“Buy Local.” You鈥檝e heard it from local retailers, farmers, brewers, coffee roasters鈥攖he list goes on. Now fifteen ski and snowboard companies that manufacture in the USA have banded together to promote their U.S.-made product. Their message to skiers and riders: buy product made at home, and you support the economy and get the highest quality on-snow experience you can.
Pete Wagner, CEO and Founder of says, 鈥淪kiers and snowboarders should be asking the standard car-buying and farmer’s market question: Where is this produced? Buy local and you get the best ski money can buy, while supporting your neighbors.鈥
鈥淲e believe in small business, and more specifically quality craftsmanship and manufacturing based in the U.S.,鈥 says Zak Anderson, Co-Founder of . 鈥淣one of the companies involved in this project, whether startup or well-established brand, has the marketing budget of a larger ski manufacturer. Through Colab, we can step up to the plate with the big boys and let skiers and riders know what we鈥檙e all about.聽
And they鈥檙e getting some help from the Utah Governor鈥檚 Office of Economic Development. It鈥檚 matching the contributions of the five Utah-based participants so that Colab can promote its members鈥 wares through ads in SKIING, Powder, Freeskier, Snowboard, and Backcountry, and spread the gospel of buying American through any and all social media.
鈥淚t is really about creating awareness and educating the ski community about what it means to be a small ski company building quality boards in the U.S.,鈥 says Anderson. 鈥淎t the end of the day we want to try and build up the awareness of the quality and craftsmanship of custom/boutique–hate using that word鈥攕ki builders and tear down some of the marketing jibberish from big–read: foreign–brands.鈥
鈥淢any that ride are unaware that there are so many great options in their backyard,鈥 confirms Owner Ted Enyon. 鈥淪ome people mistakenly think U.S.-made skis and boards are too expensive. Generally, you鈥檙e getting competitive prices and higher quality. Local micro brews are a growing piece of the overall US beer market; we’re promoting the same trend in skis and boards鈥攍ocally made.
鈥淪nowboard companies are so focused on cutting costs and outsourcing their products, they have completely lost sight of quality for the riders in a saturated market,鈥 agrees Justin Moore, Founder and CEO of Washington-based, Utah-manufactured . 鈥淲e are aiming to bring quality manufacturing and state-of-the-art technology back to the U.S. with product that major manufacturers’ business models will no longer support. We want our boards made by people that ride and know what snow is. We are aiming to bring back the grass roots of snowboarding, to remember how this sport started. We exist to strengthen the bond between board, rider, and the mountains. This is about passion and sustainability, not just about brand.鈥
This skier, who clicked into a pair of Wagners last winter for the first time, is sold. Learn more at .