Jake Burton Carpenter

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History of Burton

In 1977, a company was born that revolutionized an industry and opened the eyes of millions to a new sport. Jake Burton Carpenter does not claim to have invented the snowboard, but his company, Burton Snowboards has become the best selling snowboard company in the world to, in over 3,000 stores, and with factories in Vermont, Austria, and Japan, Burton Snowboards is able to observe world trends, find out what the people want, and sell their goods on a global scale.

Born on April 29th, 1954 in New York City, and then moving to Cedarhurst, New York shortly after, Jake Burton grew up skiing and when he went to college at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he had aspirations to join the NCAA Champion Ski Team. But, perhaps by fate, Jake got in a car accident and broke his collarbone. After the accident, Jake moved to Virginia, worked on a horse farm for a few years, then enrolled in New York University (NYU). Graduating with a degree in economics, Jake moved to Londonderry, Vermont to pursue a childhood dream of his and modify the Snurfer- “a single ski sledding toy”- and Burton Snowboards was born. His base of operations was his home and barn, where he did all of his work and manufacturing. Though he struggled for over 2 years, Jake managed to get snowboarders into ski resorts, and the sport exploded overnight.

Burton has created daughter companies for specific aspects and to better cover the whole genre of snowboarding; R.E.D. makes helmets and body protection equipment, Gravis makes footwear, bags and apparel, Anon makes goggles and optics for riders, and finally Analog makes clothing such as snow jackets and pants, as well as street wear.

In 2004, Burton started the Chill Program which helps out inner-city kids by taking them snowboarding, supplying gear, transportation, lessons, and lift tickets to local mountains. With the help of over a half dozen sponsors, and located in 9 cities nationwide, as well as other nations, Chill has been able to reach out to 170 kids per city per year, and since its beginning has been able to bring the sport of snowboarding to over 6600 kids who otherwise never would have known the sport of snowboarding. Burton also has the Learn to Ride (LTR) Program and the Method Centers, which were started in 1998, and has spread to over 9 countries, they are the only programs that solely focus on the advancement and teaching of young and new riders.

Today, Burton Snowboards are widely considered as one of snowboardings finest brands.

In July 2006, Burton announced the acquisition of Channel Island Surboards in an unprecedented move to make the worlds largest boardsports company.

Jake Burton is a surfer.

External Articles

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060301/burton.html - "It Only Looks Easy"- A lengthy profile of Jake from Inc. Magazine, March 2006.

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