It's snow season....or at least it supposed to be. Last year at this time Mum Nature had delivered over 200" of snow to Kirkwood resort. Tomorrow I will head there with Sean Reid to feel the near death sensation of chattering down the front face at 55 MPH. You see the front face is virtually a sheet of ice because to date the 'wood' has only received 36" of snow, 0" in a month. That's good for fence, but its no bueno for skiing & snowboarding. More to come on my favorite past time in future posts....
Let's talk about Marketing and China. Fuck yeah, didn't expect that combo did you? OK snowboarding is a sport; target market, males aged 18-35; focused market, males aged 18-26. Of course we are talking about white males here, maybe some asians too.
What are some characteristics of Males 18-26? They are peacocks & show offs, whom utilize tattoos and other types of 'flair' to attract the opposite sex. What else? They don't have careers yet. But they are white, or maybe asian; that means they don't have money, but of course they have enough money to snowboard.
Now let's look at the industry; snow sport companies want to sell the shit out of their shit to these white guys. Here's a quick break down of a typical planning/market approach meeting IMO: What do these guys want? They want to have sex. How are they going to do it, by looking cool. So the industry; specifically snowboarding, focuses 85% of their efforts on appearance; 'fashion' if you will and completely bypasses the quality and functionality factors. Once the pattern is selected it's shipped off to CHINA to be produced just like the item was the year before, but with 'new' style for the 'new' year.
STYLES: The styles hurt to look at; I love me some neon, but last year neon was back and giving it 115%. Every guy out there on a snowboard 18-26 looked like some kind of thugged out skittle cruising down the hill. I'm pretty sure last February the 1980's called because they we're offended with the flagarant misuse of neon. This year I hate to say it, but I'm seeing a lot, and I mean a lot of denim. Eat your heart out Dean. 2011-12 is the year of Denim. WTF.
I swung by my buddies 'board' shop in Jackson, CA the other day and literally was disgusted by the poor quality and really the appearance of probably 85% of the gear in the place. Literally its all low quality crap, and it's all made in CHINA. Denim every where I look. It's been at least 5-7 years since I've invested in quality gear and this year it's time to fork it over, but I cannot believe the transition the industry has made. Every pair of flashy ass pants is priced between $165 and $230 and they are produced in China for maybe $22 a pair. Fred even commented that he has more gear coming but it's on the slow boat from CHINA.
The frustrating thing about it is that I want some good shit that is going to last me 5-7 years and unless I'm buying Burton, I cannot get it from a snowboarding company. Now here's the anomaly, Skiing. There's a few ski companies that are moving in the right direction and producing high quality gear right here in the US of A. I want that stuff. Why should I support Volcom, when I can support a little company from Colorado called Fly Low? Their logo found on the tag of every one of their products is "Drink cold beer." Hello?! Same story for Trew products of Oregon. Watch out for the pure badassory when you get on their website.
Marshall wants to know if I'm going to be skier this year, or just look like one. I dunno, I haven't bought anything yet. But one thing I do know, I'm going to rip the shit out of that sheet of ice this weekend and I'd do it in an American flag before I did it in faux denim from China. WORD.
NOTE: My comments about denim do NOT apply to the guy with the mullet skiing in 501's, you my man are a true American and your patriotism should be commended. plus you look like some one's Dad. And you're totally ready for the apres scene.....
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