How Never Summer became a snowboard empire
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Photo: Courtesy of Never Summer Snowboards
In the early 1990s, Never Summer made about 100 snowboards a year.
- Fast forward to now, and it makes as many as 150 snowboards or pairs of skis a day.
Why it matters: The Denver-based company's three-decade run is remarkable in the outdoor gear industry for its longevity and what it still represents as the only independent, family-owned ski and snowboard manufacturer of significant size in the U.S.
What to know: The company employs about 60 people at its workspace in North Park Hill, selling boards through 250 domestic retailers and 20 international distributors. Its annual revenue tops $13 million, the Denver Business Journal reports.
- The company is led by brothers Tracey and Tim Canaday, who are steadfast in their dedication to keeping their products American-made, despite numerous offers to make them cheaper overseas.
What they're saying: "This is very hands-on. We don't have a lot of robotics and automation," co-owner and co-founder Tracey told DBJ. "These people are craftsmen."
The backstory: The Canaday brothers were early adopters of the sport in the 1980s and made their own boards with laminated and glued layers of marine-grade birch wood, some of which they'd sell to friends and family under the brand Swift.
- They'd curve the board's tip by resting it on a block and parking a car on it overnight.
The intrigue: What made them successful is a lesson in business.
- The timing was right. Never Summer, founded in Vail in 1991, came at the early edge of snowboarding's rising popularity.
- They focused on selling at specialty ski shops and offered them exclusivity, making the retailers part of their marketing team.
- And they flipped the traditional business model by making retailers buy the boards up front. That meant sales would realize immediate profit for the shops, leading them to prioritize the boards.
Of note: Never Summer's first major orders came from Japan, after a sporting goods distributor saw them in a snowboarding magazine and wanted to showcase the sport around the 1998 Winter Olympics.
- The orders grew to 5,000 boards a year and the cash helped the company upgrade its equipment and expand.
The big picture: The only other major U.S. snowboard maker is Washington state's Mervin Industries, which is backed by private equity and the maker of Gnu, Lib Tech and Roxy brands.
- But staying independent is part of what makes Never Summer innovative, Tim Canaday told DBJ. "We can prototype here. It's easy to make something and have it on the snow within five or six days," he said. "We've got great people building great product. I believe being in Colorado is a bit of an advantage."