 |
 |
||
|
|||
 |
 |
||
Are there any snowboard shops left? Join the debate. (The final word.)
August 21, 2000
Editor's note: Now, don't get me wrong, I think Jeff Harbaugh is one smart cookie with insights, found in the Market Watch column of SNOWboarding Business, that are often prophetic.
But his upcoming Market Watch column, quite frankly, says a few things we doubt a lot of people in the industry would agree with.
The vague undercurrent we were left with after reading the article was that the excitement in snowboarding has died and that the snowboard business has gotten boring.
But, as we've said, we're not one to discount Harbaugh's opinions out of hand (at least not too often). So, here's the story. Read it and then join the fray with your opinion by e-mailing: [email protected]
The Retailer�s Dilemma
Are There Any Snowboard Shops Left?
By Jeff Harbaugh
Used to be that I�d scurry home from Vegas in March with my extra backpack full of snowboard-dealer packages and, like a kid at Christmas, throw myself into them to see what was new. It still takes an extra backpack (though a smaller one�fewer brands but a lot more pages per brand), though this year there didn�t seem to be the same urgency to review them. In fact, I didn�t get around to really reading them in detail until, well, actually, late June.
I�ve also been thinking lately about what �the snowboard industry� is now and how things have changed for retailers. That thought process, and finally reading the new product packages, led me to think about retailer strategies and product purchasing. Retailers, I think, have to make buying decisions differently and look at snowboarding as just one piece of their selling strategy. Here�s why.
The Snowboard Industry�What Is It?
Five or seven years ago, snowboarding lead the way, representing an emerging demographic of young people interested in individual sports. Posers were disdained. If you didn�t snowboard, you shouldn�t have been wearing snowboard clothing. Margins on hardgoods were a lot higher, and retailers could build credibility around snowboarding.
Today, thank God for posers. They buy a lot of high-margin softgoods and accessory items. They aren�t even posers anymore. They�re just people who want to wear stylish, functional softgoods. After all, we all have to wear something.
Retailers carry hardgoods because they legitimize them as an action-sports lifestyle store and because customers ask for them. But they�d much rather sell shirts, jackets, or jeans that earn them a 50-percent-plus margin than a snowboard that earns them a 33.
I�m not suggesting that retailers don�t care about hardgoods, or that selling them doesn�t make a contribution to a store�s overall success. But retailing is a very tough business, and my hat�s off to those who succeed at it. Selling higher-margin items to a bigger potential customer group is a significant chunk of the success equation.
And it�s not just true in snowboarding. There�s not a lot of margin in skateboards, wakeboards, or surfboards (or skis or inline skates) either. In all these sports, the brands produce the hardgoods and support the teams, advertising, and promotion to legitimize the sport and (maybe more importantly) the lifestyle image with the target audience. But it�s the softgoods players who grow like mad and make a lot of the money because they can sell to a bigger group of consumers.
Retailers who are still in business figured out a long time ago that they can�t just sell snowboard product. They�ve got to have year-round cash flow because their overhead goes on all year, and they generally don�t have the balance sheets to support a long period of low sales. As larger corporations and the media have grabbed hold of action sports and the demographic it represents, the lifestyle has come to be, for better or worse, more of a focus than the sport in the larger population that represents a large chunk of retail sales.
Surfers skate, skaters snowboard, snowboarders surf. A skate shoe company I know does snow-influenced clothing. The commonalty isn�t the equipment, it�s the attitude, music, clothing, lifestyle. The equipment is just a tool. It used to be more of a statement. The equipment makers have contributed to this by making lots of quality equipment that�s often hard to tell apart and then endlessly trying to distinguish it by claiming various technical innovations that most of the time aren�t significant. When they are significant, they are drowned out by the promotional noise.
If you want to know what�s happened to the snowboard retailers who�ve fought this trend, check out your local court�s bankruptcy filings.
But why should they fight it?
A shop may have its roots in snowboarding, but here�s its chance to sell higher margin product to a larger customer base year round in more than one sport without the former danger of being seen as �selling out.�
Retailers can�t set the general trends, they can only recognize and take advantage of them. Since they are operating in an environment where there are, frankly, more of them than the market can reasonably support (though never enough good ones), recognizing and taking advantage of trends is a critical thing to do.
I hate this, but snowboarding has become a cog in the great corporate, action sports, youth demographic, marketing machine with the result that snowboard retailers have to approach the sport differently. The sport is still distinctive, but what it represents isn�t.
Retailer Challenges
With this background, I�ll try and put myself in a snowboard retailer�s shoes for a minute. I have the privilege of ordering in March or April something I won�t receive or start selling until late summer or fall, and have only three or so months to sell at full margin. If it doesn�t snow, I could be screwed, but that�s life. The hardgoods margins aren�t that great, and I�ve got to work the system for all the discounts, free P.O.P.s, and show bonuses I can get.
I know all my choices aren�t going to be right, and the probability is very high that after Christmas, or even before, I�ll have to offer some discounts. I feel better than I did a few years ago that the stuff will show up more or less when I want it, but I know there still will be some delivery glitches.
If I�m right on the product I choose, I may not be able to get any more of the hot-selling stuff when I run out in early December. My flexibility in ordering is constrained, to some extent, by brand requirements that I take product in certain proportion, by minimum order requirements, or by the space I have in my store. My ability to grow my order may be reduced by the brand-imposed credit limit.
Boy, life was almost better when you couldn�t get enough product, it was always late, and the quality was suspect. At least you could count on selling it all at a good margin.
Back To The Brochures
There you sit, having gone (or not gone) to more trade shows�at the worst time of the year�than you could possibly have a use for. Before you is a pile of paper two feet high with snowboard catalogs, price sheets, credit applications, terms and conditions, and order forms. Now what?
My recommendation is to always begin with the Mervin catalog. At least you know itsnarrative will keep you grinning as you review the product line. And it might ward off the depression you feel when you see some brands have the ski and snowboard prices in the same catalog. But shortly reality and inertia set in. Reality is:
Inertia comes from the fact that you�re already carrying�what? Burton, one or two other major brands, maybe one of the few surviving niche brands where you don�t have too much local competition, and one of the former high flyers that tanked and has been sold to somebody who�s trying to capitalize on any leftover brand equity. Five brands is about the max�maybe six. Merchandising them all well is going to be an effort.
What�s going to make you change brands? The rep from a brand you don�t carry has pictures of you at that Vegas party, and you don�t want them to see the light of day? Okay, that might do it. A major customer service or delivery snafu? Maybe. Prices and terms are pretty comparable. A lot of kids asking for a brand you don�t carry? Yup, that would do it. Major technological differences among product? In your dreams.
The bottom line is that with five or even three brands, you�ve got all your bases covered. If I were a retailer, I�d try to pick brands that helped me sell softgoods.
Hardgoods are starting to seem like props used to support the apparel and shoe sales that I suspect provide more than half the revenue and gross margin a typical store earns. It doesn�t seem to me like successful retailers are in the snowboard business anymore. They�re in the lifestyle, action sports, softgoods business�and they have to purchase and make decisions accordingly to succeed.
# # #
So, What Do You Think
Has snowboarding become, as Jeff says, a cog in the corporate marketing machine? Is it less exciting than the new "free ski" movement? What happened to snowboarding leading the way, bringing excitement and energy to the slopes? Or is it still there, but we in the industry have become so jaded that we fail to see the excitement any more?
E-mail your thoughts to [email protected]. The best answers will be run in the magazine, the rest on our web site.
The Responses So Far
Denise Ransome
MLY/M3
For us in the industry, hell yes our "sport" is not as exciting as it used to be. Its our job for godsake. Early in our careers in snowboarding we were enthusiasts of the sport. It was not only new to the world, but it was new to us. As we have grown up in our industry it has become a business. It is our job, our career. The corporate involvement has allowed us, the privileged few, to make a living centered around something we love to do and a lifestyle we like to lead. But, as I said earlier it is our job and every job has its doldrums. Sure, we (snowboarding) has become a cog in the corporate machine. But that is necessary for our sport, lifestyle and industry to remain living and breathing.
Now, is the sport still exciting to the rest of the world. Well, spend one hour up at Mt. Hood this summer. You can feel the energy in the air. Snowboarding is very much still as exciting as it ever was. Maybe even more so. The kids (remember that's what we are in this for, besides making money) are still beside themselves when they see Blaise Rosenthal or Todd Richards walking around Government Camp. With the "cog" effect we have made the sport more accessible to more kids that get even more excited than ever before. The look in that 13 year-olds eye when he lands his first 360 is the same look Andrew Crawford had when he landed his first 360. Snowboarding is fun, it always has been, and with better product, more resorts catering to it and all the corporate driven hype it is probably more fun, and exciting to kids today.
Brad Steward
Founder Of Bonfire, Movie Mogul
I only have two thoughts. 1. I'm not sure that snowboarding ever lead in the manner he describes, sure it was (is) a key component of youth culture, but so were a lot of other things (video games, music and skateboarding, just to name a couple). The impression we made on youth culture expanded broader than most assumed�but snowboarding is still something you do 'on snow', by and large in the winter. The early moves to define the culture tried to break out of the winter�summer camp and kicker competitions�which may broaden the impression. But, then you create an entire generation influenced by salted pipes, and Austrian Kicker heroes? That doesn't sound too cutting edge to me.
2. Industry people, pro riders, shop workers and magazine editors are the highest developed forms of being a 'poser'.
Martin Lehner
VP Sales Marketing Elan
Excuse me, in the last fifteenyears snowboarding has always been a "marketing machine for young demographic and posers". Look at the day-glo images ten years ago, the "Shawn Palmer" punk rock pictures, to the Forum core freestyle image that is leading the way. "It was and it is still all about IMAGE and�wonder what�all guys from "self-protrait core-riders" to "posers" are buying it. Difference was�snowboarding was but no longer really is an unique way of expression.
But isn�t that what the industry wanted to achieve? More professional run companies with a shareholder value approach? Distinctive core-image with higher sales and margins to main public? Yes, this has happened with a big and thankful-media push. Yes, after all this media-driven approach is very similar to all other "action-sports sold passive-hangaround being bought" sports campaings.
This is making the philosophy of snowboarding now interchangeable. And please do not cry about this and make posers or guys that like to wear technical-snowboard clothing responsible for this. Snowboard business and snowboard marketing has to re-invent itself to stay in focus of the dealers�that need to look always for new things on the market to stay competitive.
Chuck Allen
Mountain High
I work for a winter resort in Southern California and our ratio of skiers to snowboarders runs about 75% boarders and 25% skiers.
The personal satisfaction (or give it another name) that we all got in the early days is still there; embodied in the spirit of boarders of all ages.
I see two levels to snowboarding. One, is the soul thing, just like surfing. Two, is the commercial thing, something that is there, but not for everyone. Nothing is wrong with either one.
I worked many years in the boring ass banking business. The only thing that kept me sane around all the suits, was the fact that I surfed. To paddle out at Huntington, and sever all ties with everything that was on land, was the best feeling in the world. It's the same with me when I strap in and just cruise; then sit down and take in the wonders and beauty of winter. It's during that time that things get into focus.
Age bears no factor to the satisfaction of boarding. Boarding with our buds has a place alright, but cruising alone is just as important.
Contests are not for everyone; the pipe is not for everyone; boardercross is not for everyone. What is for everyone, are those moments of peace and reflection and satisfaction that comes form the purest form of boarding.
It has not gone away in surfing; it has not gone away in snowboarding.
Patrick Colton
Onboard Magazine
The soul of snowboarding is still very much alive and well in the hearts and souls of young men and women world-wide. However, their call to freedom has been muted by the deafening blows of greed. Even soulful start-ups like Onboard Magazine have become greedy little whores to the almighty dollar. Does anyone in the industry actually ride snowboards anymore, or are they just corporate transplants who prefer the pubs in Chamonix to the pubs in London?
Fortunately, there are still companies like Billabong Europe that manage to grow, prosper,and keep it real -those boys are the first out the door on a big swell days, and the first to give back to youth in ways that encourage the enjoyment and proliferation of the sport rather than the blatant exploitation of a cool lifestyle.
The only way to keep holy the soul of snowboarding is to ride your snowboard and to share the contagious joy we experience with others, which is exactly what I plan to do upon my bittersweet departure from this industry...
See you in the water and on the hill. Thanks Trey Cook, for keepin' it real.
Pat Fraley
Counter Culture
To a certain extent i think he is correct. Six or seven years ago snowboarding was full of young upstart companies that oozed energy. Remember SIA in the early snowboarding days? I can think of only a few that are still around. As the sport got more sophisticated and the smaller guys fell off the map, that left it open for the bigger and better equipped ski /outerwear companies who have the manufacturing expertise to take advantage, along with a handful that made the cut. I still count the days till the season opener and ride as much as I can, but it's not the same as it was a few years ago...
Aaron Macdonald
Westbeach Sports Inc. Marketing & Team Manager
I can definitely sympasize with Jeff; as one of the many who have watched this sport develop over the years.
I can remember when snowboarding was cool, cool meaning rebellious, a tight knit community of person dedicated to make the sport of snowboarding excepted for what it is�a fun sport, and not a bunch of hooligans who wear baggy pants and smoke dope. Back in '89 we used to have to take a certification course just ride down the hill, now, resorts are welcoming snowboarders as a major economical resource for their own survival.
But, as with all things; time, money, and big corporate agenda has, indirectly, made the sport of snowboarding more mainstream. Where snowboarding was known as a rebellious sport of dirty kids, now it is cool. Heck the whole family can do it now, and look cool.
The big corporations (I mean the big Snowboard Corporations ) will need to work together, or individually as the case may be, to keep that authenticity of the sport alive. What that is I don't know, perhaps looking at what made snowboarding what it is today, be it creating that unique image, or maybe we just need to teach the " posers " how to snowboarding, teach them what made us stay with the sport for these many years.
Snowboarding must stay authentic.
Just my thoughts!
Abe Gilreath
Owner Mission Six Clothing
Yes, snowboarding in many was has become a clog in the corporate marketing machine, corporate America is always a set behind, they see a life style and identity that really seemed to peak a few seasons ago and are trying to attach themselves to it. That's only natural. No the free ski movement is not more exciting. One reason in seams more exciting I think is because the kids and athletes are running the show the industry is simply having to get behind what their doing.
Yes the excitement is still their! Mission Six see it every season when a couple thousand kids move form the cities to pack 12 people into a over price one bedroom apartment in Mammoth. The excitements here. Perhaps the industry has become a bit jaded. Their is allot of enter turmoil tarring at the sport , issues like the governing body of the Olympics who's behind it and who's not, large cooperation looking for new avenues to feed the fire, a large shack out, & declining ski area visit. Also unlike the current free ski thing many of the truly dedicated kids have been lost in the shuffle. For exsample, I see the Olympic freestyle coach daily it's disconcerting that he has to go to main stream America to get sponsorship for his athletes, some of the most progressive riders in the sport are sponsored by the Gap and Polo!!! That's a failure on the industry behalf.
In closing, as a industry we all need to make money. We can only benefit from some main stream hype and new demographics getting turn on to to sport. But we as the torch holders need to get back to the roots, isn't that individualistic spirit what got the industry were it is. We need to bring snowboarding to new people on snowboarding's terms. I think the thought must be " Let cooperate America keep up with us." Currently we seam to be keeping up with them. We work in a seasonal business theirs only so much money to go around that's the reality. If snowboarding want to stay clear of the pit falls the ate up skiing we most meet new demographics and keep your image in our control even more importantly in the control of the kids out riding. If the kids are stocked the industry is stocked, they make the excitment.
Part one: Anyone can do it. When we lived up in Mammoth (�93-94 season) we went to Boreal one day and there was this guy that was an easy 300+ pounds with a shirt that said "drink till she's cute" one one side and "just f--in do me" on the other side. The shirt was bright orange and he had some stupid glasses on. Never before was it so clear that it really takes nothing to snowboard. Anyone can do it...
Part 2: transworld/EVERYONE hyped the hell out of it whenever a snowboarder got on tv, -- even if it was in a gay Mountain Dew commercial. This just opened the door for crap.
Part 3: anyone can do it. People who want to look cool go up there for no other reason to hit on people. I saw Christian Slater one night at Summit -- the night before Christmas eve -- with brand new gear on (that there was no way he'd ridden in that day), hitting on some girl. It was a pathetic sight. Most of the people who buy stuff, though, are these type people. They want to look good. I look like a grub when I ride, partialy for this reason. I have a seven-year-old brown Burton jacket and a five year old pair of burton pants.
Ride because it's fun.
I left the ski industry fourteen years ago and began snowboarding because I was bored with the business and the lack of excitement in the sport. I do see snowboarding heading down a similar path.
At times I get frustrated and wonder why I'm still in this industry. What straightened me out was two weeks ago when I took my daughter on a business trip with me to Portland and then over to Hood for some summer riding. There were tons of kids having fun. We saw some pros, made some runs, and soaked up the whole scene. She was super-stoked and as a father, it was a great thing to witness.
Snowboarding is so much fun and working in the business is fun so don't forget why we're all here! I agree with Jeff on many of these points and I hope that we're not holding a forum someday on how to resurrect the sport.
Where has the soul gone? I don't want to sound like the "In my day we didn't have....." guy, but c'mon. It just seems to be lacking in overall, something.
I've been riding for twelve years. I've ridden for a couple of different companies in the past. While doing my "job"(ha ha) for these companies I could feel the industry changing.
I'm not sure if it was the skate influenced jib-bonk era or the retirement of Craig Kelly, but something definitely shifted the gears. Personally speaking the actual act of snowboarding means as much to my today as it ever has, but the industry? Too corporate for me. I have to agree with Jeff.
Rob Mathews
I read your thoughts and they hit me. I can remember five years ago going to the Toronto Snowbaord and ski show. I would pack my bag full of catologs, stickers, and any other thing I could find to do with snowboarding. I would hurry home and dump my bag out like it was full of candy on halloween.
As the years have gone by I have seen the show turn into mostly snowboarding booths, but each year I feel less and less. I can�t feel what i used to feel. The soul of snowboarding has been hard to find in a group of riders these days.
Now the only time I feel like family member in snowbaording is at the Snowbaord Canada party after the show. Everyone there is there cause they live to ride. Companies in the industry have turned into hookers. They stand on the snowboarding road and home for someone to pick them up. They are there for the money.
ZJ Boarding House
Jeff is absolutely right! Maybe he1s a little crass in the way he states it, but the state of the true snowboard retailer is in jeopardy. Is this something new? I think if you check those bankruptcy records you�ll actually find out it has been going on for quite some time. Is it because snowboarding has become "stale"? Of course not. The kids don�t see the industries dirty laundry being aired.
Is it because these so-called "posers" have invaded the sport? Not unless there was a world-wide poser discount on all snowboard product. Is it because snowboarding has become a cog in the corporate marketing wheel? Attention = disolve, don�t think so.
The fact of the matter is the only way any business can survive is if at the end of the year its balance sheet shows a profit. (That is of course assuming you aren�t an internet start up.) This rule applies to both the manufacturer and the retailer. As you will all remember, seven years or so ago snowboarding was experiencing tremendous growth. In anticipation of this growth continuing, existing manufacturers geared up production capabilities and new companies jumped in the mix. Unfortunately, even though there was still growth in the sport, the supply of goods surpassed the demand. Simple economics took over and prices began to fall. The allure of snowboarding was, however, continuing to grow and the bigger sporting-goods stores and chains began to jump on the bandwagon. They sucked up the excess inventory at greatly discounted prices and begin the price war.
Manufacturers justified selling to these retailers by saying they would bring more awareness to the sport, or we�re only selling them low-end product, or giving some crap line about percentage increase in orders wasn�t met at the specialty level. We�ve all heard the lines or used them ourselves. This is where the pure snowboard retailer began to lose. These big retailers, simply put, lowered the consumer�s expectations of how much snowboarding equipment should cost. The small retailers, while still selling the same amount of product, were forced to sell it at a lower price to compete. Lower price = lower margin = less on the bottom line. As Jeff states some began to diversify to make up for the loss. And the retailers who refused for various reasons, well, most of them are no longer with us.
So is this something we can reverse? Very improbable. Snowboarding itself is still alive with passion. New people are trying it everyday and realizing how great a sport it really is. The media has picked it up as a major marketing tool used to sell everything from cars to fried chicken. There is no way the big sporting-goods retailers are going to stop selling snowboards.
Jeff may find that it has made the industry a little boring in his mind, but maybe we just need to look for new ways to liven it up again. We are all partly responsible for the state snowboarding is in right now. We have all made our mistakes and need to learn from them. Manufacturers need to come up with ways to creatively support the retailers who support them and the retailers need to return the favor. The industry also needs to realize there is a lot more to selling a snowboard than placing it on isle four between the tennis rackets and scooters.
Or one way we could give the competitive edge back to the pure snowboard retailer, only allow manufacturers to sell snowboarding equipment to retailers who actually snowboard.
I have never been so discouraged about snowboarding as I have when I read this article. I'm a product of what you refer to as the corporate wave of snowboarding. I am not, nor ever have been a skateboarder, surfer, skier or whatever else, I'm a snowboarder.
I've only been at it for four years, so I guess I'm still a newbie by your standards. First off I think you should get out of the snowboard industry and do it immediately. If you are this down on the sport and you can actually put your name on a piece like this, then you obviously have lost the love and should go find yourself a nice job where you won't be negatively influencing those of us who do care.
Over the past year I've been able to wedge myself into the industry, and you know what I love it. I'm a slacker through and through, but being a part of this sport is my dream job, I work harder at this than anything I've ever done. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
You know what your article reminded me of. Back in my dj days people would cry "sellout" at any band that managed to make a little money. You are doing the same thing here, while at the same time not having all of your facts straight. You put an article into print where you state continuously that you aren't sure of the profit margins and whatnot.
Facts are the key to good journalism, trust me I know from experience. Maybe next time you should stick with the facts. You know what I'm angry and this letter sounds like crap because I'm just letting my feelings flow. But that's ok, because my writing isn't going to be read by easily influeneced youth.
Snowboarding is the best sport in the world, there isn't anything I'd rather be doing, and I mean anything. The only detractors to the sport are older folks who've been around, longing for the good old days, when you couldn't ride any mountains, and when your board was a heavy piece of shit, and everyone looked down at you. Any sport will progress, evolutions are inevitable.
Next time instead of looking at all the downfalls of this evolution, try looking at the positives this sport provides millions, look at the young kids who know nothing about corporations pushing to the next level, look at trick progressions, and look at the fact that over the past few years millions of people became snowboarders not because of stylish clothing but because it's the greatest .
I urge you to try sticking to facts instead of poorly formed opinions in your writing, because I am informed consumer (besides working in the industry). You may not care about one person's gripes, but I've always been a huge fan of TW as it's normally a very reputable magazine that still presents things in a fun light. I hope I never see crap like this published by TW again, because I have no problem taking my business elsewhere.
CEO Technine
Jeff always makes us all stop and think about what we are doing. He has brought up some very interesting points.
Technine is a small family owned company that still caters to the real snowboarders who appreciate a product that is designed by snowboarders and sold on the premise of 100% customer satisfaction. We are 90% hardgoods and 10% softgoods so Jeff hit home in his analysis of what margins shops need. We are still alive is this sea of corporate giants because we have adapted to the needs of the shops. We offer over 50% margins on bindings, which are hardgoods; in addition, we maintain a full inventory so shops do not have to place big stocking orders. Best of all our product is available for re-orders throughout the entire season.
Has the excitement gone out of the Snowboarding Industry? Hell no! My son's and their friends convinced me in 1996 to throw away my three-piece suit and join them in their casual lifestyle. To be perfectly honest it also helped to have an order from Japan for $400,000 with a $200,000 deposit. It turned out to be the best decision of my life although the Japanese market feel apart in our second year of business. What a scramble to survive.
We at Technine wake up every morning full of enthusiasm and energy facing major challenges every day. We are proud to be part of such a dynamic industry. Anything as big as Snowboarding has become will eventually become part of the Corporate Cog as Jeff has so aptly pointed out, however it is up to us to never give up trying to keep the level of excitement alive.
YES, Jeff there are Snowboard shops left and YES excitement still exists!
I think a lot of this has to do with all of us getting older. We're all bitter because we have beer guts and we don't snowboard everyday like we used to. I can't do a 360 flip to save my life. Of course shit isn't as cool as it used to be- we've all been there and done that. Companies are all taking the safe route with ads and catalogs, everything looks the same. Transworld wouldn't let a company run an ad that might offend someone anyway. (that's why this whole discussion is a bit ironic)
As far as the retail side of things, this has always been my theory:
Everything that's considered cool or wack in the kids� eyes filters down from the pros, to the companies, to the sponsored amateurs, to the shop employees, to the kids buying stuff. The shops are the key to keeping the local scene fresh and healthy. Building skate obsticles, holding contests, demos and video premiers all keep kids stoked. Shops that aren't investing in the local scene are going to find themselves out of business in a few years once ESPN cancels the X-Games. The only thing I can say about chain stores is that they don't support the community.
I'm as bitter as anyone on how stale things are these days, but at the end of the day, I really don't care. I still snowboard as much as possible, and have a hell of a good time doing it. Nothing else really matters, and it never has.
Thanks for listening
I am not involved in the industry other than as a guy who enjoys riding. I have no expertise or real knowledge, but that won't keep me from plowing ahead. I grew up near Pipeline skatepark in Upland and went to school with the Albas so I saw the ups and downs of the skateboarding industry. It was hot and cold, but I'm not sure how much the actual numbers of skaters fluctuated. I am pretty sure that retailers were VERY affected by the swings in cool-ness. I would say that most action sports retailers (remember ACTION NOW?) have always made most of their money off the kooks and posers. Probably always will. I bet that this "Remember when it was pure and everyone was hardcore" thing is nothing more than romantic nostalgia. I don't have sales figures to back this up, that's just my impression.
For retailers - it must be a very tough road. Order last years hottest hat/t-shirt brand (World) and hope it will be hot again (Volcom?) or try the new upstart company and hope that they hit. The brands of boards and bindings that are high quality and sell well (Burton) are too stable and un-cool to push many knick-knacks. Cool brands make their money off items where quality is less of an issue, like t-shirts and beanies. Make more room for finger snowboards.
Two things that I do think have changed:
1. The Change the world vibe Snowboarding was gonna blow skiing away and become the great thing that ignited the world. The fervor that you feel when you start something (a sport, a home improvement project or a relationship) is always short-lived. That doesn't mean you enjoy it any less, it's just not that slam of wild adrenaline it was the first time out the gate. Idealism always fades.
2. The Make all the money vibe People like to make money, everyone does. At one point it looked like owning a snowboard retail outlet or starting a soft/hardgood company was a way to get real rich, real fast. Like the stockmarket, people gor obsessed with 20-50% growth per year, a very unreasonable expectation. Instead, the growth curve flattened and making money in snowboard land became like a job. Snowboarding is still great, but the industry seems more like a business. To me, that seems like a small price to pay for not working at a mortgage brokers office.
Nitro
I have never understood why people lament change, because change is the only thing you can count on. Everything in life is in a constant state of change, including the snowsports industry. When snowboarding was small the whiners cried about how we didn't get the respect we deserved. Now with the Olympics and sculpted snowboard parks at nearly every mountain, these same types are quick to inform us that we have lost our soul. It is impossible to think that snowboarding could grow from infancy to it's current state without changes at the retail and every other level.
On the other hand, as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I talked to a kid yesterday who has been working all summer to buy his first board, just like I did in 1984. For this kid, snowboarding has not gotten boring like it has for Jeff.
Do you think that the short ski industry will be having the same discussion in five or six years?
Just a thought.
Storm Riders Snowboard Shop
The employees at Storm Riders ride every day! They are able to test equipment regularly which helps them educate the buyers, provide technical service through tuning and repairing equipment, being a contact between manufacturer and buyer for warranty services, customize demo packages for potential buyers. So yeah, we'd like to stand up and be counted.
I feel that since the beginning it's been about getting out and riding. Those of us in the industry tend not to ride any more or smoke pot any more. It's all about the necessary evil, money! I can assure you, even though you may not be able to ride there is plenty of America's youth out riding and smoking pot, every day. Remember when everyone would disappear into the trees at the top of half pipe contests and all you'd smell is the sweet stink of skunk? Not to mention the freedom people expressed by smoking pot in their booths at trade shows. That's the type of freedom this industry was built on -- not that everyone smokes pot.
Snowboarding has definitely succumbed to corporate control. Just like when the government stole the land from the Indians, and made money the soul of its existence. Just like there are still Indians, there are still snowboard shops. You have to look to specific regions to find them, kind of like Indian reservations.
These regions are in the towns which service their respective mountain resort. The nightmares of retailing Jeff mentions are clear as day. Over the past twelve years service and rentals has been the most consistent source of business for us, though our retail business is just as Jeff describes the change of what a snowboard shop is today. The pre-booking season, the selling season and the off season are magnified by 10 for shops in these regions. I feel that being a service and demo center separates shops in these regions as being true core snowboard shops, because this is where the board meets the snow, and the primary focus is snowboarding.
So go scalp the corporate executive who stole your sport and nail it to a tree on your way up to the top of the mountain.
Domination Propaganda
Having been a rookie last winter to the industry, I have another perspective to give to your apathetic feelings. The competitions for example suck, because you have to do a 9 or a switch seven to win. Thus taking away all that is spontanious and progressive about contests.
Most of the conditions to these contest are poor at best anyways. Therefore it is not because there is a Nike banner on the side of the halfpipe or ESPN camera crews, that the contest is lame.
Stores on the other hand suck also. Most of the people who work behind the overpriced sticker display, are conceited losers. Service is biased at best, and the product prices are inflated.
Everyone in the industry are a bunch of old geezers. Admit to the fact that you grew up on Damien Sanders and his one-piece neon suits, or Chris Roach with his tweeked grabs.
Well then, do you think that the kid who is saving up his money today is looking to buy the latest Hooger Booger or Checkered Pig board. I hope that I made my point clear. Snowboarding is for the kids, and they will decide in what direction it goes. At 20 years old, I grew up watching Jamie Lynn rip up 540s in Project 6, and Peter Line pulling methods for Division 23 in a baseball cap.
Kids today see J.P Walker ride Forum in camouflage, and a Michealchuck pull double flips in the pipe. Snowboarding is going to change in some respects, but not in others. Progression in tricks is going to slow down. Like Terje said in Hakkonsen Faktor; Enough with the ballerina style. Bigger transitions, huge lofty tricks with tweeks and late spins are going to be key. Soon the are going to be indoor venues, with superpipes.
Clothes are going to change sizes and colors and you�re going to look more stupid within every day. Hey, the only reason why we are writing about this is because we love the sport so much, but many people could care less. So the kids will grow old and the pessimists will place their bets, but never the less, I will still ride my snowboard until the sun sets.
Some of them do go occasionally or have gone at least a few times. Many of them don't but want to. They're interested in trying snowboarding, if only to reconnect with "Nature" in some way. In many instances the desire to snowboard has more to do with wanting to be outside and in the mountains than wanting to actually "go snowboarding." As in, they want a breather from city-life and some sort of reaffirmation that life does in fact exist elsewhere, and in a way that has nothing to do with concrete and steel canyons, taxi cabs, and puddles of schmutz.
To many of these pals, my life in snowboarding as an athlete, writer, adventure-seeker, free-spirit(whatever) is fascinating. They wonder what the hell it is that motivates me to get in harm's way. Some of them envy and/or ridicule my passion for snow-play and that elusive "natural" environment -- but nonetheless they are all fascinated. A fantasy realm that they can neither quite comprehend, nor fully appreciate -- we as snowboarders live our lives going to places they can't get to; neither emotionally, mentally or physically.
This is a huge part of why snowboarding appeals to those in the mainstream�those people that we on the inside of snowboarding would call outsiders. Your editor is having a crisis of faith. Makes sense, those people so many of us snowboarding insiders once called outsiders are now outnumbering us insiders. The outsiders are now the insiders simply by virtue of how many of them occasionally go snowboarding and/or buy snowboards and snowboard related products. They're the financial force driving the advancement (product developement, media coverage, advertising tie-ins- "Do The Dew," "Totally Extreme!" all that bullshit) of snowboarding.
We all know this. Any insider living the lifestyle sport of snowboarding who would say otherwise is a total fucking idiot and/or liar. But really the question should be do you as an insider think this is a good thing or a bad thing?
Certainly, we all still snowboard for our "core" reasons -- that is in effect the party line so many in this industry tow as a way to delineate their reasons for being involved verses the reasons of the "corporate" interests staking claims on the sport. Yet, at this point staying "core" is as much of a personal marketing scam as is being "totally extreme" a 5th Avenue marketing scam. OF COURSE.
However, being "core" while lamenting the demise of snowboarding as a fringe-activity has more inherent coolness associated with it. It would seem that your editor is questioning this sort of personal vs. professional marketing of himself, the sport, and himself within the sport. He's making a living from snowboarding but he's wondering why and if he still fits in -- wondering if he fits into a scene that he can no longer claim is his. Indeed, that is a bit of a mind-fuck. We can watch snowboarding explode in the mainstream and still reap the benefits while still appearing "core." How? By dissing the mainstreaming of the sport.
Does that make sense? Am I being clear?
But I think that is near-sighted and sort of like cheating. It is nostalgic in the worst way. I think it would be best for your editor to realise a few very basic points and make his peace with them. It would be a lie to say that those of us who are LIVING SNOWBOARDING write stories, edit magazines, shoot photos, create products, start companies, run contests, consult for film and commercial accounts, work with pr firms, etc...are doing it soley for the thrill of a powder turn. These things are also done for a stab at mainstream acceptance and the expansive dollars that sometimes come with it.
We are all hoping to maintain that "core" idealism while expanding the sport's appeal to a greater number of consumers/nerds/mainstream snowboarders each year. If anything or anyone is to blame or thank for putting snowboarding where it is now in the public eye it's the people who have had the passion for it all along. Pat yourself on the back or jump off a bridge if you feel all that good/bad. Those of us who ride snowboards are directly responsible for the mainstreaming of snowboarding. This is a good and very beautiful thing. We enjoy it so we tell our friends and families...it grew by word of mouth until it could no longer be just a blip on the radar of our global collective conscience.
Some (perhaps your editor) would argue that our enthusiasm was too infectious? Great until it came back to bite us in the ass? That is near-sighted. Our enthusiasm has created a monster and in the process it has lost some of its original soul, grace and rebel appeal. We are all over TV, magazines, boxes of cereal...blah blah blah. We ARE boring because we are everywhere. Jeff is right, we have been tamed.
Snowboarding as the GenX sport of choice is no more. But we asked for it. We pushed for acceptance at ski areas. We helped to build major magazines. Athletes have done it by their willingness to do ever-more-spectacular stunts in front of the camera. Sales teams have done it by going after advertisers like Mountain Dew and Dodge. That's no rocket science.
Your friend Jeff, the "Snowboarding Business Magazine" editor has helped to create the mess he's concerned about simply by taking a job in the snowboarding industry. Perhaps he had the noblest intentions but the outcome nonetheless is the same. He helps generate content and by doing so has brought snowboarding to where it is today. That simple.
So this brings me to your question about snowboarding and where its at now that it's gone mainstream? Look, if we think about snowboarding within a cultural-historical context and compare it with other seemingly radical sports, arts or musical movements we'll quickly discover that there is nothing all that different about where we as a lifestyle/industry find ourselves at the current time. These things are obvious. I too used (about seven years ago) to get all worked up about how big snowboarding was getting and would wonder if it still appealed to me as it once did when it was truly new, radical and capable of ruffling the $800 Fila powder suit and ski bunny set.
There was a time when being a snowboarder meant being a part of something sort of subversive, of demanding equal rights on the chairlifts at ski areas. It felt like punk rock. It felt like civil rights (absurd now that I'm older and wiser). It felt like something new and strong and beautiful. It felt like something worth sharing with other people. But as we little kids were there in the rain-soaked parking lots sleeping in our cars, hitch-hiking, pouring over ISM, duct-taping our pants to our Sorels and wearing rubber rain gear -- there was a whole other world happening in snowboarding: the business world. We didn't see it, we didn't even think about it. We just assumed that anyone making snowboards had to be as stoked and into it for the same "right" reasons as we were. But we were wrong.
Even in the earliest days of riding, for many snowboarders and manufacturers, the greater goal also included equal representation in all things: money, status, Olympic Games, TV coverage, commercials, film, homeownership, vacations in Mexico, and Vegas tradeshows, etc.
Back when I first realised this I was so devastated. Then I snapped out of it. How? I looked at the world I live in both inside of and out of snowboarding. Things grow up. Things get bigger. Or they die. Or they no longer innovate and become some novelty, some hobby for goofy elitists. It is this way inevitably with damn near every human endevour ever undertaken. Some underdog has an idea, or an axe to grind, or a legitimate oppressor to overcome and eventually through a great deal of hardwork, innovation and/or protest they come out on top. They get one over on the mainstream. But in doing so they create something that appeals to a larger audience. They think they are then seemingly free to do whatever it is they want...to guide the process how they see fit. But it doesn't ever work like that.
If an idea or movement is good enough, fun enough, profitable enough, then it becomes exploited and absorbed by the very thing it initially railed against; i.e. the mainstream.
Bear with me and try to wrap your head around the picture I'm trying to paint here. Here's an example that might not be so obvious. The French still-life and portrait painter Chardin in the 1700's was painting images of the servant classes. Maids ladeling soup, washing clothes, cutting fish, setting the table...things that when we look at them now seem pretty mundane. But to the aristocracy and to the clergy these images seemed quite strange. Why? They were paintings of servants doing work -- not images of Christ, or priests or saints, or the royal/wealthy families of the time. He was considered a rebel in his day. He broke with tradition and said in effect that there was more to life than the stories of The Elites, The Powerful, The Holy. Chardin was a rebel that is, until his way of thinking and his images became so sought after for their "new way of thinking" about art and life in general that they changed how everyone thought of painting, art and life in general forever. And all of a sudden every painter was happy to create images of servants, slaves, trees, leg of mutton, and vases of flowers. And soon enough every rich family, priest, and duke throughout Europe had at least one portrait or still-life painting adorning the wall of his home or church.
That was the beginning of a phenomenon that got us to where we are now: we've now got a 300-year-old tradition of portrait and still-life painting so tedious, so devoid of life and enthusiasm that everytime anyone of us looks at such a painting all we can do is yawn. A radical idea in painting became mainstream. So mainstream in fact that we today in the 21st Century have no relationship with the radical history of this style of painting. Painting the mundane used to be radical. Now it is just mundane.
What does this have to do with snowboarding? It should seem obvious. A snowboard now sits in the corner of every suburban garage collecting dust next to the SUV with roof-racks. It used to be quite radical to meet someone who owned a snowboard. Those of us who did were considered kindred spirits. No longer.
Your worst enemy rides a snowboard. Every person you wanted to be and/or never wanted to be also JUST LIKE YOU rides a snowboard. He has the same clothes, the same stance, the same haircut, the same boots, and the same attitude about snowboarding. He and you both think it is RADICAL when in fact now it is just simply a fun and nice, challenging way to get exercise and personal enlightenment.
On TV, snowboards sell soda pop, cars, and toothpaste. When anyone of us hears a Blues song on the car radio we don't think about 500 years of slavery. When we hear rock and roll we don't imagine Little Richard playing the piano with his feet and screaming like a lunatic on the Ed Sullivan show. We think of Matchbox 20 and yawn, wondering just what the hell went wrong. We see punk rockers begging change in front of McDonald's and shake our heads -- no longer able to see ourselves in their actions or attitudes about what punk rock is "supposed" to mean.
Snowboarding has now gotten to this same point in its relatively short 20 years. How? The skiing world though originally loathe to accept it is now quite grudgingly grateful to us for pulling it out of a slump. TV loves Action! Action! Action! We give them action with attitude. TV loves Attitude! Especially with Action! We are also in a very prosperous time here in America. More disposable income means more ding dongs buying snowboards and lift tickets. It all makes perfect sense that snowboarding is where it is. And we all helped get it there. Is that bad? Is it wrong? Is it a terrible place we find ourselves at? Yes and no.
Yes, if you are prone to being a nostalgic. If you are inclined toward lamenting the passing of time. If you are uneasy with the thought that someone stole your thunder and is now using you, your generation, and your lifestyle sport as a "Youth Culture Marketing Tool." Yes, if you are bummed at the thought that one of the most important things in your life has been totally sucked dry, commodified and handed back to you as a foreign yet familiar beast.
No, if you recognize that nostalgia is slow death. No, if you believe that change is good, necessary and inevitable. No, if you recognize the fact that eventually you will die and all of this has simply been an interesting journey. No, if you understand that riding a toy, breathing fresh air and making money from working with all five senses beats the hell out of digging ditches or gutting fish. No, if you divest yourself of the notion that snowboarding is "cool," "core," or "mainstream." Rather, it is community.
Try to live snowboarding believing that it (like everything else) is the sum of its parts- it cannot be defined clearly. Sure, it can be marketed and packaged for the lowest common denominator, it can be sold until it is no longer stimulating the masses. But that doesn't mean it no longer stimulates.
This brings me back to what I was saying about my friends in NYC. They are not snowboarders though some of them go snowboarding. Or they want to go snowboarding. They like the way a Bonfire jacket looks so they buy it to get around the city. F� it, we're not talking about the sale and marketing of sweaters made from baby seals. We're talking about waterproof/breathable fashions made of plastics and linens. These "average/outsider" people represent the majority of snowboard product buyers. Fine. This is not a bad thing in and of itself. When I think about them or the masses out there like them who sort of go snowboarding I don't resent them. They pay our bills. And in exchange they get to look sharp! Radical dude. I know they're interested in snowboarding because I, you, all of us who LIVE SNOWBOARDING full-time have made them interested. I am responsible. Whether they know it or not doesn't matter.
Leave the talk of "Poseurs" to reruns of Square Pegs. That shit is played out. Whether snowboarding matters to them as much as it does to me doesn't even matter. All that counts is that they know life is elsewhere -- it is up in the mountains, on a chairlift, in the backcountry, over a cornice, through a chute, near the trees. We had a secret we wanted to share with the world until the world wanted in on not only the secret but the cool cache that came along with it. That's fine.
Is snowboarding cool anymore you friend wonders? Is it cutting edge anymore? If you think progressively as opposed to nostalgically...if you think (this is going to sound corny) spiritually as opposed to materialistically...then the answer is: IT DOESN"T MATTER.
The version of it that we all grew up with and tried to introduce to the world is over. But that doesn't mean it is over in our lives. If the mainstreaming of snowboarding means that more people go snowboarding and it gets them out of the house, city or office chair then I'm all for it being mainstream. Bring on the lame commercials. Bring on the schmaltzy X-GAMES and all of the other painful, embarrasing bullshit. If snowboarding is mainstream enough to take kids (like me) out of the inner-city, away if only for a moment from poverty, violence and the general decay and idiocy of human interaction then so be it. Snowboarding is dead. Long live Snowboarding!
This season I was planing to buy a Type A snowboard that was until I found out that they were bought out by Kemper. The only reason I wanted to buy that brand was because they were a small company that made really good boards with super fast bases, but now who knows what kind of money-saving schemes the company is going to use to make there boards cheeper.
The good thing about my local snowboard shop is that it dose not carry wack cheesy products that are overpriced. I encourage all my friends to go to snowboard shops instead of the local sports and fishing store to buy snowboard products just because I want them to look cool and feel comfortable when they are up on the mountain. Most snowboard shops don't buy big name companies that make bikes, rollerblades,skis and toilet seats they buy small companies that are helping snowboarding progress with there designs and ideas.
I wish people would realize this and support there local shops.
I read Jeff's article with great interest. I empathize with his feelings that snowboarding has become both broader -- but somehow shallower -- in it's appeal.
But the reality is snowboarding's ALWAYS been a business. It's just a lot of people in retailing and manufacturing haven't clued into that until recently. Retail is hard work and to do it successfully means understanding trends, market research, retail math, profitability, markdowns, etc. Not to mention people skills required to deal with staff and customers.
Regarding profitability - you've got to sell a whole lot of 50-point margin softgoods at $50 to 80 each to make up the profit on a $900 board. And softgoods margins, while higher, certainly aren't immune from getting squeezed. At the end of the day, it's not solely about margin on individual items. It's about how much money you end up taking to the bank. And the successful retailers I know do that by selling a reasonable blend of soft and hard goods -- neither at the expense of the other. They also sell hardgood products to consumers that will make them rider better; enhance their enjoyment of the sport; and that consumers will feel good about buying months or years down the road. That invariably means carrying brands that are recognized and who stand behind their product with warranties and the deep pockets required to run quality manufacturing and R&D.;
As for the charge that boarding is more about softgoods lifestyle and less about hard goods -- you may want to be part of the solution vs. part of the problem. You want people to be excited about hardgoods ? Then your magazine may wish to start writing articles that focused more on giving readers insight and understanding into hardgoods that extends beyond 32 pics of a pro going off a cliff and a annual buyers guide that was woefully inadequate in explaining board basics. People are hungry for more info. besides showing them base graphics.
Rocky Mountain Rep Never Summer/Technine/686 Outerwear
From the time I took the fin off a waterski to make my first snurfer, to buying a real Snurfer, to getting a job in a factory (shucking the VP/suit and tie job) shaping cores, to working alongside Chuck Barfoot at my first Vegas show -- I'd do it all again three times over to lead this lifestyle and keep on snowboarding. I'm way stoked on the hill, remembering being on the hill, talking about being on the hill, or preparing my gear for the next time up!
Are there real snowboard retailers left? Yeah, there's a bunch of them. They HAVE to make margins in order to pay rent, employees, advertising, etc.
Yes, hardgood margins suck compared to softgoods -- at least the folks I work for recognize that and work to support those that support us distribution wise. Retailers who want to survive will devote quality space to T-shirts, jackets and accessories they can keystone. Selling a lifestyle is just a part of owning a successful business. That doesn't in any way make them "not a real snowboard retailer." They must keep up with what's hot (scooters, shoes, videos, etc) and sell it so they can provide a service to all who slide sideways too.
Are we just a cog in a big corporate machine? Yes and no. Depends on who you talk about and what they wanted in the first place. When Jake Burton went to his first SIA show and wound up talking to the vendor next to him more so than the retailers, I'm sure he was bummed. He went there to SELL BOARDS and PROMOTE the sport, like every other board vendor that has gone to the shows since then. Now that folks have bought into the sport, what are you going to do, shut the door? Claim last one in with soul? You can't schedule a vacation in Phoenix in the Summer, then complain about the heat. It's gonna be frickin' hot.
We sell boards, bindings, softgoods and promote the sport. Some companies do their own thing, contrary to whatever corporate America wants, but all of us HAVE to sell boards, bindings, softgoods to be around next year and enjoy this lifestyle. If you no longer enjoy the lifestyle, perhaps a job in the food service or homemaking industry would be in order. This ain't boring or stale -- it's fun as hell compared to real corporate America (take it from someone who did ten years in that program before snowboarding saved my ass.)
All of us have a different style of doing it. Could be on a Mountain Dew commercial, could be by on snow demos, could be by providing "services" to retailers in a big Yellow Bus in the middle of a trade show. Selling our wares can be harsh sometimes, but it's necesary to survive. Enjoy what we have and keep the sport and our retailers alive.
I read Jeff's article with great interest. I empathize with his feelings that snowboarding has become both broader -- but somehow shallower -- in it's appeal.
But the reality is snowboarding's ALWAYS been a business. It's just a lot of people in retailing and manufacturing haven't clued into that until recently. Retail is hard work and to do it successfully means understanding trends, market research, retail math, profitability, markdowns, etc. Not to mention people skills required to deal with staff and customers.
Regarding profitability - you've got to sell a whole lot of 50-point margin softgoods at $50 to 80 each to make up the profit on a $900 board. And softgoods margins, while higher, certainly aren't immune from getting squeezed. At the end of the day, it's not solely about margin on individual items. It's about how much money you end up taking to the bank. And the successful retailers I know do that by selling a reasonable blend of soft and hard goods -- neither at the expense of the other. They also sell hardgood products to consumers that will make them rider better; enhance their enjoyment of the sport; and that consumers will feel good about buying months or years down the road. That invariably means carrying brands that are recognized and who stand behind their product with warranties and the deep pockets required to run quality manufacturing and R&D.;
As for the charge that boarding is more about softgoods lifestyle and less about hard goods -- you may want to be part of the solution vs. part of the problem. You want people to be excited about hardgoods ? Then your magazine may wish to start writing articles that focused more on giving readers insight and understanding into hardgoods that extends beyond 32 pics of a pro going off a cliff and a annual buyers guide that was woefully inadequate in explaining board basics. People are hungry for more info. besides showing them base graphics.
Rocky Mountain Rep Never Summer/Technine/686 Outerwear
From the time I took the fin off a waterski to make my first snurfer, to buying a real Snurfer, to getting a job in a factory (shucking the VP/suit and tie job) shaping cores, to working alongside Chuck Barfoot at my first Vegas show -- I'd do it all again three times over to lead this lifestyle and keep on snowboarding. I'm way stoked on the hill, remembering being on the hill, talking about being on the hill, or preparing my gear for the next time up!
Are there real snowboard retailers left? Yeah, there's a bunch of them. They HAVE to make margins in order to pay rent, employees, advertising, etc.
Yes, hardgood margins suck compared to softgoods -- at least the folks I work for recognize that and work to support those that support us distribution wise. Retailers who want to survive will devote quality space to T-shirts, jackets and accessories they can keystone. Selling a lifestyle is just a part of owning a successful business. That doesn't in any way make them "not a real snowboard retailer." They must keep up with what's hot (scooters, shoes, videos, etc) and sell it so they can provide a service to all who slide sideways too.
Are we just a cog in a big corporate machine? Yes and no. Depends on who you talk about and what they wanted in the first place. When Jake Burton went to his first SIA show and wound up talking to the vendor next to him more so than the retailers, I'm sure he was bummed. He went there to SELL BOARDS and PROMOTE the sport, like every other board vendor that has gone to the shows since then. Now that folks have bought into the sport, what are you going to do, shut the door? Claim last one in with soul? You can't schedule a vacation in Phoenix in the Summer, then complain about the heat. It's gonna be frickin' hot.
We sell boards, bindings, softgoods and promote the sport. Some companies do their own thing, contrary to whatever corporate America wants, but all of us HAVE to sell boards, bindings, softgoods to be around next year and enjoy this lifestyle. If you no longer enjoy the lifestyle, perhaps a job in the food service or homemaking industry would be in order. This ain't boring or stale -- it's fun as hell compared to real corporate America (take it from someone who did ten years in that program before snowboarding saved my ass.)
All of us have a different style of doing it. Could be on a Mountain Dew commercial, could be by on snow demos, could be by providing "services" to retailers in a big Yellow Bus in the middle of a trade show. Selling our wares can be harsh sometimes, but it's necesary to survive. Enjoy what we have and keep the sport and our retailers alive.
For some reason, those people making a living off of the sport seem upset that it's become as big as it has. Sorry to break the news but Snowboarding is an establishment... so get over it! Shops that are clinging to the diversity of their "hardgoods" brands are losing, true... but it's because of us, as snowboarders.
Those of us who would like to think that we are the "die hards" are still sitting here debating the merits of whether Christian Slater should be wearing brand new gear and hitting on 14 year olds... or whether the shops that we never frequent anymore are dying... yes they are dying, of course and the only way they survive is by feeding into what people want... What people want is not quality stuff that was made by the punk next door, they want Jake Burton to make their board or Peter Line to have put his name on it.
The fact is the people buying this stuff don't know the difference between sidecut and forward lean. And shop guys are not about to say "look at this MIA made in the east coast by guys you probably went to school with"... no "look at this Salmon or Forum"... because they have to survive.
I love my local shop, and I know that their lack of selection is linked to the real lack of distinction between brands. Why be different if the same old design sells every year, why waste the time and money? My advice is this, we are the final say in what goes and what stays. What has happened, good and bad, is entirely our own doing. Snowboarding is something beautiful and almost as personal as religion, but it's also a business. We can bring back our old guerrila glory days by just being who we always have been... the punk next door making something amazing out of nothing but a really good idea!
President, Cold As Ice Apparel
Jeff said: "I hate this, but snowboarding has become a cog in the great corporate, action sports, youth demographic, marketing machine with the result that snowboard retailers have to approach the sport differently. The sport is still distinctive, but what it represents isn't."
I say: No cogs here -- still "indie" and proud of it. I love having the control over stimulating excitement for a still very vibrant sport. I think snowboarding gave the free-skiing movement its vibe and is remains a distinctive sport and culture. It's great vibe has spread to a wider audience for sure, but it's still evolving and changing, maturing and innovating. Every season is our chance, as manufacturers, to bring new blood and new innovation to the sport. We aren't a group who likes sameness, so there's a great chance that we will reinvent the feel and refine the attitudes again and again.
The whole "bro thing" that Jeff speaks of, was after the fact -- it's not the spirit in which the sport started, but what it turned into, which was, I agree, a shame.
The market has matured, for the better. Today we get to make better product for consumers who demand it and retailers who can sell it. It's all one chain and the education and product sophistication is at an all-time high.
I don't quite get this part: "As larger corporations and the media have grabbed hold of action sports and the demographic it represents, the lifestyle has come to be, for better or worse, more of a focus than the sport for the chunk of the population that represents the largest portion retail sales."
President, Jager Di Paola Kemp
You become what you believe. This is the essence of snowboarding's truth. Keeping youth the driving engine will keep snowboarding in perpetual motion and creative change.
The established corporate sponsors attempting to take over control should be nervous as hell at all times -- not because snowboarding is designed to be difficult, complex or deliberately creating friction -- but because it is driven by youth -- core youth. Youth = risk, change, creativity, energy, fearlessness, honesty, questioning...
Together snowboarding and youth equal one clear thought - a three word manifesto: fuck the norm.
owner, capitolboardroom.com
But thinking back, I considered the first three years of riding to be the most fun. Everyone pushing each other, people joking each on other about their gear, and all those trips we made to resorts. Nowadays, it's like high school on the mountain all over again. Who looks the best, who has the coolest board, if you don't have the gear, and you can't ride worth a crap, you're considered a loser.
Who the hell cares? People are too wrapped in the commercialism aspect of "snowboarding" nowadays, which is pretty ignorant on their behalf. Why? I have seen people talk all night about snowboarding when they only go out once or twice a year, trying to impress the girls. The riders with the attitudes, new pimp gear, and no skills; but yet they have the right to trash talk other kids. People that don't know their skill levels, hitting the parks and black diamonds, clogging up the mountain, without a clue about the responsibility code.
People forget it's about having fun, not how popular you are or how you look on the mountain with people you don't know.
It is kind of scary to see snowboarding hit the mainstream since there will be more kids buying snowboard-oriented gear, and less hardgoods to convey that image. It's up to the retailers on what they want to focus on for the upcoming season. I think the last three years have been absolute crap on the mountain in terms of attitude.
I see this somewhat changing with people I have been talking to (for our area anyways). We dropped our team format, in hopes of getting more people to ride with us. One thing I do miss is riding with a bunch of people that are out there to have fun, not out to look good.
Where does that leave the shops? Although we are 100% online, doesn't mean we are just a warehouse full of inventory. We are active in the DC/MD/VA music scene here in the summertime, and in the Mid Atlantic snow scene in the winter.
Our orders have been 70% hardgoods, 30% softgoods. All the kids I have been talking to are stoked about this upcoming season. About snowboarding. Learning how to ride. Basically how I was when I first started.
Probably the most genuine group of kids I've seen around in a while, so hopefully the attitudes around me will change this season. I think it's the shops' jobs to make sure that kids are still stoked about riding, instead of letting the commercialism of the sport dictate what they should carry for next season.
I have read this editorial and the subsequent responses with great interest, and I would have to say that I agree with just about everyone. Snowboarding HAS lost 'something,' but snowboarding is STILL FUN, and large manufacturers are a god thing. First off, I am not in the industry.
I have been riding something like 12 or 13 years, and until a few years ago followed the industry as whole rather closely. Lately the part of snowboarding that is 'seen' (magazines, movies, contests, TV), not 'done' (actually riding) has stagnated. That is why the free-ski movement looks so much cooler. I would much rather watch a free-skier big air contest than the snowboarding counterpart. Why? Because snowboarding, especially contests and movies, has become predictable. Every new movie is just rodeo this and rail that, the same boring 900 wins every big air event, and the same stock half pipe run of front-side, large method, 720, switch 720, set up trick, McTwist always wins. I was very glad to see Todd Richards win the X-Games with a non-standard half pipe run last year. Snowboarding needs more of that.
I would love to see Terje show up at next years Open and do a run of all hand plants (ala Subjekt), and actually get scored well because it was original and just looked cool.
I think that some of the other 'older action sports' are also suffering the same fate. Skateboarding and freestyle biking don't 'do it' for me like they used. Same reason as snowboarding. The same tricks all the time. I have seen one guy on a bike to back flip 360s and he didn't even make the finals??? Athletes in all these sports need to get creative. I'm not sure how, cause I'm not paid to snowboard (or skate or bike) every day.
I think that the mainstreaming of these sports has alienated the 'core' older participants. I am happy that equipment is much better than when I started, and that the athletes are getting compensated well, and that the general public is finding out how cool these sports are, but I am also disappointed by what has happened during the process.
I'm sick of these companies that recycle their employees. All I read about in your press releases is how one high level marketing person switched companies. Hello, If the company they worked for sucked, their new company is gonna suck. This is why the industry seems boring to all of you "industry people". Because there is no creativity, just one big image that the industry shares.
As long as the product is good, and it isn't overpriced, I'm buying, whether it be at a board shop or Toys'R'us. Regular people like to board too, It's not all a bunch of rich kids who have parents with deep pockets. Everyone I ride with, and everyone I meet on the hill seems to be in the same boat as me. I can barely afford to board anymore because of all these companies who think their target market is a bunch or rich kiddies.
If I had the resources to start a shop or a board company, I sure wouldn't keep up the image and marketing strategy that the whole industry shares. Matter of fact, anyone out there wanna start a real boarding company?
Former snowboard shop owner, now manager of Nikita Clothing.
Of course, things are changing. If it wasn't changing, THEN it would be stale! Personally, I've never been more hooked on riding. I look forward to the winter so much it hurts on a sunny day. I just came home from a Burton meeting a few days ago. If you would have been there you wouldn't be this scared about your life (riding, marketing snowboard goodies et.c.) because there's tons of new stuff going on. Just wait and see! (Like so many companies have done for the last years.)
Instead of blaming the sport itself, the companies, the shops, the media for making your life miserable, just look at yourself for a moment.
You might have been one of us who wanted snowboarding to become bigger = leads to interest from chain stores.
You might have been one of us who used the media to help you/us grow this sport, and your sales = leads to interest from the mainstream = chain stores
You might have been one of those who sold snowboard goods to a big chain discount store (note, I'm not one of you then!) = killing a few snowboard shops.
You might be 35 now, instead of 25 = the responsibilities of earning $ to feed the family, and you can't go from doing a small 360 to a stalled switch 540 over a train full of naked chicks that are screaming your name while your favorite band plays live on the roof!
Wake up. It's not going to happened! But relax, it doesn't mean your life is over! As a snowboard retailer, and your friend, I recommend you check out the backcountry. If there's more fun that we need, just let's go riding more! When was the last time you took the week off JUST to ride?
Seems like many people in this business strangely ignore the fact that the only thing that will keep you stoked on snowboarding is the riding, not the trade shows. Most of us got into the business side of it to be able to call riding "a good day at the office" and feel good about it, right?
Anyway. I just sold my snowboard shop. It was not to get out of this business, but to get in more deep. You know the story, former shop owner/distributor starts his own brand because his know-how of the market makes him want to fill into a certain gap/niche. It's hopefully also going to give us the excuse of sales meetings in Chamonix and Whistler in the future! We look forward to work with stoked riders, distributors and shop owners in the future. The guys who bought our small, hardcore, rider-owned snowboard shop, saw great opportunities in the future. They are going to stay focused on riding, offering only good brands, a good mixture of hard and softgoods, plan ahead, better service...
We know that many snowboard shops have gone bankrupt, but it was all predictable. Nothing new. When a sport/business grows this fast, there will be brands, shops, pros - a whole setup, that goes for it but ends up falling out, or getting jobs with the surviving companies. This does not at all mean that snowboarding is going to die or become boring. This is just the business getting organized/mature. It doesn't take the fun out. It will make time for more riding. That's what it's all about.
If you feel like this business and snowboarding is getting boring, maybe you should just get another job. There's plenty of stoked people willing to take your place.
The question of did I get sick of selling a jacket that matched the color of a snowboard that had matching gloves that had a stripe of blue that matched the blue part on the top of a pair of snowboard boots that would get covered up by your snowboard pants?
Of course the answer is yes and of course when I worked at a shop I felt like injuring 70% of the uneducated lame ass customers who came in the shop but that never made me want to stop snowboarding or skateboarding or even stop me from learning how to surf at this moment.
The fact that I could get together with a bunch of crazy friends and hike for an hour to build a booter in the beauty of nature and forget about those type of things is the real beauty of our sport. When is the one moment when I don't have to think about any of my problems? It is that moment when my board leaves the lip of the jump, it is when I am flying in the air and I know I have my trick wired, it is when I am in the ocean and I feel my board get carried by the wave. These are the moments we dream about when we are working and doing something that we generally don't want.
If we forget about those moments and what they mean, this industry will be the last place I want to be on earth and I will take up lawn bowling as a recreational sport. As long as we, as individuals don't forget why we strap on that board, snowboarding, skating and surfing will always contain more soul than anything else I have ever encountered in my life and will never be co-opted by the "extreme" idiots!
Rocky Mountain Rep for Northwave, Swag/Prom/Twist, et al.
I don't think snowboarding is leading in the way it used to. If I knew anything about business cycles, I would guess this is what probably happens to emerging businesses. Snowboarding can't be the coolest new kid on the block forever.
As a rep, what I think is truly scary about the free-skiing thing is that all the kids who were stopping skiing and just snowboarding may keep skiing also. A couple years ago my grandmother sent me an article from the New York Times that said 80% of kids under 12 went snowboarding not skiing. Free-skiing could really change this.
As a boot rep whose livelihood depends on people thinking snowboarding is much better than skiing, I do want people to like snowboarding better. So while I agree, I still wish we were the new, young (if difficult) kids on the block. \\
Editor's Note: We decided to let Jeff Harbaugh respond to your comments and get the last word in. Thanks to everyone who responded. We hope the discussion prompted you to think about snowboarding, your business, and the changes a maturing industry have brought to both, in a new and thought-provoking way. So, here's the last word:
I got a call from a friend last week, �Hey Jeff, guess what Transworld is doing with your latest Market Watch!� They�d never posted my Market Watch column online and asked for feedback before. So why now?
It seems the vague undercurrent they were left with after reading the article was that the excitement in snowboarding has died and that the snowboard business had gotten boring. They decided to find out if other people (retailers, industry folks, actual snowboarders) shared this same opinion.
Which was a good idea, and I want to thank everybody who responded�whether you agreed with what I wrote or not. My goal with Market Watch is always to make you think about industry issues with the hope that you may run your business better.
I am a bit jaded about the business of snowboarding�but not about the sport. My guess is that some of you feel the same way, no matter how much you love to snowboard. Some of the people who responded have seen the industry�s highest highs and the lowest lows.
I knew eight years ago where snowboarding was going. So did anybody who knew anything about industry cycles. I�ve spent a lot of time working with companies to prepare them for this inevitability. Changes would occur if snowboarding was going to survive and prosper, and a lot of people I knew, liked, and respected were going to go through hard times. Watching that and not always being able to help sucked.
That feeling seems to have come through in the article, which bothers me, because the purpose of the article was to discuss what retailers might need to consider doing differently. But many, or most, of the responses focused on the feeling SNOWboarding Business was left with after reading my column. Maybe it was partly because the way SNOWboarding Business framed the topic, but I didn�t notice anybody disagreeing with most of my business points. So, was my analysis and description of the retailing environment accurate? If not, in what way? If so, how is your business responding to it?
It was a great discussion and I hope we can do it again.
� You�ve got to carry the right hardgoods mix, but really want to leave as much room as you can for the higher margin softgoods.
� Your customers are probably a more diverse group, and you may not live and die by snowboarding like you use to.
� All the major brands offer monster product lines that start, after a few hours of study, to look a little too much like the others. They all cover all the pricepoints, have comparable terms and purchasing programs, and similar advertising and promotional programs.
Scott Hultgren
Greg Hughes VP Of Sales And Marketing, Morrow Snowboards
Ion Jones
Paul Norquist
Scott Driver
Ray Fortier
George Kleckner
Northwave/Drake/Bakoda Team & Promotions Manager
Doug Stern Los Angeles, CA
Tim Weisser
Jeff Heller
Ron McCoy
Great question. I find it surprising only one other shop responded. The other responses seem to be from corporate manufacturers. You could raise a whole other debate on who is utilizing the Internet, manufacturer or retailer. Anyway, I think Jeff is right on in his assessment of what the industry was and what it is today. Yes, there is still a snowboard shop left, Storm Riders Snowboard Shop, Mammoth Lakes, California
Nicolas Du Cap
To understand the state of snowboarding right now is simple. No matter where you live, the scene is stagnant and stale.
Arlie John Carstens
I was in NYC for two weeks just visiting pals and having a "non-snowboarding" time. No dudes or dudettes, no scenic views, no newest outfits, goggles, or board graphics. Just a vacation in the city with pals that hardly, if ever, go snowboarding.
[email protected]
Snowboarding is the greatest and funest "thing" that I do. Every day I have to have a little of it or something that is related to it, whether its bombing the hill down to my friends on my skateboard and pretending that I'm carving two feet of fresh snow, or just looking through some snowboarding magazines. I have always tried to stick with the little companies that stay true to snowboarding when it comes to buying new stuff, but lately they have been disappearing into bigger companies that make skis, rollerblades, bikes, and toilet seats.
Sue Ferguson a.k.a. 'suchick'
Mike "Gags" Gagliardi
Snowboarding become stale? Hardly. Less exciting than the "freeski" movement? No, it rides right alongside it now though in the eyes of many. This sport and industry has totally reformed my life, kept me excited to go to work every morning, kept me watching the weather channel for an hour straight and been a frickin' fountain of youth.
Sue Ferguson a.k.a. 'suchick'
Mike "Gags" Gagliardi
Snowboarding become stale? Hardly. Less exciting than the "freeski" movement? No, it rides right alongside it now though in the eyes of many. This sport and industry has totally reformed my life, kept me excited to go to work every morning, kept me watching the weather channel for an hour straight and been a frickin' fountain of youth.
Caroline Reilly
With popularity and wealth comes the mainstream. I once heard that where ever the scent of sex and young blood is, people will flock. This seems to be true of everything including our sport.
Darcy Lee
Wow, that's all quite a mouthful huh?
Michael Jager
Dave Tran
I started riding six years ago, which I considered was the peak of snowboarding. I started later than all my friends did, and I thought, "Man, I'll never get to ride with these guys, I suck."
Rick Putnam
Jason Blakey
I just got done reading that article and I can't believe all these people who are saying that the industry isn't exciting and it is too "corporate". Who the hell are these people. I would give an arm to work for any of these companies. I am 23 and I still have just as much passion for the sport as I did when I was a teenager.
Runar Omarsson.
Okay, let's not get pissed at Jeff for raising a question. It's a part of his job. I'll use this opportunity to thank him for that, although I do not agree with what he is saying. (Maybe he said that to raise the question or...?) As a snowboard shop owner (www.hlekkur.is), event organizer, distributor, rider and participant in the brilliant act of riding sideways for the last 10 years, I have to say that this discussion was something that was surely predictable.
Dhani Borges
Many of the things that were written in the article are extremely true in the retail world of snowboarding.
Elizabeth Sargent
*****************************************
***The Last Word***
Jeff Harbaugh
Devil�s Advocate (not business editor) 0f SNOWboarding Business Magazine
| more...
|
|
|
| Snowbiz archives |
|
|