Burton’s 1997 Rumors T-Shirt vs. Reality

In 1997 Burton Snowboards was at the nexus of a storm of rumors. The rumors were so pervasive that some clever instigator at the company created an extremely limited edition T-shirt for the 1997 SIA Trade Show in Las Vegas. The shirt jokingly outlined all the outlandish, outrageous things people were saying about the company that season.

Now, 15 years later, we thought it might be interesting to revisit the T-shirt that set out to sarcastically dispel the rumors and see how many of them eventually came true. Follow the jump for the complete rumor breakdown.

1. Burton is going public.

False. Burton is still a privately held company that seems to be doing just fine financing everything from their own reportedly deep pockets. While finance people often wonder about Jake and Donna’s “exit strategy” it would appear that their currently level of involvement in the brand would suggest that they are still interested in keeping all their financial information to themselves for the time being.

2. Burton is going direct.

True. While we always thought it silly that Burton didn’t sell direct as soon as it was technologically possible, they waited until around 2005 to begin selling softgoods direct and didn’t sell snowboards, boot, bindings on their website until the fall of 2009.

3. Burton is making skis, skateboards, wakeboards, and in-line skates next year.

Mostly true. Burton still has not to our knowledge made skis, wakeboards, or in-line skates, however, they do currently own (for a little longer at least) DNA Distribution (Alien Workshop and Habitat Skateboards), they make street wear with Analog, shoes with Gravis and they most certainly are making surfboards as the owner of the surf industry’s leading manufacturer Channel Islands Surfboards. The basis of the rumor was that Burton would expand outside the snowboard market as a way of increasing revenue and in that way the rumor is completely true.

4. Burton sized their bindings down this year so Airwalk boots wouldn’t fit them.

Most likely false. While it could be up for discussion exactly why Burton decided to change the heel cup size of their bindings (their reason was always that they wanted to create a better boot-binding interface), history suggests that Airwalk’s three year run (1993 to 1996) as the number one selling snowboard boot ended shortly after Burton’s binding changes. This is most likely a coincidence as some involved with Airwalk at the time say the company’s failure had absolutely nothing to do with Burton’s bindings and more to do with Airwalk’s loss of focus during their entry into snowboards, outerwear, and step-in bindings.

5. Jake is a major shareholder in Ride.

False. The keyword here is “major.” Had Jake been a “major shareholder” in Ride Snowboards we all would have known about it because he would have been listed as a major shareholder. As to whether he ever owned shares of the stock, we’ve got it on pretty terms that he did not own any, however, the great thing about Burton being a private company is that Jake doesn’t have to share all the details of his personal investing life with the SEC. If Jake wanted to invest in Nixon during its start up phase, for instance, he could have. If he wanted to buy Ride shares, same thing, unless he owned 5 percent or more, none of us would ever know.

6. Terje is riding for Nike, who just bought Burton.

False, though the Nike-buying-Burton rumor is one of the more persistent in action sports and probably wouldn’t be that bad of a deal for anyone involved.

7. Burton Town, coming to a mall near you.

True. While the point of this line was to suggest that Burton was not going to blaze its way into retail ala NikeTown, the truth is that shortly after these shirts were printed they did begin their move into retail and now have “flagship stores” in Burlington, Vermont; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Tokyo, Japan; and Innsbruck, Austria, and outlet mall stores in Wrentham, Massachusetts; Orlando, Florida; Parndorf, Austria;, and three outlet stores in Japan.

8. Burton is the official clothing sponsor of the US Olympic Snowboard Team.

True. And this one is the funniest for us. After years of saying that the US Snowboard Team did not need uniforms and that uniforms were in fact “anti-snowboarding,” Burton, not surprisingly, became the official outerwear sponsor of the US Olympic Snowboard Team in 2006 saying that if snowboarder were forced to wear uniforms they might as well be good ones. Burton continued as the sponsor in 2010, making it appear to some that the only problem Burton ever had with Olympic uniforms was that they weren’t making them.

So, how did they end up? Four false, four true. That’s batting .500 (better than Ted Williams). More than anything this exercise suggests that no matter what a company thinks today, tomorrow is a completely different beast. It’s also a reminder than when you’re number one, people will talk. Luckily, we’re here to listen and remember.