Year in Review
A year has come and gone. Each year as we go through the design process, it's almost the same thing. Glancy showing me graphics that I'm unsure about, only to be proven wrong year after year. Usually the decks that I question whether shops will pick them up or not; are the ones that are most sought after by the time the season starts. I've noticed a trickle down effect and the time it takes for the graphics to sink in; the graphics are so ahead of the curve and so unconventional for a snowboard company to put out as final products that year after year I'm still not used to it because Glancy pushes the envelope every single year.
When I look back at every single year since Chris started curating the boards, each year just tops the next. No corporation pulls our strings, it's just Chris and I. Ever since I started riding, the key word for the sport has always been about progression. The progression of riding, the progression of the sport, the progression of the industry, the progression of the product... It's always about pushing the envelope. Since we started going to SIA in 2007, our peers in the industry have come up to us each year to compliment us on the direction of the brand and products. I talked to one of my reps two weeks ago and he noted that two shops pointed out specifically that a top 10 company has started to follow our approach with the anti-branding on two of their lines. I haven't looked into it yet but the fact that a shop pointed out and the possibility that a bigger company is possibly experimenting with our approach is indeed interesting.
Yes, we are the ultimate anti-brand (no blatant logos on the base or topsheet) and it's interesting enough that I ran into a Freshjive article that I can't seem to find for the life of me, but here are two links: Huffington Post and The Hundreds Blog about Freshjive's decision to go absolutely logo-less moving forward.
In an industry where branding is so important, our brand is the no brand. Our brand is our product. Our brand is our team. Our brand is MNMNT.
Here are my top 5 MNMNT moments for 2009:
5. Finding Deafjam's footage of Shane Flood riding the 2007 MNMNT Beyond the Apocalpyse deck.
4. Watching Ethan Deiss' banger shots at SIA and being blown away.
3. Seeing Ethan Deiss on TWSNOW Full Part Fridays and seeing him get over 22,000 page views in just four days
2. Getting to hang out with a majority of the MNMNT Youth Crew in December in Breck
1. Working on the 2010-2011 lineup, you guys will be stoked.
2009 was a good year for us, having sold out of our inventory by end of November 2009. Our Youth Crew is shaping up and we are looking forward to what 2010 brings us. See you at SIA in Denver and we hope you all have a safe New Year! Happy Shredding!
posted by DAVE TRAN on December 30, 2009 at 6:48 PM in MNMNT BLOG
