Burton Snowboards

Other wise known as: Burton

    Burton Snowboards Inc., was started in 1977 and is well known throughout the snowboard world and controls about 40% of the market. The company claims a number of titles including the largest snowboard brand in the world and worlds first snowboard factory. Burton was founded by Jake Burton in South Londonderry, Vermont and is still privately held by Jake. The company is now worldwide and has offices in Austria and Japan.

What do they make?
    Burton Snowboards manufactures a variety of products relating to snowboarding including snowboarding boots, bindings, snowboards, backpacks and luggage, waterproof outer wear including coats, pants and gloves, snowboard socks, as well as under layer garments for snowboarding.
The BMC (Burton Manufacture Center) is located in Williston, Vermont and is where Burton makes a number of its high tech boards.

    Since Burton makes all of its own products, each individual piece of the snowboarding puzzle works incredibly well with other Burton pieces. For example, Burton patented a system of using three screws to mount their bindings to their boards, all other companies use a four bolt system. With only three bolts Burton claims that people using their 3D system can mount their bindings in more variations with less heavy inserts then any of their competitors that need to use the standard 4 inserts. Its little things like this that make Burton stand out and ahead.

Burton’s other companies
    Burton Snowboards Inc. also owns a number of companies that it has started in the past ten years. These companies make and sell complimentary products including goggles and protective hardware.

    In 1996 Burton started Riding Enhancement Devices (RED) to make and sell snowboard tuning products, helmets, body protection and all sorts of other related things that make snowboarding fun.

    Two years later, in 1998, Gravis was started up by Burton. Gravis is a footwear company that makes and sells bags as well as shoes and other “softgoods.”

    In 2001 Burton once again started another company and this time started making goggles. Anon Optics is the result of Burton’s diversification. Anon does truly create great goggles just like Burton creates great boards. These goggles interface with Burton/RED helmets exceptionally well which keeps you from getting that damn wind burn line across your forehead.

    The last company that Burton has added to its family is Analog. Analog was started in 2004 and is a casual clothing brand with strong ties to the snowboarding and skateboarding community.

    Burton Snowboards can now be found across the globe. In over 4348 stores worldwide Burton and some of its subsidiaries products can be bought, 1536 of those stores are found in the US. For years and years Burton forbid its resellers to offer any of it or its companies products over the internet. Finally, in 2003, Burton Snowboards allowed a select few companies (including US Outdoor Store and Backcountry Store) to sell their products over the internet. Burton claims this now allows those riders who are stuck in the sticks an outlet to buy the gear they need without having to drive for ten hours to get it.

    Burton's lines of clothing have changed and morphed through the years but included Universal, Ronin, Bio Lite, AK, and Toast to name a few.

     In order to stay in the spotlight, test their current products, and work on developing new products Burton has a massive network of sponsored riders. Burton receives thousands of requests annually and has over 100 riders worldwide. Burton sponsorship starts with riding for the factory team with compensation consisting of gear and the occasional travel budget and other incentives. The highest level of sponsorship with Burton consists of being on the Global Team. This tight team of 17 of the best riders in the world is fully supported by Burton. This team includes such riders as Shaun White, Terje Haakonsen, Romain De Marchi, JP Solberg, Jussi Oksanen, Jermy Jones, Kier Dillon, Trevor Andrew, Jeremy Jones, Kelly Clark, Victoria Jealouse and Ross Powers.

    Burton recommends that for those that would like to ride for the company to dominate locally then regionally. They also recommend working with your regional Burton Rep to further your possibility of snowboarding as a professional career.

    Burton Snowboards hosts a number of snowboarding events but most notably the US Open. They are also responsible for Boarding for Breat Cancer, the Nippon Open and the European Open.

    Burton has come a long way from when it started and founder Jake Burton was over $100,000 in debt. The company boasted revenue of 140 million in 2003 with 558 employees. Subsidiary, Gravis, brought in 23 million with 80 employees. Burton is still run by Jake Burton with the help of president and COO Laurent Potdevin and CFO Mike Abbot.

So what do I think of Burton products?
    Of course everyone will answer this differently but here is what I think. I swore by the brand for years and years and rode their equipment exclusively. Burton was the best and I truly believed that. After a while my feet grew to be too big to ride the angles I wanted without toe drag so I switched boards for a season. The next season Burton came out with the very wide and stiff Canyon and I fell back in love with Burton. The next year I ended up breaking two boards and blowing apart my bindings (Burton’s warranty is incredible and it used to be lifetime). Maybe it was just a bad year for them but after that I started to explore different companies. Burton gear works really awesome for a lot of people but I don’t use their products now for everything, just most everything.

-Lakes

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