StepChild Snowboards
Sleazy Rider & Joe Pro
Contact Info:
www.stepchildsnowboards.com
604.207.8804
info@stepchildsnowboards.com
Questions answered by Sami Shams
What are the biggest trends shaping the hardgoods market for next year?
Trends are changing daily in this industry. Companies are constantly manipulating themselves to suit the current style so we let those people do their thing, and we do ours. We just do what we like, we aren’t into stretching ourselves out into different hard goods markets either. We stick to making good decks for our loyal Dirts. We just aren’t trying to conquer the world.
What is the greatest change affecting your brand since last season?
People have figured out what a shit show this industry is. Some of the larger brands are losing momentum and the attention has now turned to the smaller core companies. We don’t have the multi million-dollar marketing budgets to pay for ads where we try to be something we are not. Bigger brands are claiming to be small and core and it’s a total joke. We aren’t lying to kids and we don’t have the money to buy misleading ad campaigns. We have no choice but to be ourselves and keep grinding.
How has the market evolved over the last year and how do you see things changing in the years ahead?
This industry has been over run with outside corporations, energy drink companies and ski brands. People are starting to see through all the crap and notice that it’s the smaller brands that keep snowboarding rooted. Snowboarding is still “cool” now, but if riding Soap Shoes in ballerina skirts were “cool” then Red Bull and Monster would be all over that shit too. Airtime Asshole, at least the World Soap Shoe champ would be getting paid bank.
How has sales forecasting changed for your company?
It hasn’t changed; we keep doing it incorrectly. The weather man can’t tell us what tomorrow will bring so we can’t really say what next years sales will be like -you know?
How are you working with retailers to help ensure strong margins, the right amount of product in the marketplace, and terms that set them up for success?
The shops that pay us get good margins, the ones that don’t get even better margins.
How large are your lines going to be compared to years past? Have you seen customers confused by too many different stories?
Shouldn’t get too confusing bro, they are only snowboards.
With the shifting landscape of production abroad, are you reevaluating where you produce your hardgoods?
No. People pay hard earned money for Snowboards and they don’t want to be given a pile. “Made in Austria” is a stamp of quality that we are proud of. We are stoked to be able to provide quality snowboards to the dirts that ride StepChild. We put more funds into building snowboards than covering up some cheap chopstick with marketing trickery and being “Hardcore”. We are the real deal, raw and broke as shit.
What opportunities do you see for growing hardgoods sales? Please explain. (Are you increasing your focus on kids, women, core retailers, chains, rental sales, internet sales, entry-level products, splitboards, etc.?)
Well pretty much every Snowboard Company has a binding program, outwear program and a whole host of other shit. We are just going to continue making quality snowboards for now. We may get into hemp bindings and womens snowboard lingerie but we’ll see. Have to do some forecasting.
What do you anticipate prices doing next season?
Every year snowboards are getting cheaper and it’s these cheap boards that break within 3 weeks. Customers are realizing that it’s more cost effective to buy a great deck for $400 that will last for two or three seasons. Our prices stay steady and consistent with the quality of boards we produce. Unfortunately though the majority of snowboard consumers only look at price. We encourage people to look a bit deeper into what they are buying.
Are you taking any steps to minimize your environmental impact? If so, what are some of these steps?
For every board that is sold a percentage goes towards the maintenance and landscaping of my back yard. I’ve had these plants shipped from all over the world bro, they are hard to look after.
There is no such thing as a carbon neutral snowboard. Snowboards are toxic as hell : plastic, epoxy, fiberglass, glues, resin- c’mon dude, what are people going to claim that their boards are made of hippy powder and cow shit. Companies will throw a blade of grass into a barrel of oil and market that as environmentally friendly and I call bullshit on the whole thing.
What does your company hope to contribute to snowboarding?
5 bucks and the beers
To what degree are you emphasizing camber shape in your lineup?
We offer Zero, Regular and Reverse Camber boards, everything else doesn’t make sense.
Are you cooking up any new materials or construction techniques?
Technologies are always moving forward and we do what we can to cut the crap and focus on good tech that could really improve our decks. We introduced Phillian Sidewalls on our pro models so the sidewalls can’t crack!
What themes are you seeing for graphics?
We don’t stick to the usual patterns and abstract shit you get nowadays. We work with people in-house and ask artists we are hyped on if they want to get involved on a project. These are the guys that understand our mentality and are down for the cause. Our Pro team has full say on what they want on their boards and basically deliver us a finished graphic by the time we hit the factory.
