I stumbled across PowderRoom’s Ten Trends for 2010 a few weeks ago and they inspired me to write my own list for big trends coming up in 2010. From technology, to style, to marketing here’s what I see to be important for the 2010 snowboard season:
- Minimalistic Bindings – Light weight with time saving single ratchets, minimalistic bindings are a growing trend in upcoming binding design. At first these technologies were only available in men’s bindings, but 2010 gives us ladies a couple options for the latest tech in snowboard bindings. Check out the K2 Auto Agogo and the Ride Bandita Bindings.
- Revert to old Tech and Market it like New Tech – Canted footbeds, Reverse Camber, and Hyper Color are all blasts from the past that you’ll see marketed as the latest and greatest. Don’t worry though, there have been significant changes to make these technologies way better than they were in the 80′s. All Ride bindings this year are featuring canted footbeds, the slight rise to the outer side of the binding’s footbed forces you into a more ergonomically correct stance and therefore makes snowboarding easier on your body. Also from Ride is their unique color changing inks that react to cold weather. They can be found in select Cappel outerwear and in the Ride Crush Snowboard. Rome keeps it real by calling their reverse camber boards the 1985 models since that was the last time reverse camber boards were popular.
- Color Blocking – Maybe this is another example of snowboarding going back in time, but color blocking has been a strong fashion trend in “action sports” apparel for the last year. We’re seeing this trend move to outerwear for 2010. Check out the styles from Bond and Nikita for a couple solid examples of color blocking.
- Asymmetry - Asymmetry has been around in fashion for decades, but it is less known in the realm of hardgoods. Gnu is making that jump with the Park Pickle, a snowboard that has a deeper sidecut on the heelside. Pete Saari, VP of Marketing at Mervin had this to say. “The Park Pickle achieves perfect balance through asymmetry, a deeper sidecut and asymmetric core on the heel edge balances your foots asymmetry and the different turn mechanics between heel and toe turns.” On the outerwear side, expect to see lots of asymmetric details in the form of zippers, color blocking, and plackets.
- BOA at it’s BEST – Each year BOA gets better and better. It started out as an over-priced convenience technology that a lot of advanced, legitimate riders scoffed at. But 2010 marks some amazing achievements in BOA that have everyone stoked. K2′s Boa Conda liner harness creates some of the most comfortable boots I have ever worn (and I’m a HUGE boot critic). Also, Ride gets to boast the first Red BOA knob found on their Insano Boot. The only BOA product I’m not supporting is the BOA outerwear that 686 is making (an idea that my boyfriend and his brother claim to have jokingly pitched to the K2 engineers over a drunken SIA dinner). Is a zipper really that hard to use?
- Battle of the ECO-friendlies – From K2′s eco-conscious construction to Holden’s recycled outerwear materials, in my eyes Bond Outerwear wins the battle for the most eco-friendly company with their top down sustainability business model. But when the majority of snowboard companies are striving to create less impact on the environment, aren’t we all big winners?
- Fashion Co-Labs – Everyone likes to look good. So why not dress up our hardgoods with our favorite apparel brands? For the 2010 snowboard season, you can expect to see collaborations between Ride and Green Apple Tree, Ride and Matix, and K2 and Penguin.
- Dream Catchers and Native Vibes: What’s your spirit animal? Pick up the new Smith Heiress goggles to help channel dreams of big dumps while the K2 AirDu will lead you into battle like the true warrior you are. I’m not sure what brought about this trend, but I’m backing it.
- Getting Down on Burton – We all know Jake had good intentions when he started Burton, but with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately, that responsibility was turned over to a bunch of corporate suits and Burton has been bullying retailers ever since. Burton’s decision to sell direct is going to have a HUGE affect on independent retailers across the globe. First ever Transworld Shop-of-the-Year recipient, World Boards, has said “enough” to the damaging business tactics of Burton. They will no longer be supporting this company that no longer supports snowboarding. Will other shops follow suit?And what about their heavy hitting pro team? With riders like Eero Niemala and Elena Hight jumping ship to Volcom Snowboards, and DCP, Romain de Marchi, and JP Solberg starting their own company, YES Snowboards; are they really supporting the progressing of talent in snowboarding?
- Depression of the Great Recession – Yeah, we all try to deny it, but the snowboard industry IS being affected by the “poor” economy. Here’s what Mr. Wonderful* had to add to my 2010 trend list:
- Cutting budgets.
- Getting laid off.
- Telling Transworld Biz that you are not going out of business, which only means that you are on the verge of going out of business(since people already think you are out of business).
- 2 words, 1 name- Ed Hardy! The coming of the end. A sign of the times. Snowboarding is officially gay. I think it happened in the 80s with surfing and the Bud Pro Tour. People who know nothing about this industry are getting into it to cash checks.
- Claiming that your company will not overproduce. The end of closeouts. The end of per unit cost averaging.
- The end of the #1 major national show – SIA Vegas. No one will go to Denver. Regional shows are more important… Showrooms… Living in warehouses…
*name has been changed to protect the innocent
Did I miss anything? What do you guys see as upcoming trends for 2010?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
So many things I could say right now that would make peoples heads turns and jaws drop.
It’s always interesting to see how some trends get recycled again and again in a sport that’s really not that old… but the binding trends are what’s really catching my attention this year. I doubt some of these new designs have the staying power to go with the hype… but even so, they’re pretty cool. I can’t wait to see how they work out for the majority.
great post!