Fifty years ago in a rented Vermont farmhouse, Jake Burton Carpenter typed his first press release with the opening line, ‘Londonderry Vermont has a new manufacturing company… The Burton Board Corporation run by inventor/designer/entrepreneur Jake Burton Carpenter.’ He mailed it to reporters, listed his home phone as the contact and started making history one handmade snowboard at a time. What followed was something nobody could have imagined – a revolution spread from one local rider to the next, turning a fringe obsession into a worldwide culture.
Courtesy of Burton.
Snowboarding’s story has never been Burton’s alone. It belongs to every shop that believed in snowboarding, every filmer who caught the moment, every crew that built a jump out of nothing, and every rider who kept showing up when the sport still wasn’t welcome. From Vermont to Japan, the Alps to China, snowboarding has grown into a community with no borders, written by everyone who chose to go sideways.
Courtesy of Burton.
“Our 50th anniversary celebrates the counterculture spirit of the global riding community, the creativity and grit that got us all here and the next generation of riders taking snowboarding to a place we never imagined 50 years ago,” said Donna Carpenter, Burton Owner & Chair of the Board. “Jake was often asked to predict snowboarding’s future, and he always said it was up to the riders. That’s what we’re celebrating this season – each generation of snowboarders making snowboarding their own.”
Today, the 50th celebration of Burton and snowboarding starts with the first of five product drops, each dedicated to a different era of iconic riders, styles and stories. Available starting September 10th, the first product drop of the 50th celebration revisits Burton’s first decade: 1977-1987. This is the era when “winter’s worst new sport” (as snowboarding was deemed by a national newspaper magazine) became impossible to ignore. To honor this decade, Burton reissued the ’85 Powder Shell kit, snowboarding’s first outerwear jacket and pant updated with modern 3L weather protection. Heavyweight tees and an archive-inspired beanie complete the collection with details defined by the early days of experimentation. Four more decades of special collections will drop from October-February, each with their own snowboarding story to tell.
Throughout the fall/winter season, more 50th fun will be had with in-store and on-snow events and a five-episode short-form documentary celebrating 50 years of snowboarding.
Get the latest on the season of 50th celebrations at Burton.com/Burton50
About Burton
In 1977, Jake Burton Carpenter founded Burton Snowboards out of his Vermont barn and dedicated the rest of his life to snowboarding. Since its founding, Burton has played a pivotal role in growing snowboarding from a backyard hobby to a world-class sport by creating groundbreaking products, supporting a team of top snowboarders, and pushing resorts to allow snowboarding. Today, Burton designs and manufactures industry-leading products for snowboarding and the outdoors. As a sustainability leader within the outdoor and winter sports industries, Burton is the world’s first snowboard company to become a certified B Corporation®. Privately held and owned by Donna Carpenter, Burton’s headquarters are in Burlington, Vermont with offices in Austria, Japan, Australia, Canada and China. For more information about Burton, visit www.burton.com and follow @burtonsnowboard on TikTok, @burtonsnowboards on Instagram and facebook.com/burtonsnowboards.
