its a term that companies use to sucker you into buying their product so that they can become large enough to sell to a buyer themselves. the whole goal of business is success. core is the kid with no money to buy anything anyhow, yet finds a way to ride everyday. not the kid who has a day glow kit from airblaster, and a new capita board.

I think that it is an interesting debate- but it is wrong to villanize companies for simply being corporate. Keep in mind that many of these companies started out in exactly the same position as the smalller companies you mention.

Take Volcom for instance, a company that started out printing t-shirts, that has done good enough to grow to the point where they could go public. They were able to accomplish this by staying true to their industry and sports, and yes, they now answer to stockholders to make profits, however their way of doing so is to remain "core". I think they are a great success story from our industry.

Same goes for Burton- started by a guy in a garage with an idea- to make functional snurfers. His vision and advocacy helped spawn an enitre industry.

All of the corporate involvement is not a bad thing- they offer some standardized systems (like warranty departments and substantial R&D) and employ good people with strong ideas.

Corperate snowboarding becomes a bad thing when people start caring more about the bottom line than the sport that got them there in the first place. Competition in the market weeds them out, but to say that corporate snowboarding is bad as a blanket statemnet, in my opinion, is simply not true.

Snowboarding is a free market and if a company strays too far from the sport, the consumers will pass judgement with their wallets.

Also, as the founder of an independent company I see the advantages of having the flexibility to think outside of the box to innovate and push the sport, while making a living, for myself and co-workers doing what I love.

I was a part of Snowboarder when it was indepentently owned- Surfer Publications. Then it transfered to Peterson (corpo) Emap and Primedia. It became frustrating to have people making decisions for the magazine that did not care at all about the sport and saw Snowboarder as a line item. But we fought the good fight and tried to do what was right for snowboarding. Bottom line is that we had to fight off and convince the corpo powers that our decisions made sense financially (all while paying our share of overhead on their private jets and expansive city offices and bloated middle management salaries), as much as we had to focus on what was good to push the sport.

I don't have that problem anymore!

in snowboarding you try to push and progress everyday. why wouldnt a snowboard company use those same skills in there business. constantly trying to improve and provide a better product. if you do that you have no choice but to be successful.

i do, however, think it sucks when companies that ignored "the industry" for so long and now are trying to push all their chips in late to make some money. but thats just how it works i guess

An interesting synopsis of the state of play in the snowboard industry right now . . . however i think its wrong to say not to buy some of these products because you tar all of these companies with the same 'faceless evil corparate empire' brush, and you are wrong . . .

Take Quksilver, they are one of the original boardsports companies - so what if they bought up a load of others, it just gives all of these companies more marketing power, and the funds and ability for people like Mervin to come up with some crazy shit like Magne Traction

In every industry there will always be product from people who dont care - take K2,iwould never buy their product because they really have sold out.

Its sad the way most of my favorite brands have gone though, back in the day Morrow were my favorite brand, istill rate the TR Dino pro model with floorboard bindings as my best ever set up, yet now they are just a budget brand you see in Wal Mart, same with Lamar, its a real shame Rob Morrow and Bert Lamar, 2 core guys if ever there were, names are now associated with crap poroduct like this !

I think of more concern is how so many brands are owend by so few people, in my experiance nothing stumps development moe than this, its good to see people like TR starting out companies like O-Matic, and i amall for giving money to firms like this,, and if they become succesfull because they make good boards, does this mean they are no longer core ? no it just means they are making good product at a good price.

People slag off Burton, but they got where they are for a reason, they made good product, listend to their riders, and made their product better - and them buying up Forum etc saved those companies from being sold to some faceless corpararion - from where i stand Forum has got back that buz it had when they bought out the resistance and true life

Core is snowboarding itself, not the shit that surrounds it

Laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

u say core? Go buy a damn Smokin' Snowboard from Smokin' Jay himself if u get the chance. The minute you meet him you will know why you need one or maybe 5. Just dont be in a hurry and youll be surprised! Buy one of his boards, they rock!
We won top 10 good wood making boards in a ghetto basement, now he has a bangin new factory just outta tahoe. viva la Smokin'!

thank you for bringing up such a brilliant and valid page of information that is, i along with many others think, highly overlooked. some would argue that it would be pointless to distinguish core from mainstream or sold-out from original. it would also be pointless to attempt to inform those buying said products that they might be supporting something that they talk so strongly about not suppoprting without even knowing it. that being said (ha) a lot of people that support one company with all the compassion and loyalty in the world, are supporting something that has nothing to do with snowboarding, or them at all. supporting, reping and marketing all the while not knowing that the company is under a corp that they never knew about, but because they didn't know this, it's still fun for them and their buddies to rip on the kid with the volcom hat.

i am not one to say or aruge said articles. i think that being core isn't how many times you ride or which getup you have or how many repeating setups are found within your crew, but moreso as long as you are happy and are spreading fun throughout wherever it is that you ride, that's all that matters. that being said (ha) i think that supporting a company that supports you is important. you are not only buying and supporting snowboarding and a truely snowboard company that gives back to you, but you are keeping that company alive and not buying to the companys that could give a shit about how stoked on the product you are, the ones that you would have a better chance of talking to them and having their respect if you were the owner of a factory in china, than YOU: the rider.

all that said, there are always going to be people that hate companys to the point where they wouldn't be caught dead riding with a kid with a certain kin of hoodie on. i think that sucks

ride with everyone
support the companys that support you and work towards the positive growth of snowboarding, not the growth of pocketbooks

...okay
so once again i feel that arguing is irrelevant especially when it comes to something that we all love i.e. snowboarding. but a great point is proven in each comment following the point that was brought up in the original post that i have figured out completely: 2+7=9

no matter what one person says, there is ten more to conflict the said opinion. snowboarding costs money. where, who, and how much you contribute is totally up to the rider, which becomes the birth of their style. buying one item does not in any way mean that you can't buy this other company's items. that's the beauty in snowboarding, it can be and mean as much as you want it. anything said about a company in this industry is going to snowball into a abnormally large game of telephone. "i heard rome is sick brah..." . . . . . . . .ten comments later via ten different minds becomes- "you hear rome like bought south africa?..."
everything is different to everyone which is what feeds the industry....DIFFERENT OPINIONS. where you put your two cents in or your 700 dollars in is up to you, just know that the future of snowbaording is you, the rider. 10 days, 120 days, core, hesh, ghettohesh, whatever, its all up to you. the future of the companys that care about you is up to you as well...
we all love snowboarding because of what it does for us and what it "is" is not a sport, not a product, not a season, but rather us...the riders

give high fives!

How about buying a board because you demo'd it and liked the way it rode?

You guys should just buy Never Summers. And please buy it at your local shop.

The online retailer vs the blood, sweat and tears shop owner argument is for a whole 'nother thread...