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Snowboarding is, and always will be, about breaking away, individual expression, and the freedom to choose and love your own tracks. 

So why has the snowboard industry taken an aspirational individual pursuit and, for the most part, commoditized it, homogenized it, and ‘cookie-cuttered’ it?

It appears to have become a race to see who can build the most boards, in the cheapest way possible, and then see how low they can get the price, squeezing the poor retailers on margin in the process.

This approach doesn't inspire imagination, creativity or any consideration for individual rider. It feels like it’s just about outsourcing the manufacturing, sucking up the inevitable reduction in quality (and hoping the average boarder won’t notice), and finally accepting the production methodology of building a cheap snowboard – lots of them.

It's become a cost-saving manufacturing process ... and it leaves me wondering,

“Where has the love gone?”

Where has all the love gone in snowboarding? Photo by: Vince Shuley

In many cases, building a snowboard is no longer a labour of love that is driven by the creative free spirit and a love of nature. It’s become over-corporatised, and we've left behind the true essence of snowboarding which is about individual expression, creativity and diversity.

Maybe Shaun White said it best when he said,

“Some people attach snowboards to their feet, very few attach them to their souls.” Shaun White #offtherackisdead

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How can you attach something to your soul when it’s built in a largely soul-less environment. . ?

So let’s bring the soul back. Let’s build a snowboard for each individual that is carefully and lovingly designed to meet their needs and embrace where they are at as a snowboarder and as a diverse individual. Personalized surfboard shapers have been doing it for years, and we think it’s about time the snowboard industry caught up.

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#OffTheRackIsDead