It has been 50 years since Burton revolutionized snowboarding. The company’s founder, Jake Burton Carpenter, helped establish the sport of snowboarding as it is today, and Burton has remained one of the dominant players in both boards and accompanying snowboarding apparel and accessories ever since.
Jake passed away in 2019, but his wife, Donna Carpenter, is still shepherding the brand today. With a new CEO, a new flagship store in Manhattan, and a plan to expand both internationally and with new categories, Burton is poised for growth in the coming years.
The first step in Burton’s transformation was hiring a new CEO, Denny Bruce. Carpenter had been serving as interim CEO since previous CEO John Lacy left the company in June, but as of September 21, Bruce, who worked as a regional manager at Burton before stints at companies like Vans and Dickies, has taken over the role. Bruce’s background in managing companies with strong wholesale and DTC businesses, along with his personal history with both the brand and the sport of snowboarding, made him the right fit.
But Carpenter is staying on as both owner and chair of the company’s board. She said not having shareholders or outside investors to answer to is a boon for the company. It lets Burton keep the culture of snowboarding central to its mission and make decisions that are good for the long term, even if they mean less immediate short-term growth.
“One of our great competitive advantages is we’re privately held,” Carpenter said. “No private equity or big Chinese conglomerate to answer to. I can decide we’re going to take a little bit less profit this year to keep funding things that are important to our community. It’s better for long-term sustainability.”
Burton has invested heavily in community programs like Culture Shifters, which aims to encourage more people of color to embrace snowboarding and remove the stereotype that snowboarding is a “white sport.” Other programs include the Lightweight program, where Burton sponsors young and up-and-coming riders, and the Mystery Series, a grassroots series of competitions around the world started in 2024.
These events are helping Burton grow outside the U.S. North America still makes up the bulk of Burton’s sales, with Europe and Asia each being about a third. But Carpenter said China has been growing rapidly. The winter sports economy in China has quadrupled in the last few years to nearly $150 billion. China also has a much larger ratio of snowboarders to skiers, at about 75% to 25%, which is almost the exact reverse in the U.S. Carpenter attributes this to China not having the long-entrenched ski culture before the advent of snowboarding.
Burton doesn’t share in-depth financial information, but in 2023, its sales were over $350 million annually, and the brand is one of the largest players in the global snowboarding space, at one time making up around half the total market.
Two other areas that Carpenter identifies as being key to the brand’s growth are year-round lifestyle apparel and kids’ gear. The former is still only a small part of Burton’s business. The majority of sales come from the sale of boards, gear, winter coats and snow pants. But Carpenter said the brand’s loyal customer base is interested in representing Burton off the slopes, as well. Burton has slowly been introducing new categories like rugby shirts, hoodies, athleticwear, T-shirts and fleeces.
“We are always going to make things for the mountain, but starting a few years ago, we realized people want us off the mountain, too,” Carpenter said. “Some of the growth in the future is definitely going to come from year-round lifestyle apparel.”
Burton’s first big effort in lifestyle apparel is Zeb’s Closet, a new capsule collection designed in collaboration with one of its sponsored athletes, Zeb Powell, a professional snowboarder with nearly a million followers on social media. Powell is also the first Black snowboarder to win a gold medal at the X Games. The price is slightly more accessible than Burton’s premium gear, with shirts and shorts costing around $70 and cargo pants costing $240.
The collection launched on September 24, the same day that Burton opened its new 5,000-square-foot flagship store in Manhattan, where the collection is on sale.
Despite the new store, Carpenter said she still sees wholesale as crucial to Burton’s future. While the pandemic accelerated Burton’s DTC business and the brand operates 66 stores worldwide, wholesale makes up about 60% of the company’s sales. That revenue is split between big retailers like REI and many smaller specialty snowboard shops, which Carpenter called “the heart and soul” of the industry.
