# Snowboard Manufacturers China/Austria



## snowflake (Jul 16, 2013)

never summer has a patent on rocker camber technology. can another company change the angle by 1 degree and sell it as their own?
example: rome mtn pop, forum chili dog, lib tech enhanced banana and c2 power banana all are the same idea as rocker in center and camber on outer

other examples:
ride high rize looks the same as Romes free pop
lib tech EC2 Elliptical Camber looks the same as arbor parabolic rocker. 

Most snowboard companies rocker/camber profiles look very similar. 

The reason I bring this up is before I thought all snowboard companies made their own boards in house. Then I found out that only a few are made by the same company that design it. Most companies that make their own boards are in the USA. Except Burton and K2 which make their own boards in their own factories but are in China. 
(U.S.A Made It Still Exists «)


So when I started looking up where all the other snowboards are made from I found out that only a few manufacturers make boards. And all the companies that don't have the money for a factory goes to these places with their proprietary designs. Like GST or Elan would be making boards for 20 different companies. 
(WHO MADE MY BOARD? | StuntWood)

So obviously the first thing I thought was that buisnesses like GST or what was Elan made the same boards for all the companies and then relabel them. Charging higher prices for different names. Or any new special board that everyone liked like the skate banana was then being duplicated and called something else like the forum chili dog. 

I know I dont have the exact names and rocker camber profiles labled but you get the idea. 

What you guys think.


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## Deacon (Mar 2, 2013)

snowflake said:


> never summer has a patent on rocker camber technology. can another company change the angle by 1 degree and sell it as their own?
> example: rome mtn pop, forum chili dog, lib tech enhanced banana and c2 power banana all are the same idea as rocker in center and camber on outer
> 
> other examples:
> ...


We think most of this has been discussed before. Hi. Welcome to Snowboard Forum. What else ya got?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

When shopping for a factory a brand has 2 basic options. OEM or new designs. OEM means they are picking and choosing shapes and profiles from a catalog a la cart to make different models. Factories like GST and Playmaker do some of this, but primarily each brand commissions their own shapes and designs. The things that get shared are usually no more than machinery, raw materials, and man power.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Anyone know where Weston out od minturn actually makes their boards? The owner will never say when I ask him, just that it's secret and it's not advertised. I'm guessing they get their shit done b an OeM also but can't really tell for sure.... Just curious, the guy that claims ownership is kind of a douchey drunken liar....


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## snowflake (Jul 16, 2013)

since GST owns the factory why don't they make their own brand and relabel the best selling boards. Then they can undersell everyone else and raise the price of manufacture to the companies that come to them.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Argo said:


> Anyone know where Weston out od minturn actually makes their boards? The owner will never say when I ask him, just that it's secret and it's not advertised. I'm guessing they get their shit done b an OeM also but can't really tell for sure.... Just curious, the guy that claims ownership is kind of a douchey drunken liar....


Bhahaha, don't get answers and then cries about it. You're funny. Not OEM.


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## snowflake (Jul 16, 2013)

I think its ironic that Arbor is using Eco friendly and environmentally safe stuff to build their boards but is assembling it in the same factory that uses the harmful stuff. They are doing business with the same factory that is assembling boards with the bad epoxies and the opposite of what arbor is trying to do. shouldn't they be boycotting a factory like that, not giving it money for what they are against.


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## snowflake (Jul 16, 2013)

So I'm interested what is an OEM manufacturer. I know for Cars it means Original Equipment Manufacturer like Honda or Ford. But it must be different for snowboards, because I was reading an article about Elan and they said they were OEM because they didn't have a house brand. But then said " Elan’s parent company, which produces Elan Skis in Slovenia" isnt that their own brand?
articleThe Aftermath Of The Elan Snowboard Factory’s Bankruptcy | TransWorld Business)


I started this thread because I was interested in where Rome boards were made. So I found this
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/boards/42191-where-rome-boards-made.html

Then I looked up manufacturers and Elan was the biggest. Capita Bought them and Im wondering now
1) where are rome boards made now?
2) if Elan had a lot of boards being made, Capita one of them, how can Capita not go bankrupt, now that everyone has already moved production?
3)What is an OEM snowboard manufacturer?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Elan built Arbor a whole wing dedicated to eco friendlier construction. The only way for Arbor NOT to be giving money to a conventional manufacturer would have been to build their own. Which they were doing for a bit, but it's to much money to mass produce on their level at their businesses size.

Capita doens't have to turn on the entire factory to make their boards and the few others who stayed.


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

Argo said:


> Anyone know where Weston out od minturn actually makes their boards? The owner will never say when I ask him, just that it's secret and it's not advertised. I'm guessing they get their shit done b an OeM also but can't really tell for sure.... Just curious, the guy that claims ownership is kind of a douchey drunken liar....


Current stock is Monson but going forward everything will be from their factory in Glenwood Springs.


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