Peace out Foursquare, Forum, Special Blend, Gravis

What?? You want to make a research facility for BAGS?? WTF?  Bags and clothing.  That's where it's at.  Spend $5 on a t-shirt, sell it for $24.99 and make a profit.  Sell a bag that was "prototyped in 24 hours!" and umm... profit I guess.  Better yet, sell profitable Burton merch year round to make even more money.  But "invest" in... well... bags and t-shirts.

 

Still very bummed about this.

 

/ full disclosre: I wear Burton boots, pants, coats, mitts, and a RED helmet.  My rockboard is my old Burton Love, and I retired a pair of SB pants this year. 

// Not a B hater, just sad to see they couldn't make it work.

I'm sure his heart and soul are in those companies. Probably doesn't have the monies by himself, but he could probably find investors in the snowboard community. They may never be as big as they were/are but they would be alive on to see another day. 

Doesnt sound like that would be happening

 

The only Forum product I own is their 2011 Forum Shaka with the hinged baseplate. Very comfy bindings, more so than my 2011 Cartels. Although, I think I ride more aggressive with the Cartels because of the forward leaning highbacks.

 

Unfortunately, there already is only a few people at the very top, but with the demise of the Program brands, a few more choices will leave the picture.  I think this is yet another side effect of the internet shopping culture that we have now.  I want 10,000 choices for, say, a new coat, and I want them all dirt cheap. 

I see this as a regroup and rearm ahead of a uncertain future with more and more 800-pound gorillas walking around.  It sucks for the team riders and a few fringe elements, but in reality means very little for the mothership, Big B.  

forum was their own company when it came to making products.  sometimes they borrowed tech from burton and sometimes things started at forum and burton borrowed it (like reflex for example). their designs and implemented technologies were their own, but yes they were under the same tent as burton, buddy buddy working together.

Originally posted by jacquet The industry is on a fast track to become in oligopoly with burton as the major player. I am hard pressed to find any one who can compete with burton quality/price ratio and their ability to stomp out other brands, like we see with forum and the others.

there are so many brands out there, and so many strong medium and small sized ones, that this will just not happen unless they start falling out.  burton is not number one in sales for a pretty large amount of shops (union vs burton bindings for example).  as far as burton's pricing... that's a first.  usually everyone complains that they're overpriced.  the reality either way is that they are more or less on par with every other company out there, and if anything there are a good amount of other companies offering great products for less, comparatively, in many cases.  but if you compare similar products (in terms of technology used) the pricing is almost the same.  point being, they are neither overpriced nor cheaper than competitors.  there is really not much variance in price when you look at the actual tech between companies' products.. or, at least not as much as you would think.

there's a point where the market becomes flooded with too many individual brands.  competition and choices are great, but with every pro starting their own company these days, it's just making things harder overall.  i'm not talking about the consumer's perspective, but shops and the business side of the industry.

there are far more than enough brands to provide every choice a customer could possibly want.  the industry needs to slow down.  it can only support so many individuals.  same goes for how many pro/am riders there are.. every kid is good at riding park these days.  how many need to be sponsored?  how many can the industry handle supporting?  it's just my opinion i guess, but it's gotten pretty excessive.