Board sports, for the most part, are about expressing individuality.
When contemplating what to wear on the mountain, most riders will attempt to conjure images in their mind’s eye that stray from apparel conventions and blow away what we know of snow-safe outer wear. This is why, when the first outfitting of snowboarder Olympians took place in ‘98, Burton took the stance that our sport’s individualistic culture deems uniformity as contrarian. Burton’s come around since ‘98, deciding that this is a prime opportunity to show the masses you can be truly unique while stylistically conform at the same time, or maybe this is still just another way Burton can rake in the dough and dominate the industry even further.
They are the provider of gear for the US Olympic Snowboard team, and recently unveiled their not-so-uniforms this past week. This time around they have a fresh idea to take the red white and blue, transpose it into plaid outerwear, and then combine a complementary worn-jean pant look. Not exactly a lame spandex suit, is it? I don’t really think the team would be caught dead in those onesies anyways.
As with all product development, Burton purports that this Olympian garb has also been through rigid rider testing and input. They even held a roundtable discussion with top pro-snowboarders and Olympic hopefuls Elena Hight, Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Jack Mitrani, Luke Mitrani, Steve Fisher, Scotty Lago, and Louie Vito to review design concepts for the outerwear before arriving at the final creation. The main issue was to harmoniously balance individualistic boarder style and team togetherness, and since last time around Burton’s outfits were baseball jersey reminiscent, this year the “sports team” concept has been ousted.
“Board sports, for the most part, are about expressing individuality — that’s what makes them cool,” said Greg Dacyshyn, the company’s creative director. “So the whole uniform thing, you know, it’s a sensitive subject.”
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I’d def rock this outfit to work if I could. Well, that’s if I had a job. Plaid aligns with boarder taste and is back in mass style again, while the ripped and ravaged look is always fresh. Good job Burton (or the underpaid/unpaid product design intern)!
What do you think of the US Olympic team’s new outfits, my snowboarder amigo?
