Almost every snowboarder I know, at one point in time, has muttered something about starting their own snowboard brand. Whether that was done while guzzling whiskey in the Mt. Baker parking lot, or in a more detailed manner in a metropolitan coffee shop is just details. The important part is that there’s an independent and entrepreneurial spirit that exists in snowboard culture, and that spirit should not be ignored.
It’s not surprising, many of today’s most influential professional snowboarders have gone on to start their own brands and while some have flourished and become mainstays in our industry, just as many have died and gone onto live out eternity in powder heaven.
You might be thinking that it isn’t the best time to start a snowboard brand as ongoing data shows a decline in snowboard participation and that revenue in both the snowboard industry and leisure sports industries are down. And while that data is most likely true, it is important to understand what that truly means for the opportunities of small niche brands and market share.
For over two decades the snowboard industry saw immense growth, snowboarding went from not being allowed at ski resorts to saving the winter Olympics. Our little tiny sport transformed from fringe to pop culture seemingly overnight as big brands and large corporations started to pull in revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
With this growth some of the more established brands that held large market shares in our industry started to maneuver with unregulated power and force the hands of shops requiring them to run large minimums in order to carry their products. This put many shops in a tough spot: they were almost required to carry the large brand products because of its recognition with recreational snowboarders. However the large minimum orders prevented core shops from helping to grow small brands because of the risk; and sales floors were occupied by the largest companies. Think of it this way; if a shop could take in a 100 snowboards a year and company A (or B) required that the shop carry 75 boards to hit their required minimum, that would mean that the shop could only carry 25 snowboards from the numerous other smaller brands that existed at the time (Ed Note: These numbers are completely hypothetical, but you get the point).
This made it difficult for small brands with minimal marketing budgets to find success, especially since the most significant time of growth was really pre-social and digital media, so paid advertising was the norm, and pretty much every major snowboard publication only created content around their paying advertisers’ riders and events. This created a stagnation on many fronts including board design, innovative media, and creative business solutions. In short the big snowboard brands were such grand capitalists that they killed creative innovation on a number of fronts. Some might argue this point with me, but if you look at say roughly 1990-2000 you will notice that there were hardly any major leaps forward in media production (that weren’t technology related advances taking place outside of snowboarding), board design, or marketing initiatives.
Now look at the ten year period between 2006-2016 when the snowboard industry started to panic a bit due to dwindling snowfall and revenues and look at all of the progress that snowboarding has made, maybe not in terms of year over year revenue growth, but in board design, innovative media, and marketing advancements. You might say that during our times of exponential growth we got fat and lazy, and who can blame us, the eating was damn good.
Fast forward to 2008 and the economic catastrophe that followed a disastrous recession and subprime mortgage crises, and subsequently the stunted economic growth of many industries, including snowboarding. This shit storm of economic strife ended up having a large impact on all industry, and while some saw this time of shrinking budgets and lack of spending as a reason to board up the windows and call it quits, others saw it as an opportunity to try something new. In fact you might say that these times of economic hardships actually kick started a new era of innovation for snowboarding, and while it might be counterintuitive, this is really the perfect time to start something new.
I recently read an interview with a higher up at an established snowboard brand that sort of shot down the idea of starting a brand, at least without a solid plan, as starting a snowboard brand isn’t easy. And while I can assure you that it is never easy to start any business and that you should absolutely have a business plan in place, you should still throw caution to the wind, dive in and attempt to start a board company now, because you’re a snowboarder and taking chances is what you do.
If Jim Thiebaud and Tommy Guerrero didn’t say fuck it and take a chance there would be no Real Skateboards, if Matt Biolis didn’t have a dream and pick up a planer there would be no …Lost Surfboards, and I’m guessing that Mike Olson of Mervin fame wasn’t worried as much about writing business plans as he was about making the best snowboards on the planet. And again while I don’t think that any of these established gentleman would say be an idiot about how you approach business, I would place some decent cash on the fact that they would say pursue your passions with your heart first and wallet second.
So think differently, find new approaches, be Netflix instead of Blockbuster, be nimble and creative. The industry is finally in a place where we can let go of the fear of rocking the boat because the sea has already shown us her fangs, and we weathered or are weathering the storm just fine.
Snowboarding is in an awesome place right now, I have witnessed the entire landscape change right before my eyes, and I like what I’m seeing. The creativity and passion is inspiring. Snowboarding is in that place of standing precariously atop a big Alaskan line. We’ve prepared for the journey, paid for the helicopter ride to the top and now we sit there with the duality of fear and excitement. Knowing that we are afraid to drop in, but if we do, it could be the ride of our lives.
I say drop.
