing tenergy instead of their sponsored rubbers after speed-glue was banned because the ESN stuff didn´t live up.

But today you could be a World Champion with an ESN rubber, if you could get past the Chinese ;-)

50 years is not a short time, even Friendship 729 (first tacky rubber in history) was invented only in 1972 (53 years), compared to Sriver in 1967 (58 years) and Mark V in 1969 (56), and Xi Enting only became the first inverted penhold player from China to win the MS title at WTTC 1973.

ESN may be a newcomer, relatively speaking, but they've been in business since 1991 (34 years) and released the first Tensor in 1998 (27 years). If I'm not wrong, Calderano is the first one to win a singles world title using ESN rubbers at World Cup 2025, with Falck in MD at WTTC 2021. They have a lot of catch-up to do.

 

[PoppaChubby]

50 years is not a short time, even Friendship 729 (first tacky rubber in history) was invented only in 1972 (53 years), compared to Sriver in 1967 (58 years) and Mark V in 1969 (56), and Xi Enting only became the first inverted penhold player from China to win the MS title at WTTC 1973.

ESN may be a newcomer, relatively speaking, but they've been in business since 1991 (34 years) and released the first Tensor in 1998 (27 years). If I'm not wrong, Calderano is the first one to win a singles world title using ESN rubbers at World Cup 2025, with Falck in MD at WTTC 2021. They have a lot of catch-up to do.

You've forgotten Samsonov, maybe not in 2001 but for sure in 2009 he won the World Cup with some tensor rubbers.

 

[PoppaChubby]

yep, that is because Asia is mostly Chinese or Japanese brands (and now a Korean).
Butterfly has a solid footprint for years

in Europe, your Stigas, Donics, Tibhar, Andro and even Joola, all have market share.
A lot of these brands sponsor clubs, and kids coming out of the clubs would start off with the brand that sponsors the club.
Butterfly also sponsors some brands, but ratio wise, Butterfly is a lot smaller in terms of "sponsorship" compared to East Asia.

In Taiwan, we hardly see Andro or Xiom for example.

Butterfly used to be probably the major sponsor for ANY club here in France until recent years and their decision to throw the Bros uncle out of business after his nephews contract with Tibhar. Christophe Legout was actually the CEO of BTY France.

And now with Germany declining, you can say Butterfly is loosing market shares in Europe, but it's their fault, they did not trust the Bros, and now we see what happens: Tibhar has re-emerged as one of the leading brands with Andro and Donic. At the last french nationals there were barely any BTY shirts or equipments used or worn by french athletes, for the mens it's now Tibhar (Bros) Andro (Gauzy, Poret) or Donic (Coton), and the women are following the trend, many of them have switched to Tibhar Lebrun blades.

EDIT: one more thing worse for Butterfly and Germany partnership, their new hope André Bertelsmeier is sponsored by Andro. We all know what happens when your talents use a specific brand: it changes the whole nation partnership, like the Bros making France switching from Victas to Tibhar and Japan switching from Victas to BTY. South Korea also, now sponsored by Xiom. It's also saying a lot about Victas decline, a major japanese brand.

 

[Egon]

I think very little difference.

The only thing frustrating about Euro rubbers is that they often will shrink after cutting.

Butterfly too. My two new Glazers have shrunk in size and Tenergy 05 hard. Everything was glued with water glue and expansion due to gluing or stretching is not possible.

 

[Airoc]

They have a lot of catch-up to do.

It´s ongoing. ;-)
Current WC men´s semi-finals ESN vs. DHS twice, women´s semi finals one ESN vs three DHS.

But it could have been BTY instead - all I´m saying is I do not think one has a general advantage over the other anymore.

 

[PickleRick]

Butterfly used to be probably the major sponsor for ANY club here in France until recent years and their decision to throw the Bros uncle out of business after his nephews contract with Tibhar. Christophe Legout was actually the CEO of BTY France.

And now with Germany declining, you can say Butterfly is loosing market shares in Europe, but it's their fault, they did not trust the Bros, and now we see what happens: Tibhar has re-emerged as one of the leading brands with Andro and Donic. At the last french nationals there were barely any BTY shirts or equipments used or worn by french athletes, for the mens it's now Tibhar (Bros) Andro (Gauzy, Poret) or Donic (Coton), and the women are following the trend, many of them have switched to Tibhar Lebrun blades.

EDIT: one more thing worse for Butterfly and Germany partnership, their new hope André Bertelsmeier is sponsored by Andro. We all know what happens when your talents use a specific brand: it changes the whole nation partnership, like the Bros making France switching from Victas to Tibhar and Japan switching from Victas to BTY. South Korea also, now sponsored by Xiom. It's also saying a lot about Victas decline, a major japanese brand.

I see the same trend in Belgium regarding butterfly. Almost all upcoming youngsters here use one of the European ESN brands as their rubbers. I predict that the market share of Butterfly will only keep declining in the coming years in Europe.

 

[kapahoo]

Butterfly too. My two new Glazers have shrunk in size and Tenergy 05 hard. Everything was glued with water glue and expansion due to gluing or stretching is not possible.

Surprised me as well. Only the Glayzer though. Not the G09c. And not very much.

Another thing - one reason to by Butterfly rubbers over ESN os that they are usually lighter.

 

[Lazer]

…

Another thing - one reason to by Butterfly rubbers over ESN os that they are usually lighter.

This would be the main reason to buy Butterfly, even lighter than the serious versions of H3.

But their market structure is not the greatest. Other rubbers can be had from virtually all dealers wher BTY from a selected few. That is the main reason I avoid the brand…

Cheers
L-zr