Industry News
The upcoming season will be an exciting one for the biggest snowboarding company in the world. 2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of Burton Snowboards, and the company is kicking off the celebration with five product drops over the course of the next few months. Each drop leans into the different eras of Burton, from its early beginnings in the late 1970s, all the way up to the present.
On September 10, Burton released the era one drop, titled “Sideways Revolution.” The drop pays homage to snowboarding’s rebellious roots, back when riders had to hike for turns and people called it winter’s “worst new sport.” It also reflects on Burton’s early days, when it was just a tiny operation run by one of the world’s most passionate snowboarders, Jake Burton Carpenter.
Era one began 50 years ago, in 1977, when Jake Burton Carpenter left his home in New York and headed for Londonberry, Vermont. It was there he started Burton Boards in a rented farmhouse and began building prototypes of the first Burton snowboard — the Backhill. After more than 100 prototypes, he found laminated maple was the best material, and the BB1 Backhill and BB2 Backyard became Burton’s first production boards in 1979.
In 1981, Burton moved from Londonberry to Jake’s home in Manchester, Vermont, where he turned his home into the company’s headquarters. The barn became the factory, the living room became the store, the basement became the warehouse, and the bedroom became the office. Toll-free catalog inquiries keep the phone ringing around the clock. One year after the move, Suicide Six (now Saskadena Six) in Pomfret, Vermont, became the first resort to allow snowboarding and hosted the 1982 National Snow Surfing Championships.
A year after Suicide Six went the way of the board, Jake took to the nearby Stratton Mountain to try to get it to do the same. After riding with the resort’s ski patrol, Jake was able to convince Stratton to allow snowboarders. It became the first major resort to have snowboarders on its lifts.
Building on his success at Suicide Six and Stratton, Jake began to develop snowboard-specific gear. He looked to ski technology for inspiration, as it had better control on hardpack and variable terrain. In 1984, he found an Austrian ski factory willing to make snowboards with steel edges and P-Tex bases. At the same time, Burton’s first outerwear began to take shape with the powder shell.
Burton’s era one wraps up in 1985, when fewer than 5% of U.S. ski resorts allowed snowboarding. But over a decade of tireless lobbying by Jake and his band of fellow snowboarders brought that number to over 95% by 1996. As the number of snowboarding resorts grew, so did Burton. It built a strong following in both the United States and Europe as it began to continuously upgrade the technology in its gear.
With the era one release, Burton has made available its 1985 Powder Shell jacket and pants, but with all the modern technology and layering of today’s jackets and pants. It also released two 1983-inspired shirts with the vintage Burton logo, as well as an old earflap beanie. Each item has a cool vintage look, inspired by what Burton was making in the early days of snowboarding. For early snowboarders and fans of the throwback look, the “Sideways Revolution” collection is definitely worth checking out.
With the era one release officially available, the celebration of Burton’s 50th anniversary has officially begun. And with era two’s release coming in 33 days, Burton and snowboard fans have another history lesson and even more gear to look forward to.
