Smith, the longtime maker of outdoor eyewear and headwear, and Koroyd, one of Smith’s ingredient brand partners, have filed a joint lawsuit against snowsports giant Burton for patent infringement.

Smith Sport Optics Inc., based in Portland, Oregon, and Koroyd SARL, based in Monaco, filed the complaint against The Burton Corp. earlier this week in the U.S. District Court in Utah.

The two companies alleged that Burton is improperly using their patented technology in two versions of Anon-branded helmets. Anon is the helmet and eyewear brand that Burton launched in 2001.

According to the complaint obtained by șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Business Journal, Smith and Koroyd claimed Burton violated their U.S. Patent No.10,736, 373—jointly owned by Smith and Koroyd and referred to in the complaint as the ’373 patent—“by selling and importing Anon-branded Logan and Merak snow helmets that incorporate WaveCel technology.”

They alleged WaveCel infringes upon their 2013 patent that makes helmets safer for skiing, snowboarding, and biking. Smith and Koroyd further stated that WaveCel “was developed specifically to compete with Koroyd and marketed so as to draft off of plaintiffs’ years of combined efforts in blazing a path of innovation in the helmet industry.”

“Success Is Threatened by Infringement”

Smith and Koroyd claimed that Burton “began selling ski and snowboard helmets under its Anon brand incorporating plaintiffs’ patented technology in direct competition with the patented Smith-Koroyd helmets and over plaintiffs’ objections.”

They went on to accuse Burton of launching “the Anon WaveCel helmets in a manner calculated to capitalize on and appropriate plaintiffs’ goodwill and innovative reputation by co-opting the aesthetic scheme that plaintiffs had been using in marketing Smith-Koroyd helmets—depicting black helmets with cell array structures visible through the helmet’s vents in Koroyd’s signature green color and black backgrounds.”

Moreover, they argued, the “Smith-Koroyd helmets have been a great commercial success, [which] is now being threatened by [the] defendant’s infringement.”

Smith and Koroyd said in a joint press release: “Burton was informed of Smith’s and Koroyd’s patent rights, and was asked to respect those rights by not making or selling the accused Anon-branded WaveCel helmets. Burton moved forward with the launch of the Anon helmets, leaving Smith and Koroyd no choice but to pursue the federal court action to protect their intellectual property rights. A second lawsuit brought by Koroyd against Burton in Germany also alleges IP violations based on WaveCel helmets.

“Since 2013, Smith has partnered with Koroyd—creators of the iconic green, open cell technology utilizing welded tubes that crumple instantly on impact—within its helmets to continue the legacy of innovation and design while providing consumers advanced impact protection and superior performance. Together, Smith and Koroyd have invested almost a decade of time and resources into research and development to integrate Koroyd material into Smith products under a unique, patented method.”

When reached for comment, Smith’s general manager, Francesco Rinaldi Ceroni, issued the following supplemental statement to OBJ about the company’s joint lawsuit with Koroyd.

“Smith has pushed the boundaries of innovation and attention to detail for over 50 years,” he said. “We take pride in creating trusted products that perform and protect, and our decade-long partnership and investment with Koroyd exemplifies our commitment to advancing equipment that enhances the consumer experience. We’re dedicated to protecting our technologies, our craftsmanship, and the integrity of our brand.”

Smith, Koroyd Seek Injunction and Damages

Formed in 2010, Koroyd produces safety material for bicycle and snow helmets (and other products). Its patented technology is based on “welded tubes [that] crumple instantly on impact, absorbing maximum force in a controlled manner, minimizing energy transferred to your head.” 

The company said its technology is featured in “six of the top 12 grossing helmets by US$ sold during the North American season 2019/2020, and is available in circa-29 percent of all snow helmets sold over 100 US$ in the North American market.”

“Our business is structured in such a way to inspire transformation and innovation throughout our entire group,” said John Lloyd, founder and managing director of Koroyd. “Through our long-term R&D investments we have consistently delivered unique safety solutions which offer a significant performance advantage compared to legacy and emerging products, and have become the trusted technology partner to the leading brands in a diverse range of industries. 

“Copycat products offer little advancement for the end consumer and impede innovations for all. This action is part of our global strategy to enforce our registered rights. The protection of intellectual property encourages innovation, copying product reduces innovation and, if rewarded, discourages research and development. We will continue to maximize our contribution to the sports and safety segments and protection of people pursuing their passions and facilitating them to experience life to the fullest.”

Smith and Koroyd are seeking relief in this matter that includes a permanent injunction against Burton that would prohibit the company “from any further direct or indirect infringement of the ’373 patent through making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing the infringing Merak and Logan products and any other product that infringes the ’373 patent.”

The companies also seek “damages caused by defendant’s infringing actions,” including “enhanced damages and all attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by plaintiffs in this action.” In the complaint, Smith and Koroyd also “demand a jury trial on all issues so triable.”

When reached for comment, Burton issued the following statement: “Burton was just served this lawsuit yesterday, so we need time to evaluate it.”

The post Smith and Koroyd File Joint Lawsuit Against Burton appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Emerald Holding Inc., the parent of Outdoor Retailer, Surf Expo, and numerous other trade shows, faced brutal headwinds over the past year as COVID-driven cancellations sent revenue and profits tumbling.

But the company didn’t stand pat during the pandemic. Emerald used its lighter-than-usual calendar to pursue a strategic acquisition and then bring to market a tool designed to help the companies that attend its myriad events.

Emerald’s Elastic Suite division on Tuesday announced the launch of Digital Market, a B2B e-commerce transactional platform that offers year-round access to product sourcing and ordering across a broad range of brands.

Digital Market connects brands—especially small and mid-sized ones—with outdoor retailers, providing a “more streamlined and collaborative buyer-supplier experience at Emerald’s in-person events, including Outdoor Retailer and Surf Expo,” the company said.

“Digital Market complements your Outdoor Retailer show experience by providing exhibitors, reps, and retailers with technology that takes relationships beyond the show floor and supports the wholesale purchasing process year-round,” said Marisa Nicholson, senior vice president and show director of Outdoor Retailer. “It transforms the ways brands and buyers interact. Brands can present curated product collections, and buyers can strategically source and order new products, leading to more efficient appointments and meaningful conversations when at the show. This winning combination makes it easier to stay connected and opens new doors.”

Emerald said Digital Market was built upon its “proven, industry-leading Elastic Suite enterprise B2B merchandising solution,” and that it was “designed for easy adoption by brands and retailers of all sizes across market segments.” 

The company added that its Elastic Suite and Digital Market offerings “are fully integrated and utilize the same core technology, data systems, and client support resources. The result is a streamlined digital wholesale merchandising and purchasing process for retailers across brands through a single platform.”

Current outdoor clients of the company’s B2B platforms include The North Face, Patagonia, K2, Rip Curl, Active Brands, Volcom, Shimano, Scott Sports, Boardriders, O’Neill, and Burton.

The new tool is the direct result of Emerald’s $34 million acquisition of PlumRiver LLC in January. (The company paid $30 million for the business, plus $4.4 million in stock and other considerations of up to $13 million.) PlumRiver provided SaaS technology that “streamlines the wholesale buying process for both brands and retail buyers.”

“Our acquisition of PlumRiver will enhance the meaningful steps that Emerald has taken to expand its digital presence this past year,” HervĂ© Sedky, Emerald’s president and CEO, said at the time of the acquisition.

Added David Doft, Emerald’s CFO, “Our acquisition of PlumRiver is a key step in our plan to bring buyers and sellers together in a digital environment, year-round, and provide them with a platform where they can transact. PlumRiver is expected to meaningfully enhance our digital initiatives and is just one of the exciting investment opportunities that we have in front of us as we work to expand our business in the year ahead.”

The new service comes at a critical time for Emerald, which posted a significant revenue dip and income loss in Q4 of 2020. Sales fell 72.8 percent to $12.2 million and the company posted a loss of $58.1 million. However, the company entered 2021 on decent financial footing, having ended last year with $295.3 million in cash and full availability of its $150 million revolving credit facility.

Emerald will report its first-quarter earnings on April 30. The company, whose stock has been flat for most of the first quarter, is now ramping up its live event schedule as vaccination rates across the U.S. increase. On August 10, the company will stage its first in-person Outdoor Retailer since June 2019.

The post Outdoor Retailer Parent Company Launches E-Commerce Platform appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

There are jobs—and then there are jobs. You know the ones: the gigs that make coming to work about so much more than punching the clock and collecting a paycheck.

The ones that fill the workday with camaraderie, a sense of purpose, and just plain fun. It shows in the policies and perks a company offers, in ways big (health insurance, parental leave) and small (ski days, free gear). And they pay off—big time—for employers, who can count on loyal, productive employees who feel invested in the company’s success.

Here are just a few of the ways leaders in this industry go above and beyond for their workers. We hope employers and employees alike will consider this a menu of inspiration for greater workplace satisfaction. To say the past year has been a challenging one for businesses across the industry is an understatement. But despite all the hurdles, we still wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. This is why.

We asked industry members to nominate their workplaces for providing a superior employee experience. After combing through all 165 responses, these are our favorite ideas worthy of imitation.

Play șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű

CASE STUDY: Darby Communications, Asheville, NC

As any veteran of summer camp knows, getting out into the wilds together builds lasting bonds. So this boutique PR firm throws an annual staff campout, taking employees on a (paid) overnight excursion that has included paddling to an island campsite, fly-fishing lessons, tubing, and whitewater rafting over the past four years. “It builds community on our team, so there’s a deeper connection between us,” said Vice President Angie Robinson. The pandemic forced the team to cancel last year’s trip, but Darby replaced it with smaller outdoor gatherings, and when it’s safe, “We’re planning on a blowout camping trip to bring back the tradition in a big way,” said Suzanne Hermann, media relations director.

Pro tip: The financial barrier to this sort of retreat is low, points out Robinson. Camping is cheap, and Darby takes advantage of its clients’ gear and services (like whitewater guiding), so the total cost is only $200 to $300 per year for nine employees.

Bring Community to the Cafeteria

CASE STUDY: Skratch Labs, Boulder, CO

Every month, 29 full-time employees of nutrition/sports drink company Skratch Labs are invited to a communal breakfast at the office, courtesy of founder Allen Lim. Some staffers play sous chef, helping whip up Lim specialties like savory rice porridge, breakfast salad, and egg tacos. “In the same way that a family is closer when they share meals around the table, we are a better team when we do the same,” said CEO Ian MacGregor. Since last spring, the communal dining has shifted to live cooking lessons for employees at home. “We prep and ship all necessary ingredients to each of our team members, then we all get on a massive video call and learn to make something,” said MacGregor.

Pro tip: Even if you don’t have a full kitchen or a cookbook author for a founder, as Skratch Labs does, you can still break bread as a team: Think regular takeout gatherings or voluntary potlucks.

Embrace Inclusivity

Brands across the industry are beginning to meet the moment by ramping up DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts. 

Hit the Slopes

In what other industry do you get formal permission to go skiing when the pow is fresh? Here are just a few of the businesses that allow—nay, encourage—playing hooky on a snow day: Backbone Media, BoldBrew, Burton, Hala Gear/CKS Online, Meteorite PR, and Stio.

Commit to Fighting Climate Change

CASE STUDY: BioLite, Brooklyn, NY, and Peak Design, San Francisco, CA

BioLite (maker of camp stoves and lights) and Peak Design (a camera gear and travel bag brand) took their sustainability missions to the next level in 2018 with the launch of their Climate Neutral nonprofit. The organization helps other brands measure their total carbon footprints—from sourcing to manufacturing to shipping—and then offset them with carbon credits, earning certification. In 2019, 146 companies joined the program, representing a sizable commitment to reducing carbon emissions. “Climate Neutral makes me so proud to be a part of the organization,” said BioLite Ecommerce Operations Manager Joseph Caravaglia. Hyden Polikoff, treasurer at Peak Design, agreed: “I want the place where I put my time and effort to embody my values.”

Get Creative when Challenged

CASE STUDY: Mustang Survival, Burnaby, BC

When the pandemic hit last March, industry members counterpunched. Mustang Survival was one of them, switching from making its usual dry bags, drysuits, and ocean racing gear to churning out hundreds of thousands of waterproof/breathable protective gowns for healthcare workers (many other brands swiftly did the same with masks and eye shields). Not only did the pivot provide crucial PPE to hospitals across Canada, but it also allowed Mustang to hire 50 new employees (31 of them were still with the brand as of press time). “We set up a school and ran new hires through extensive training on sewing and taping,” said Mark Anderson, VP of engineering. “They learned skills directly transferrable to the apparel we make.”

Be Generous with Vacation Time

CASE STUDY: Roads Rivers and Trails, Milford, OH

Every winter for the past six years, as long as she’s been working at specialty retailer Roads Rivers and Trails, Manager Olivia Eads (pictured below on Pikes Peak) has taken at least a month off work to go climbing. Owners Bryan Wolf, Joe White, and Emily White highly encourage it with unlimited (unpaid) vacation time for all staff. “We get the shifts covered and we make it work,” said Wolf. In 2019, employees averaged 40 days off apiece—“and that’s just outdoor trips, not Christmas,” Wolf noted.

Welcome Fido

Embracing pups in the office— when we go back to the office, that is—pays off for both dogs (more walks) and employees (research shows that the presence of a furry friend reduces stress and boosts self-esteem). A few businesses that make room for our best friends: Arc’teryx, Kelty, Nemo, Ruffwear, and Xero Shoes.

Spread Profits Around

Some workplaces give everyone a different kind of promotion. All employees at șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű (OBJ’s parent company) get stock options, which increase with strong performance or a promotion. “It’s critical for creating alignments [between employees and the company] and incentives,” said CEO Robin Thurston. When the company does well and hard work pays off, employees benefit, too.

Encourage Exploration

CASE STUDY: Cotopaxi, Salt Lake City, UT

How’s this for an antidote to job turnover? After 18 months, employees of this B Corp apparel and gear brand can cash in on their first of two “bucket list stipends”: $1,000 to use on a dream trip anywhere in the world. After five years, the reward bumps up to $5,000. Recent employee trips have included touring Morocco, cycling the French Alps, and a fish-spearing, coconut-gathering survival excursion on a remote Caribbean island. “Number one, we need to be able to attract and retain talent, and this is a unique perk,” said founder and CEO Davis Smith. “And secondly, we want to make sure our employees are living the values of the business. We’re building a brand around adventure and exploring the world.” Cotopaxi has spent nearly $100,000 on its bucket list payouts so far, he says, but, “These things pay for themselves—you don’t have to pay higher wages to convince someone to join the team, or [deal with] rehiring.”

Pro tip: Cotopaxi helps employees make the most of their trips by holding learning sessions on topics like getting involved in local communities and traveling on a shoestring budget. “Within the team, there’s a constant sharing of travel deals,” said Smith. “If you keep your eye on deals, $1,000 can cover a trip somewhere really fun.”

Get Gear in Our Hands

CASE STUDY: NRS, Moscow, ID

Paddling gear can be expensive, as NRS’s employees well know. But lack of capital won’t ever stand in the way when someone pulls a rafting permit, thanks to the brand’s “company use” stash of rafts, frames, coolers, stand-up paddleboards, inflatable kayaks, and drysuits. Employees can check out the gear for free. “We’ve had employees go on Grand Canyon trips, and they were able to get everything they needed and disappear with it for 18 days,” said Steve Farley, key account manager. In 2019, 130 employees dipped into the stash for a total of 880 checkouts.

Pro tip: Appoint someone (or a small team, as NRS does) to manage the gear sign-out process and keep items clean, safe, and organized.

Give Us Long Weekends

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics offers half-day Fridays, and in summer, Outdoor Prolink switches to a four-10s schedule. Nobody’s head is really in the game at 3 P.M. Friday anyway.

Support Employees’ Life Goals

CASE STUDY: Outdoor Gear Exchange, Burlington, VT

Employees who get five years under their belts at this retailer have extra reason to celebrate: They qualify for its Living the Dream program, which awards a $5,000 grant for pretty much anything that makes their lives a little easier. “Originally, it was to go on a dream trip,” said Brian Wade, executive director of retail and service. But the list of acceptable uses has ballooned over the years to include down payments on homes, childcare, a new vehicle, or paying off debt. “I can’t think of anybody who hasn’t figured out a way to use it,” he said.

Pro tip: How does OGE afford it? “We just do it,” said Wade, noting that the total expense is a fairly small line item on the budget. “It’s nice to honor the people who’ve put in time. And the emotional impact of getting a lump sum is really great.”

Support New Parents…

CASE STUDY: șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű PR, San Francisco, CA

In a country where his seven-person PR firm doesn’t legally have to provide any break for its new parents, owner Gordon Wright instead offers the best parental leave policy we’ve seen in the industry: six months of leave at 80 percent salary, moms and dads alike. “It feels like the right thing to do,” Wright said. That kind of investment pays off in ways both tangible (an attractive carrot when looking for new talent) and intangible, says Senior Account Executive Kelsey McGraw. “Gordon and all the managers believe family comes first,” she said. “They care for my well-being, and I don’t want to disappoint them. I want to work that much harder to see this company be successful.”

Pro tip: Doing without a key employee for six months poses challenges, but Wright notes that hiring a freelance substitute can help any company keep chugging along.

…And Not-So-New Parents

CASE STUDY: Patagonia, Ventura, CA

Parents industry-wide could be forgiven for daydreaming about a job switch to Patagonia. For one, there are the on-site daycares (in Ventura and Reno), which together care for 200 kids and offer tuition discounts based on income. “Being able to nurse my son at daycare rather than pump every three hours was so huge,” said Amy Garrahan, southwest sales manager. And if a primary parent needs to travel for work while a baby is still nursing? Patagonia covers travel expenses for a caregiver. Pro tip: Half of the brand’s daycare program is covered through tuition; 75 percent of the rest is recouped via tax credits, improved productivity, and employee retention. Companies that can’t add their own programs can still help parents with daycare stipends and more flex time options.

Bond over Workouts

Good: allowing employees to head out for a midday sweat break. Better: organizing group runs, yoga classes, bike rides, and even surfing sessions (like Nemo does on the New England coast) during the workday for communal exercise, stress relief, and team bonding in one fell swoop.

Make Fitness Easy

CASE STUDY: Wolverine Worldwide, Rockford, MI

Spin classes, pickleball, pickup volleyball, and basketball: All in a day’s work at Wolverine. Opened in 2019, the on-campus, 29,000-square-foot The Rock facility also offers an indoor track, group fitness classrooms, and cardio equipment. Plus, membership is free for all 600-plus employees of eight brands. “Not only does it help in getting people excited to work for Wolverine, but having a variety of activities available is really key for blowing off steam,” said Merrell Senior Marketing Manager Lauren King.

Pro tip: Building an entire gym might not be in the cards. “But figuring out things that might not cost a lot of money, but add a lot to culture, is.” See #16 and #18 for ideas.

Give Cash for Ski Passes

Or gym memberships, yoga classes, and other wellness perks of choice, as sales agency Caraway & Co. does ($150 per employee per year).

Invest in Employee Healthcare

CASE STUDY: Waypoint Outdoor, Seattle, WA

Perks like gyms and company bike rides are great, but a real commitment to employee health should be built on a foundation of high-quality, affordable health insurance. This sales agency for brands like Klean Kanteen and Smartwool takes that to heart, covering 100 percent of premium costs for its employees. That’s made a huge difference for sales rep Carly Morava, a cancer survivor who’s been with the company for three years. She’d wanted to switch careers from retail to repping, but was afraid she wouldn’t be able to afford the insurance she needed. Unlike other workplaces she’d considered, Morava said, “Waypoint pays for everything, and it’s a really good plan.”

Help People Climb the Ladder

CASE STUDY: KEEN, Portland, OR

In a workplace just as on a mountain, sometimes the right guide can make all the difference. That’s why Keen added formal mentoring to its benefits. The Career Compass Program matches eager employees with seasoned volunteer “coaches” for structured career advice and development. Pairs meet twice a month to set goals and track progress. Though the program is open to everyone, says Global Communications Manager Mindy Montgomery, women make up the bulk of the participants—“Research shows that women utilize formal mentoring programs more because men have greater access to informal mentoring opportunities,” she noted. Senior Compliance Specialist Elsa Clements credits the program with helping her land a promotion in 2019. “It was super-valuable in giving me confidence,” she said. She worked with her coach on strategies for putting her best foot forward, and “It was really good for me to have that framework when I sat down with my manager.”

Pro tip: Career Compass facilitators consider applicants’ communication style and personality when setting up pairs. “If the participant and coach have trouble communicating, they’re going to have a hard time forming a connection,” said Montgomery, “which is a crucial component to a successful coaching relationship.”

Support Education

Help us advance by springing for certifications, courses, conferences, and skills clinics. Take Vail Resorts: Employees can apply for a $2,500 Educational Ascent Grant to fund a college degree (vocational to Ph.D.) or certificate (such as EMT).

Let Employees Drive Improvements

CASE STUDY: Hydro Flask, Bend, OR

Hydro Flask holds its own kind of holiday two or three times a year: the Better Future Day. Each one features a menu of activities for employees to choose from, all conceived and planned by fellow employees. Recent options have included guided meditations, art workshops, public speaking courses, and SUP sessions. “It could be anything from, ‘It’s time to reorganize our shelves’ to ‘Let’s bring in an expert on a topic like racism and have a difficult discussion,’” said Lucas Alberg, senior manager, PR and brand communications. Continually working on company culture is a bedrock value for Hydro Flask, says Senior HR Generalist Ryan Combellick, “but if it’s something that’s just coming from the top down, it can feel forced.”

Pro tip: Don’t overthink the scheduling, and just do it. “There’s never a good time for this, but it’s imperative that you make it happen,” noted Alberg. “Productivity may be lost that day, but it’s taking one step back and two steps forward for the company.”

Encourage Clubs

Supporting an employee resource group (ERG), a club dedicated to a particular identity or interest—from working parents to sober employees to members of specific ethnicities or religions—cultivates belonging and community. VF Corp. has put significant resources into its ERGs since 2017.

Make the World a Better Place Far Away


CASE STUDY: Superfeet, Ferndale, WA

When this insole brand decides to give back, it goes big. Superfeet donates 1 percent of its profits to charity, including an ongoing public-health service trip to Guatemala to build latrines and rainwater-capture tanks for small rainforest villages. “I wanted our employees to be engaged with the charities we’re working with,” said Director of Outreach and Fit Jeff Gray, who runs the program. “How can we get down on our hands and knees and get dirty and make a difference? It’s about writing the check, then also diving in.” The brand has taken eight to ten employees on the (fully paid) trip for the past four years, an opportunity that has proven so popular that Gray has to pull names out of a size-17 running shoe to select participants. Superfeet’s commitment to nonprofits builds loyalty and helps attract employees, said Gray: “So many are grateful to be able to work within this culture.”

Pro tip: Got the cash—or the time—to donate? Choose beneficiaries carefully, says Gray. He screened a number of nonprofits before choosing six to support based on how well their core values matched Superfeet’s. “Then you can build that relationship, bond, and do some great work together,” he said.

…And Closer to Home

CASE STUDY: Big Agnes, Steamboat Springs, CO

For a company making gear tailored for use on the trail, volunteer trail maintenance felt like a natural way to live out brand values of land stewardship and community involvement.

So Big Agnes zeroed in on the Continental Divide Trail, which passes within two miles of company HQ, officially adopting the 72 miles from nearby Rabbit Ears Pass to the Wyoming border in 2018. Since then, the brand has organized several trail work days on their section every year. “It’s a cool opportunity to see the owners of the company really caring about our public lands, and [having] the employees be part of that,” said Product Developer Paige Baker. And though the point of the trail work is giving back, it doesn’t hurt brand image with customers, either, says co-owner Len Zanni, who notes that the marketing team produces blog posts and publishes catalog essays about the project.

Pro tip: Scale give-back projects according to your workplace’s size and goals. “Think about what you care about, then figure out what organizations or areas could use your help, and how much help you can lend,” said Zanni. “If you’re a smaller organization, maybe you can put someone on a nonprofit board, or donate money or time.”

Remote Work Policies that Work for All

When the pandemic ends, many will still appreciate the flexibility to work remotely. Evans says the best policies let employees work wherever they’re most productive. Her company, The Ready, traded its office for monthly stipends for home office upgrades, co-working spaces, or rent for optional group offices.

Fair Profit Sharing

Sharing success fosters an environment of collaboration, not competition. Email marketing firm ConvertKit diverts a chunk of its profits to a shared pool that’s distributed to all through a formula that gives a little extra to those with the longest tenure.

Employee Connection

One easy way to help build connection among virtual workers: Start meetings with a five-minute check-in, prompted with questions like, “What was your weekend highlight?”

Self-Set Salaries

Want employees to really feel they’re being paid what they’re worth? Let them choose their own salaries, like tomato-packing brand Morning Star has done for decades—and make all of them public.

The post 29 Ways to Build a Happier Company appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

People are 18 percent more likely to vote if they’ve formulated a plan to do so before election day. And this year, polls show that 70 percent of Americans would rather vote by mail than in person.

That’s the basic calculus that led to the creation of Protect Our Winter’s newest political effort, a digital tool called Make a Plan to Vote that does just that—helps people understand how they can vote safely this year, and makes it easy to do so.

“What differentiates this tool from many others is that it’s a one-stop shop,” said POW executive director Mario Molina. Rather than requesting a mail-in ballot from a government website (which, all too often, can be a clunky and arcane process), POW’s tool acts as an intermediary with a clean interface and easy-to-follow instructions.

“If you use our platform to request a mail-in ballot, POW will send you a pre-filled form and a stamped envelope so that all you have to do is sign it, seal it, and stick it in the mail” Molina said.

The tool also allows users to set reminders for important election deadlines, research information about nearby polling stations, and more. All of this functionality is delivered via POW’s characteristically clean and intuitive web design.

The project was funded by several anonymous individual donors and a group of charitable foundations across the country. Together, these supporters have provided funds for 40,000 prepaid envelopes for mail-in ballot applications, a sum of roughly $60,000.

Brands in POW’s coalition are also getting involved in the effort.

“The North Face, Burton, Jones Snowboards, New Belgium Brewing Company, Skullcandy, and others will be helping us promote the tool on their social media channels and through their networks,” Molina said. “Some of them will also include widgets on their websites that allow customers receive more information about the tool.”

Though it’s only been live for a couple of days, Molina says the tool has already attracted hundreds of users. A short promotional video will be released in the coming weeks. As for community engagement, Molina says the most important thing people can do—aside from using the tool—is to get the word out.

“Follow us on Instagram, sign up for our email list, but most of all, share the tool with your network and hold them accountable,” he said. “That’s the only way we’ll make an impact—if we mobilize everybody.”

The post POW Throws Its Political Weight Behind a New Get-Out-The-Vote Tool appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Snowboarding wouldn’t be the sport and community it is today if it wasn’t for Jake Burton Carpenter. The OG snowboarder and founder of Burton Snowboards died on Wednesday night at age 65 from a recurrence of cancer.

Employees learned of his death through an email sent by co-CEO John Lacy and Burton announced his passing in an Instagram post on Thursday morning.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we share that Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter passed away peacefully last night surrounded by his family and loved ones as a result of complications from recurring cancer,” said Lacy. “He was our founder, the soul of snowboarding, the one who gave us the sport we all love so much. Ride on Jake.”

In the ’70s, after a car accident derailed his efforts to join the ski team at the University of Colorado Boulder, Carpenter started riding a Snurfer, a single ski with a rope attached to the nose invented by Sherman Poppen. Inspired by the new way of gliding on snow, Carpenter created the first modern snowboard and founded Burton Snowboards in 1977.

“I like to say we stand sideways and look at the world a little sideways,” Donna Carpenter, his wife, told OBJ in February 2018.

Today, Burton is the most prolific snowboarding company in the world. Carpenter helped grow the sport into a multi-billion dollar industry. Not only does his company produce boards, it also has a robust line of bindings, boots, outerwear, bags, and other gear. It’s fair to say that most people, even those who don’t ride, know the name.

“I started out riding on a Burton in 1982,” said Jeremy Jones, snowboarding legend and founder of Jones Snowboards and Protect Our Winters. “It was the first snowboard I ever saw. I found it in a general store that Jake had probably directly sold to. It wasn’t like I had this rack of snowboards to choose from.”

Jones says Carpenter will be remembered for his lifelong advocacy of the sport. He campaigned for ski resorts to open their lifts to snowboarders and see them as more than troublemakers in baggy pants. He also helped organize the first U.S. Open Snowboarding Championship in 1982 at Suicide Resort. The sport debuted in the Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan and has been a mainstay ever since.

In its four decades, the brand has sponsored many professional athletes, from Jones to Shaun White to Chloe Kim to its current team of young up-and-comers. It also created The Chill program in 1995 to provide children with the opportunity to learn to snowboard and the Learn To Ride program in 1998 to make it a family sport.

“Burton is a powerhouse in the industry,” Jones said. He and his staff in Truckee, California, are snowboarding on Friday in Carpenter’s honor.”They have been the significant leader of snowboarding and I’ve been in awe seeing what they’ve done…Snowboarding is still this really special, intimate sport and Jake has helped set that compass.”

Carpenter was also known for valuing having women in positions of authority and leadership. He took the last name of his wife, Donna Carpenter, when they married in 1983. She serves as the co-CEO with Lacy. The privately-held company also works closely as a Peak Partner with Camber Outdoors, the advocacy group formerly known as Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition.

Camber marketing and communications director Olivia Omega, in a statement, said, “…Our hearts are with Jake’s wife, Burton co-founder and co-CEO, Donna Carpenter who has served on the Camber Outdoors Board of Directors since 2015. Both believe that the spirit of inclusion and leadership are vital to the well-being of Burton, and that women must be an indispensable part of the management team at outdoor companies. Jake and Donna became our Camber Outdoors family over the years. And we are thankful. The impact of Jake’s life’s work will live on.”

Carpenter resided in Stowe, Vermont, and was inducted into the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard, Vermont, and Colorado Hall of Fames. Over the years, he battled and survived a series of health issues, including pulmonary embolism, Miller Fisher Syndrome (which left him paralyzed for a while) and testicular cancer in 2011.

Earlier this month, he wrote to employees to tell them that his cancer had returned, but that he was hopeful. Employees contacted by șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Business Journal on Thursday said they were devastated.

“Jake was not just a pioneer in snowboarding, he was my boss for 15 years and a personal friend,” Nick Sargent, president of Snowsports Industries America, wrote in a newsletter. ”

“As an industry, we owe a debt of gratitude to Jake. He played a huge role in the inspiration and transformation of the winter industry. Snowboarding has brought youthful energy, innovative technologies and invited an entirely new generation of winter enthusiasts to the mountains. I know I speak on behalf of SIA and the entire industry when I say that our thoughts are with Donna, George, Taylor, and Timi during this difficult time, and I find solace knowing that right about now, Jake is making endless powder turns, smiling the entire time.”

Our hearts go out to his family, friends, and staff. Whether you’re skiing or snowboarding or just getting outside this weekend, do it in Carpenter’s honor.

The post Burton Snowboards Founder Jake Burton Carpenter Dies at 65 appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

In 1994, Kemper Snowboards went kaput after it was sold to an in-line skate company on the East Coast. But former professional snowboarder, Jib Hunt, driven by nostalgia, is resurrecting it.

For Hunt, 43, launching this one-man show is a culmination of his life experience. Hunt grew up skiing and snowboarding at Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire. The Kemper Rampage was the second snowboard that Hunt owned at 13 years old in 1988—when Burton, Kemper, and SIMS were the top three snowboard brands.

After competing in snowboarding through college and graduating with a graphic design degree from Plymouth State University, Hunt spent five years as an apparel designer at Burton in Vermont. Then, Hunt worked for 16 years in New York City and New Jersey as a contract designer for streetwear apparel, launched Virgin Mobile USA, and eventually, ran global marketing for technology companies.

“I’ve always wanted to get back to working in the snowboard industry,” Hunt said. “This is the perfect scenario to do everything I like and put it all into one company.”

The brand is already growing. Product is predominantly sold direct-to-consumer online and through key snowboard shops, as well as a pop-up store. Distribution is expanding to Australia and Japan. And for winter 2020-21, the snowboard variations will double to 30 iterations of shapes, graphics, and sizes. OBJ spoke to Hunt, whose lifelong passion of snowboarding and design is apparent, as he enters the inaugural winter with Kemper Snowboards and 15 new takes on the heirloom rides.

What is your mission with relaunching Kemper Snowboards?

The snowboard industry has gone through many changes over the years. The era of snowboarding, during Kemper’s prime in the late ‘80s, was completely associated with fun. The sport wasn’t mainstream yet. Riders would make their own jumps and quarter pipes by hand. Relaunching Kemper is about bringing back the roots of snowboarding.

I also want to shake up the industry with a comeback brand, retro graphics, and bright neon colors. We want to be one of the big players pushing snowboard construction, shape, technology, and new graphics—in addition to old graphics. Using photo references and original snowboards, I redrew the graphics of three seasons’ of models from 1988 to 1991.

Who is the quintessential Kemper consumer?

There are two. The brand attracts people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who snowboarded when the brand was first around. There’s a huge following of collectors, sellers, and buyers of retro, nostalgic snowboards. Multiple Facebook groups have 8,000 to 10,000 people or more per group who collect or sell these boards there or on eBay. That market inspired me to restart this brand from back in the day.

Also, a lot of younger customers are into Kemper because of the retro graphics and uncommon shapes. A lot of companies are creative with shapes that don’t follow a traditional template. But those younger riders want something different and throwback that makes them stand out. The Kemper Snowboards Flight, for instance, has a unique tail and nose shape, and it’s the original silhouette of that snowboard.

Why is Park City a good home for Kemper?

I moved here in July. The Wasatch Mountains is home to some of the best snowboarding I’ve ever had. I like the vibe of the people who live in the area and I like the mountain scene.

Being here offers great visibility for the brand. We’re the only snowboard company based out of Park City. We partnered with Corner Sports Ski & Snowboard Rental Shop, at the base of Park City Mountain Resort, to have a pop-up store within the shop. Everyone walks by the window to get to the chairlift, so it’s great exposure.

What production, design, and manufacturing resources do you have there?

I do everything right now: graphic designs for the snowboards, website, marketing, production, and sales. The goal is to grow sales and hire additional help.

Our manufacturing is done overseas in China in the GP87 factory, which is owned and run by American snowboarders. The factory has a great reputation. Many brands in the industry have their boards made there, including Weston. The quality control, design, and manufacturing is done by men and women who know snowboarding and are up to date with the latest and greatest in the industry.

What’s your distribution model? Will we see you at Outdoor Retailer?

We sell off of our website, kemper-snowboards.com, and in our Park City pop-up shop directly to consumers. We also sell at retail core snowboard shops such as The Easy Rider in Canada and Invasion Board Shop in Vermont. We also currently work with Moosejaw online in the states. We have a distributor in Australia and we working on expanding in a large Japan retail chain and also core snowboard shops for 20/21.

I will not be at OR, but plan on being at the on-snow SIA demo. We will also be exhibiting at the WWSRA Salt Lake Shows and Utah demo days.

How will Kemper stand out from longstanding snowboard makers like Jones, Burton, and Weston Backcountry?

First, we are aligned with a factory that produces snowboards for some of the top brands. To push the limits, we need great construction and technologies—like edge traction, different core and sidewall materials, and carbon integration—plus fun shapes and graphics that stoke people.

There’s also an evolution of brand growth. As bigger companies become more mainstream, the core customer of the sport tends to gravitate away and toward smaller, edgier, newer companies. Those riders want to be more one-of-a-kind and not have same product as a larger mass of people on the hill.

The post Kemper Snowboards Returns Just as Retro and Bright as Before appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

In front of a room of journalists in March, Jonathan Nielsen described himself as really good snowboarder, a frequent mountain biker, and an adequate climber. The audience chuckled and the Backcountry CEO took a pause before spilling his excitement over the company’s biggest namesake product expansion to date. The collections—climb, apparel, and travel launched for spring/summer that week, mountain bike launched a few weeks ago, and ski and snowboard launch later this year—not only build on the company’s first foray into gear making in 2018, but mark a new era for the brand that was founded in 1996 by two ski bums.

After his presentation at the headquarters in Park City, Utah, șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Business Journal sat down with Nielsen for a one-on-one interview to discuss the company’s growth, first as a service and now as a brand. He told us that Backcountry’s customers have evolved to identify themselves by more than one outdoor activity—they’re climbers, cyclists, runners, yogis, snowboarders, skiers, mountain bikers, and more. And it’s part of Backcountry’s strategy to develop the best gear possible, based on feedback from millions of customers over 20 years.

On pushback from other brands when Backcountry decided to make its own gear:

“There’s been less pushback than I expected. It’s 2019. Everyone gets where we’re going from an industry perspective. Not everyone loves it, but they understand it and it’s a sound decision and the right thing to do for all of our businesses. The best retailers and brands are trying to get closer to having a deep relationship with customers. We’ve got to do what’s right for our customer and what’s healthy for our business. Our customer wants Backcountry product. They’ve said it over and over again. When I get questions about pushback, I flip it on its head and say, for us in an Amazon-driven world, we need to have unique product that enriches our brand and will make our business healthy. The healthier we are as a business, the better we’re going to partner for you. Similar to how brands go direct to consumer and that makes you healthy, building our own product ultimately makes us a healthier business.”

On bringing brands together for the collection:

“Because we’re this hybrid retailer becoming a brand, we can bring people together. If you look at our touring collection last year, it was Flylow, DPS, Black Diamond. This year, it’s Black Diamond and DPS again, Edelweiss, Metolius, So iLL, Gore-Tex, and Burton. There’s not really another paradigm where those all come together—outside of just a traditional retail setting—to create a full kit together. I think we have a unique ability to do that. We have a consumer they all want to reach.”

On giving the ever-evolving customer what they want:

“We’ve really embraced this notion of lifestyle. Twenty years ago, people were like, I’m a skier. We find that our customers do multiple sports and they actually want to wear apparel that represents who they are. We have a lot of great brands that hit that hit that nexus of outdoor. There’s a trend with athleisure. You go to a climbing gym, everyone is climbing in leggings. It’s comfortable and it works and it looks great. We have brands like Alo and Beyond Yoga. They hit that combination, especially for our female customer, of functional, looks great, performs. It’s everyday wear, plus you can climb in it. Everyone’s doing it. One of our bestselling products in 2018 was our female fleece-lined tight. We sold out of it.”

On selling on Amazon:

“One of the levers that Amazon uses to get brands to join is if you’re not on, they don’t police gray market and they let it be the wild west. They say, hey if you come on, we’ll get rid of all this gray market stuff for you. We do participate in the marketplace as a third-party seller, but that’s a direct function of whether our brand partners are on Amazon or not. In a perfect world, we would love specialty to be specialty. But I understand. Roughly 50 percent of all e-commerce growth comes from Amazon, so I get it. Brands need to tap into that channel and if they’re going to do that, what we like to do is help them think through it because we’re actually quite good at e-commerce and quite good at the Amazon ecosystem.”

On the health of brick-and-mortar retail:

“I don’t think retail is going away, it’s just different. Retail used to be just a function of location, right? When there’s no internet, it’s like, I own this location and therefore that is convenience. The internet blew that up. Now, you have to tell a story, you have to offer the customer something different than just a spot down the street. I think for a lot of retailers, it’s hard.”

On the inspiration for the Gearhead program:

“I think everyone thinks technology is here to destroy everything. I don’t have that view. And Gearheads are a great example. We actually think that personalization for us is less algorithmic and more people—it’s the people that enrich the website experience. You used to just walk down the street and say, yeah you’re my person. We take that local shop experience and give you access to it in a 2019 kind of way.”

On what’s next for Backcountry:

“The backcountry brand is here to stay. We had a small launch in 2018 and we’re taking a giant step forward in 2019. I think you’ll see continual large steps forward. Our goal is to become a major outdoor brand on the product side and continue to do what we’ve always done on the retail side and lean in to our Gearhead program.”

The post An Exclusive Interview with Backcountry CEO Jonathan Nielsen appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

To put it bluntly, Supreme is the cool kid on the block. The one whose lack of effort seems unattainably chill, whose attention you’re dying to grab but can’t ever seem to figure out how to get.

Even if you think you don’t know them, you’ve almost certainly seen riffs on their block-lettered logo. Supreme started out as a clothing brand for skaters, and along the way, it became the ultimate hype brand. Millions of followers around the world eagerly await Supreme’s regular “drops,” their co-branded collaborations with clothing, outdoor, lifestyle, and home goods brands across the board.

Part of what makes Supreme work is its scarcity model: there are always more fans than there is product available. Drops sell out in seconds worldwide, in spite of mass quantities available, which makes nabbing a collab with Supreme a slam dunk. Karl Fritzsche, category manager for SealLine, told us that the See Pouch they produced for a Supreme drop early this year accounted for more than ten times the amount they typically sell in a full year.

“People are buying it because it says ‘Supreme,’ that’s the crazy thing,” he said. For the most part, they don’t even need a drybag. “It’s super mind-boggling.”

That’s essentially Supreme’s whole model: find cool stuff, slap their name on it, sell it en masse.

If you scroll through their recent drops, you’ll find a lot of normal stuff like clothing—a fair amount of it produced in collaboration with The North Face—a lot of outdoor gear, and a heck of a lot of stuff that’s just plain weird. (Who needs an anatomically correct model of the human body with Supreme’s logo on the base?)

But while a fair bit of it ends up on eBay, selling for many times the original asking price (Fritzsche’s seen SealLine See Pouches go for about $300, compared to the MSRP of about $50), there’s another unintended consequence, too: urbanites from major cities across the world who might not otherwise care to go kayaking or camping pack up their new gear and head for nature.

“Supreme comes up with some really funny things, and I think they’re very calculated in what they’re doing,” said Ryan Pugh, a product designer for Advanced Elements, which produced untold thousands of inflatable kayaks (he’s not allowed to say exactly how many) for a Supreme drop in July.

The kayaks sold out in seconds—we’re not exaggerating—and Advanced Elements had expected that they’d mostly stay in their boxes, serving as collectors’ items. But to their surprise, they’ve seen scores of YouTube videos and Instagram posts of people kayaking for the first time thanks to Supreme. “They’ve figured out that, with millennials, being outdoors is catching on,” Pugh said. “They understand that their clientele is at least thinking about getting outside, doing things outdoors, and engaging in that realm.”

To be sure, collaborating with Supreme can seriously boost your brand’s clout and recognition. So how do you get a deal? That’s the tough part—you can’t. Supreme is very much a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” kind of company (case in point: they didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment on this story). Even SealLine didn’t work directly with Supreme on the See Pouch collab; they went through a third party agency hired by the company.

So, outdoor brands shouldn’t hold their breath and wait for Supreme to come knocking. But collaborating with other companies—both within the industry and beyond—is still good for business.

Here Are 5 Types of Collabs That Your Brand Should Consider.

1. The Co-designed Collab

By designing products together that wouldn’t exist if not for brand collaboration, you can achieve some serious brand awareness. Take, for example, their Topo Designs x Chaco collection. Chaco made sandals and dog leashes and collars with Topo-inspired patterns. And Topo made packs featuring the same designs. Products like these, and similar projects like the sleeping pad collab between Poler Stuff and Therm-a-Rest, or the tent, sleeping pad, and table collabs between Big Agnes, Helinox, and Burton, play up both brands’ assets and appeal to both of their audiences. Brands like Power Practical, Rumpl, and Ravean take it a step further when they innovate by building on one another’s technology. In 2016, the three brands worked together to create the Rumpl Puffe-, a rechargeable electric puffy blanket.

Check Out These Succesful Co-designed Collabs

Burton and Big Agnes Tent Collab

Nomadix and Wylder Goods Towel Collab

Chaco and Topo Designs Sandal Collab

Therm-a-Rest and Poler Sleeping Pad Collab

Power Practical, Rumpl, and Ravean Blanket Collab

2. The Co-branded or White-Labeled Collab

This type of collaboration is fairly run-of-the-mill. You make backpacks, for example, and you want water bottles with the company name on them, or vice-versa. If the brand you want to work with has a following you want to tap, it may be beneficial to keep both companies’ logos on the product. But if you want to have full “ownership” over the product, you can white-label it. Sock companies like Nester Hosiery the parent company of Farm to Feet, for example, produce socks on behalf of other companies without ever mentioning their involvement.

3. The Social Collab

Perhaps the easiest type of collaboration to secure is one in which you work with some like-minded brands to tap each others’ audiences. Maybe you put together a sweet prize package, and to enter, Instagram users have to follow all the brands involved, like the post, and comment by tagging a friend who may be interested. Or, maybe consumers enter online with their email address, and then you end up with 10,000 new newsletter subscribers. Emails are great leads to new customers, says Yoon Kim, who runs Blogs for Brands and frequently executes social and giveaway collaborations between brands.

Social Media Collabs That Work!

Topo Designs, Big Agnes, REI, and others collaborated on this trip giveaway.

Wylder Goods collaborated with Hydro Flask, Sun Bum, Toad&Co, and others for this summer gear giveaway.

Retailer Feral Mountain Co. partnered with several local groups for a spring giveaway.

4. The Press Trip Collab

If you work with an external PR agency, it might be easy for you to organize a press trip where costs are shared with another gear company (or maybe several gear companies). If not, look around you—there may be other gear companies in your city that you can approach on your own. If co-hosting a trip is out of the question, you can also try to support an existing trip by offering up product to pass out to writers for potential review.

5. The Out-Of-Industry Collab

Just because you can’t hunt down a Supreme collab doesn’t mean you’re out of luck for increasing your brand recognition beyond core outdoor users. Just look to Woolrich, for example, which made a co-branded “Pennsylvania Tuxedo” beer a few years ago with Dogfish Head Brewing. It was a pale ale brewed with spruce tips from Pennsylvania and Delaware forests. Stormy Kromer has worked with a tattoo shop in Michigan to do “Hats for Tats.” Major fans could trade a free lifetime supply of Stormy Kromer hats in exchange for tattooing a hat somewhere on their body. And if you’re tight on budget for your upcoming catalog but want to go somewhere exotic for killer photos, you can seek partnerships with destination tourism boards, too, who may be able to help lower your costs.

The post Collabs: If You’re Not Doing Them, You’re Crazy appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

“It’s rare that you find someone who created a whole category; from the first show where no one knew what a snowboard was, to all the areas that wouldn’t even allow snowboarding,” said Greg Thomsen, managing director of adidas Outdoor, which sponsors the Inspiration Awards. “[Donna and Jake’s] perseverance, direction, and commitment is laudable. And they couldn’t be nicer, more honest people to deal with.”

Years after a car accident derailed his effort to join the ski team at the University of Colorado Boulder, Jake began riding a Snurfer monoski. These had ropes attached to the nose for steering, and lacked bindings. Jake sensed it could be more. In 1977, he cribbed notes from skateboard and ski production and used them to tinker on his prototypes. He ditched the rope and used ski bindings to lock into a sideways stance. Two years later, Burton had sold a whopping 300 boards to shops and exhausted his finances. That led him to begin a mail order business, and the company flourished.

Such perseverance is in Burton’s DNA, and the company has used it to maintain its prominence on the three pillars of branding, community, and financial sustainability. “I like to say we stand sideways and look at the world a little sideways,” Donna said.

As snowboarding began to take hold at resorts across the country, the Carpenters looked to kindred markets to inform their decisions—or to use as cautionary tales. When Donna joined Burton’s leadership in the early ’80s, she felt the ski industry had lost its passion: all the former ski bums she knew were fretting over spreadsheets. That was not something the Carpenters wanted for themselves. To safeguard against it, Jake pledged he’d ride 100 days a year—a promise he’s kept every year but two. “It was that sense of staying connected and not losing why we’re in it,” Donna said.

In the ’90s, surf brands showed them what overexpansion looked like. “Surf had a legitimate lifestyle to sell and they got greedy by going public: they overproduced,” Donna said. “Staying private is an incredible competitive advantage to us because we can invest in things like sustainability and gender diversity without having to worry about the next quarterly profit for our shareholders.”

Instead, Burton has focused on what’s now and what’s next, strategically selecting athletes to sponsor to highlight the brand’s image and performance and always seeking to invite new members to the sport.

Over the decades, Burton’s sponsorship has fostered young athletes who grew up to represent the sport on the world stage, like a nine-year-old named Shaun White and a strong roster of women. For the broader snowboard audience, Burton runs several services and programs to help grow the sport’s community, including Learn to Ride, which also hosts women-only introductory sessions, and the Chill Foundation, which puts underprivileged youth on the slopes. There’s even the Riglet program to get kids from ages two to four onto modified boards.

They learned other lessons the hard way, but being pioneers earned them some leeway over the years. “We made the mistake of hiring all the bros, or whatever, in the beginning and then there was a period of time where I think we went too far the other way and were just looking for specialists,” said Donna. “We realized that cultural fit and values are important.”

Current upheaval around issues like diversity and the #MeToo movement have rattled companies in every industry, but Burton was ahead of the curve and a leader in women’s representation. “My team is 45 percent female,” Donna said. “That really came from an aha moment that Jake and I had 14 years ago.” After rapid growth took in employees and participants from the male-dominated sports of skate, surf, and snow, Donna said the brand “took on a culture that we didn’t really mean to.”

Six years ago, when European brands pushed for transparency in their production, Burton went all in, too, and now boasts one of the highest percentages of bluesign-approved softgoods in the industry.

In the early days, snowboarding had a chip on its shoulder, carving a way for itself on the slopes with the attitude of that sideways perspective. “There was a sense of it being more than a sport, of it being a movement,” Donna said. “I think we can do that again in terms of fighting global climate change or something, but I miss a little bit of that rebel spirit.”

Burton has found innovation is still a great way to disrupt and grow the industry. From initial board shapes—some of which are seeing a retro rebirth—to the latest Step On bindings, the company has prioritized the rider first and lifestyle second. The Step Ons were born when Jake remarked to a company engineer that he’d spent enough years bending over to get into his bindings and wanted an easier option that would offer the same performance as a buckle binding. Five years later, that product came to market.

As chairman of the board, Jake has kept his focus on products and athletes. He’s instilled a simple litmus test for gear coming through the pipeline: if it doesn’t help the rider, let it go. He still tries on the latest apparel and technologies. In the past year, he began meeting with specialty retailers and going out to dinner to give a more familial feel to retailers who stayed loyal over three decades.

For Donna, the realization that Burton was a family first came amid the 1989 Savings and Loans Crisis. The bank had pulled Burton’s funding and Donna had to tell employees they couldn’t cash their paychecks for two weeks. “Nobody blinked. Nobody complained, from the warehouse to the salespeople.”

But does a lifetime achievement award imply they are ready to hand over the reins?

“Burton’s our kid and it’s growing up and we want it to be independent,” Donna said. “I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting there.”

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