Jake Burton Carpenter has embodied the sport of snowboarding since its humble backcountry beginnings in the '70s. His snowboard, accessory, and apparel company, Burton™, has dominated the industry since it was started in Vermont in 1977. Jake Carpenter's middle name continually invokes children of all ages to acknowledge, if not outright defend, his company, quality and continued success.
And today, at 45, with Burton distributing goods to more than 30 countries and 3000 specialty shops and factories in Vermont, Austria and Japan, Jake still manages to speak for a world of snowboarders (most more than half his age). Although all of these things hold true, when you talk to Jake you soon realize that's not what it's all about.
Jake is often considered the "inventor" of snowboarding. He is however always quick to acknowledge that he is just one of many individuals who have taken the sport from its humble, grassroots beginnings to its superstar status of today.
As a kid, Jake had always wanted to surf, but never owned a surfboard. He did however have a Snurfer (a 70's sidestance, single ski sledding toy, that Jake transformed into the modern day snowboard) and he knew it was cool even though nobody else did.
His was a typical New England skiing childhood and after his first private school asked him not to return, Jake found a fresh start at Marvelwood, Cornwall, New York. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it sat at the base of the local ski area that excelled Jake to skip the 11th grade and ski his way through high school. When he enrolled at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he dreamed of a chance to join the NCAA Champion Ski Team. This dream was shattered after suffering his third broken collarbone that year in a car accident on the way to a Grateful Dead concert.
After dropping out and working with horses in Virginia for a year, Jake enrolled in New York University, much to the elation of his family. Jake graduated NYU in May 1977 with a degree in economics. And though he soon joined the investment firm he had been interning with, he was haunted by an old idea about modifying the Snurfer. He was surprised that no one had done anything with it and thought there was money to be made. Why shouldn't that someone be him?
So Jake dropped everything and moved to Londonderry, Vermont, to start Burton Boards. He hired two relatives and started experimenting with materials; going to the hardware store for inspiration; and, driving to trade shows with a car full of boards. His family continually asked when he was going to get out of the toy-making business and back into a real job, but this only further motivated Jake to turn his idea into a success.
"When I started back in '77, I was real optimistic and then I got super discouraged because it just wasn't happening. The barn was production, upstairs a warehouse, the dining room was an office, the living room the factory showroom," he said. "When people called the toll-free number, it rang in the bedroom. I would get calls from kids on the West Coast at 2 a.m., waking me up. I'd be there, 'Name...address...'"
Two years later Jake was over $100,000 in debt and still messing with materials. He began bartending at night and teaching tennis on Long Island in the summer just to get by. Discouraged, he just kept telling himself that this sport was going to catch on. And it was at this time, he shifted his focus from the company's success to snowboarding's acceptance by resorts. His promoting the "sport first" mentality became integral in creating a market for snowboards and was reflected in an early Burton catalog ad that never mentioned the company, but focused only on the sport of snowboarding.
This remains another pivotal point in the history of snowboarding that Jake won't take much credit for. "Burton did a lot to get snowboarding in ski areas, but never could have done it without local riders. I think the local riders probably deserve the most credit for making all that happen.
"Then once people started riding in resorts and stuff, that opened up just a whole new way for us to grow the sport. And when that started to happen, that's when I realized the thing was going to get a whole lot bigger," he said.
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"'Now my kids,
I put them on skis first to let them learn how to hate skiing like I
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It wasn't long after some resorts started allowing snowboarding on their mountains that Jake realized he had not only created a market, but it was growing
fast. At this point he returned his focus to his manufacturing factory.
"Even during those early years when it was growing, and like when it went from 300 boards to 700 boards, in '78-'79, even though I was optimistic and I felt like I could survive doing this and make it a full-time deal, it wasn't until the whole sort of ski area thing started to happen that it was like 'wow, this is going to get really big!'"
Now, having controlled the majority of the fastest growing winter sport for more than two decades, Jake still isn't letting up and doesn't plan to do so anytime soon. Though less involved in the day-to-day operation, he still shows up to the factory in Burlington, Vermont, each morning while still finding the time to get in his 100 days of riding a year. So, despite what your parents, or boss, tell you, it can pay to play.