Those who know, know. ThirtyTwo earned a reputation in snowboarding as one of the best boot brands for a reason: they held up over time and absolutely slayed. Since 1995 they have built a loyal following across snowboarding’s varied disciplines, creating boots from a genuine love of the sport.
Like many other brands in the business, they ended up getting acquired by a larger entity. Unlike other brands, however, it was a snowboard-centric business buying them out. In 2024 the Nidecker group, acquired Sole Technologies, shedding the SoleTech umbrella and allowing ThirtyTwo to have access to a much larger manufacturing infrastructure. Now they’re expanding their offering. ThirtyTwo now has a fleet of snowboards and several bindings to choose from, giving riders the option to equip themselves with some of the best pro riders in snowboarding providing feedback.
Taking on the creative is a familiar face, Brad Alband. Brad was with the company from 2007-2011, then went on to Volcom, and started his own brand, Autumn. Now he’s back heading up all things creative. And in the snowboarding world, creativity is everything—from the topsheet graphics, to the fold-out posters you get with a new pair of boots, to the videos that have evolved (or devolved) from worn-out VHS tapes to a 10-second scroll-stopper on your phone.
I had a chance to chat with him this summer to hear about his return, the Nidecker buyout, and where he sees the brand going from here, now that bindings and boards are on the menu.
Steve Andrews: So you were with the brand from 2007-2011?
Brad Alband: Yeah. we launched outerwear during that time. And then I would say we also kind of flipped boot design/merchandising and definitely went a little more sneaker. That’s when we started playing with a lot of different like sneaker influence materials and colors. I think we brought a breath of fresh air. I think it was a time to where we kind of flipped the team and he had signed JP [Walker] and Simon and had Joe [Sexton]. And then we, uh, added [Chris] Bradshaw and [Scott] Stevens and [Chris] Grenier and Nima [Jalali] and Cooley and just kind of had this eclectic, pretty park/street focused team. That was sort of being the snowboard brand under Sole Tech. We kind of made this conscious decision—It’s like everybody should skate. Like it should be a skate influenced snowboard brand. It’s kind of how we looked at it at the time.
SA: What brought you back?
BA: Brian Cook (Thirtytwo’s Brand Director). We had been talking about boards. I think the ownership change with Nidecker, Cook and I sort of pitched a couple different board avenues. There was an opportunity to bring back Santa Cruz snow after their like five years of doing the Santa Cruz collab. And so NHS was talking to us about…do you want to put Santa Cruz snowboards under ThirtyTwo? And so we pitched that to Nidecker. And then Nidecker was like, why don’t you just do ThirtyTwo boards? Like, “we think you guys can do this”. So that’s kind of when it got serious and yeah, I came on, I guess April of last year.
The New Owners
SA: What was the transition to Nidecker like?
BA: At the end of Sole Tech, it was pretty rough for a lot of the brands. There were a lot of things with not getting paid with factories. It was survival mode. And Nidecker has come in and been like, here you go, here’s a budget, go improve, make this better.”
There was a little bit of PTSD because they were in this survival mode… they had to kind of switch and go, oh, shit. We get to be what we always wanted to be.
Nidecker has a history of buying brands, but unlike other major companies, it’s not a typical buyout. Brad went on to tell me about how the parent company operates. Take YES., for example. They were bought out by Nidecker, but once they turned their finances around, were given the opportunity to buy themselves their independence. Nidecker sold the company back to the OG’s with their blessing.
BA: They give you the leash. They don’t bring in a group of their experts over top of a brand they purchase. So it’s like, you either go do it, or if you can’t, they’re not afraid to cut bait and go, okay, this investment didn’t work. So I commend them for that. It’s like they buy the brand, they invest in the people. And then it’s like, okay, you guys, here’s your runway, go get it. And if you can’t, well, we’re also not going to keep investing in something if we don’t see this upward trajectory. So I think they do a very fair job when they come into the brand.
SA: How is it working for a Swiss brand than American ownership?
BA: I went to their Rolle office last year for the sales meeting and they took me up to the attic… which was forty, fifty years of snow sports…wood making there, it was crazy. And, uh, you know, afterwards we were having a beer together and I’m like, why aren’t you PR ING this? Like, why aren’t you telling more of this story? Because you’re allowing… there’s some brands that definitely talk shit on Nideckers, right? And I’m like, you’re not putting up any defense. Like you could bring in an intern that could like shoot all these things and you could tell this whole like, Nidecker history of being in snow sports. And, you know what? They were just like, it’s not our style to promote ourselves in that way. And I’m like, okay, like I respect it. I, I totally respect it. But, um, yeah, I think people don’t really know them. I mean they’ve kind of shook up the industry by coming in and purchasing, by FASE, by Jones taking so much market share of things… so they have a target on their back. But I don’t think they really care.
And most people don’t even really know, for that matter. Nidecker’s market share when you combine their own label, Thirtytwo, Jones, Rome, and Bataleon is enough to make people jealous.
BA: I took the job for the opportunity to launch another category with ThirtyTwo. And I was like, this is going to be fun, but also to kind of learn and listen. As a company Nidecker is playing a pretty big scale in the snowboard industry. It had been a decade since I was at Volcom that I was in those kind of meetings or conversations. And you know, Autumn’s small. So being able to talk about and hear, I don’t know, the bigger snowboard industry from some people that are bigger players in it… Um, I’m just absorbing.
SA: Is there anything that Nidecker has said no to that Sole Tech was all in for, or vice versa?
BA: Not yet. I mean, we’ve re-signed everyone we’ve wanted to. We did Boot Camp again at Big Sky, which all the retailers were really appreciative of a brand doing that sort of trip again. You know, they’ve stayed away for the most part from like, I would say taste, whether it be boot colors, board graphics…Yeah, it’s been pretty good. I think the brand itself is going to be at a crossroads now that it can be head to toe. Like it was never an issue of putting another board base in an ad. So I think we’re at that crossroads of what that means with team riders as contracts come up and where we eventually take this.
SA: I mean just thinking off the top of my head, you have Austen Sweetin, Jeremy Jones, and Zeb Powell riding your boots.
BA: I mean, there’s twenty plus paid riders at some level. Oh yeah. Boot boot binding boot outerwear board boot. Like there’s a crazy like, you know, twenty plus list and all the like categories. They’re sports like we pay them for. And I’m like, okay, that is a little messy.
And I’d have to think at some point some of these other rider’s brand sponsors are going to be a little weird that they’re in a ThirtyTwo hoodie, but that could mean boards now when they ride for another board. So I think there’s some there’s some gray areas that are going to have to get worked out in the next, probably twenty four months.
SA: But you haven’t heard anything.
BA: Nothing’s come up yet. Nothing of issue.
Media
SA: So going into media and how it’s changed since you were there before because, I mean, it’s changed huge, right? With vertical video and everything on your phone now and search algorithms and magazines dying and… I mean, pick your starting point to have that discussion.
BA: It’s totally different. I think as a brand, when we really look at what the customers and the snowboard audience likes out of ThirtyTwo, honestly, it’s it’s park edits. It’s taking that team and it’s, you know, spot checks. The peak of ThirtyTwo was 2-3 minute edits, but you had different parks that, all the customers are like, “oh, I ride that park” or “I want to go ride that park”. They could relate. And I think that’s where I’m pushing Cook in the marketing team is, let’s be a little more snowboard brand of the people. There’s a lot of aspirational snowboarding right now. There’s a lot of, uh, over spin… over….overperformed? I don’t know what I want to call it. Progression. Like I don’t know if the progression looks that good.
So I’m just like, let some brands own that, and let’s more be a brand to the people and let’s utilize our park partnerships, relationships, and do videos with park crews riding their own parks and, let’s get a little more grassroots, DIY style of this.
Because I mean, we have to figure out that story even within the umbrella brands, right? Like how are we different than Rome, Bataleon? Nidecker, Jones… right? So I’m like, we have to define who we are a little bit more and kind of lean into that. And I think when we look at the glory years of ThirtyTwo, it was it was sending an A plus team of riders to parks and doing really good park edits and having fun and showing fun, showing parks. And that’s, I think with the Pat Favas and the Phil Hansens. Um, Brin like, yeah, I think we’re, we’re going to benefit having Brin and Phil show this brand’s depth in, let’s call it freeride backcountry more than it’s ever had.
Pro Riders
SA: Speaking of Brin, How’s he rising on the stage?
BA: You know, I called Jody Wachniak and was telling him I was doing this and, uh, you know, I kind of poked around about what Brin was doing and he’s like, oh, man, Brin’s the perfect ThirtyTwo. And he’s like the ultimate ThirtyTwo free ride guy. Like, I think when you look at what ThirtyTwo’s DNA is…you know…Brin riding with the open vest, doing the nonchalant backflip…to me, that’s ThirtyTwo vibe in an environment that’s usually a little more but buttoned up considered. When you have like Arc’teryx money and all that coming in, It’s a different level. Everybody acts a little bit different. And then, you know, Brin’s the stuntman that comes in and like gets the biggest cheers and does the cool shit. And, uh, that’s, I was like, that should be the ThirtyTwo guy. And so luckily that’s all working out well.
SA: Yeah, everybody in Whistler, we’ve been quietly cheering him on to kind of get into the limelight.
BA: Yeah, there’s a ton of really great Western Canada riders that don’t get the same marketing. I mean, I don’t think ThirtyTwo had had a Canadian rider since Frank April maybe.
I think for the last like little pocket of the brand was finding a Canadian. And, you know, I’m pushing the team a bit too of like, let’s find our like Japanese rider, let’s find our European rider that is at the Pat/Phil/Brin sort of like age and riding ability. And let’s really build this like global team vibe and market them everywhere, right? Not just like, oh, you’re in Japan rider. We only market you in Japan. Like let’s show a Japan rider in US marketing. I think ThirtyTwo can do that.
SA: So will you guys try to sign any freeride athletes now that it’s an Olympic event in 2030?
BA: No, I don’t think that’s come on the radar yet. I think Natural Selection with Brin was the first thing I think we’d be first moving into, like, what does sponsorship look like of that a little more. I mean, Cook’s never paid an Olympic half pipe rider. It’s a different marketing budget. I mean when I really look at like the last Olympics and how much Salomon was making all these chess moves because Nitro had so many pipe riders and Salomon wanted more Salomon bases. So they took a bunch. And I’m just like…that’s not…we’re not even anywhere near that like game.
SA: It’s refreshing to hear because you hear of so many brands just trying to chase the, the big audiences, but then kind of lose sight.
BA: I don’t think that’s ThirtyTwo’s DNA. I think ThirtyTwo just needs to do a better job of amplifying who they are through those like…That’s it’s a resort brand. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. I mean that park staff are in the boots, you know, and it’s like, we want park staff now in FASE. We want staff on ThirtyTwo boards. Like let’s, let’s just like hammer that whole layer in.
Lace, Boa, Velcro…?
SA: I was always a fan of ThirtyTwo because they had the best lace-up boots. In fact, I used a pair of TM-2 Digger boots on an expedition to Mount Logan where it was -40 celsius, and theyhappened to keep me warm.
BA: That’s awesome. We were just having that talk. And that specific boot and story is out of our current line. And I’m like, we need to actually amplify—even if it’s not digger, but like park partner or something like that and we bring in a couple key park staff from all resorts into feedback again, and ask them, “what is the ultimate?” Because all of them want lace, right? So it needs to come back for sure.
SA: Yeah. I think most people that I talk to at least, kind of in the 35-50 aging demographic is that we always just want lace. And we can’t mess with or have had enough Boa where it eventually broke and couldn’t do anything and it ruins your day.
BA: I mean it’s hard to keep fighting the reason for lace when Boa bookings are so dominant. But we keep saying we’re always going to have lace. So how do we design a better lace boot? What does lace with hybrid look like? But it’s hard when you look at the numbers and you go, okay, I guess we only need a couple of those.
It’s pretty shocking how dramatic Boa is, and I think that’s what you can see with most brands and their offering. You see it when you go to a website and you’re like okay, that’s a lot.
SA: But then looking at the new Zeb Powell boots that I tried and he’s rocking Velcro. And it seems to hold up. Where did that all come from. Did that come from Zeb?
BA: We had done a velcro boot years ago that looked like a ski boot. That was like late 08-09… It was done in a funny way. But some of the team riders took the laces out and just rode the Velcro. And that was always on Cook’s mind where there’s something to flex. And so Zeb was not the experiment… but he wanted something different too. And that also had a molded tongue, which helped a ton with support. So I think Cook is still fighting to add that molded tongue on more models.
ThirtyTwo Snowboards
SA: It seems pretty ambitious to release a full line, essentially. Where did that call to just go right out the gates, hitting the ground running with such a robust line of boards?
BA: That came from Xavier (Nidecker). I think we thought it was going to be probably half that. And he pushed us and came to us with a line plan and he thought, you have your base model, you have your carbon, right And then we—I think the base of the plan was like ok that makes sense from a twin, directional, and you get a couple stiffer.
And then he challenged us with like, “Do some fun shapes.” So the Thrill Pill came in because he was like, “it’s been a while since the (Burton) Nug. This is a skate-influenced brand. You should do something.” He’s like “we have this board where we could play with the size, but essentially this 132 could ride like a 152.” And we’re like “well, this is kind of fun.” So we play with that.
And then we’re like, “well, this is kind of fun”.
So those came in, and then pro models. So when we started looking at what we were going to have, we were looking at it going well shit, I don’t think we can shoot too many holes. Like three women’s models, this base of the three riding styles, pro models and a couple fun shapes.
So then we got to work and then Valentin, our engineer, crushed it. He did an amazing job, whether it be how the boards are riding or the shapes… I’m just really proud/excited.
I think being at SWS in Dubai for the factory was a huge plus right out the gate. Like we knew the product was going to be quality, which is huge.
So then looking into season two, we’re like, what are we adding? What are we taking away? They didn’t want to take away anything. So we added. Brin and Phil are going to get their pro model, like one-offs of a new freeride board. And then that brings on the Atmosphere.
Scott wanted a softer, more playful board. So we have something called the Scatterbrain coming.
So it got big. And we just had our meeting about year three. And I’m glad we kind of all looked at each other and were like, “this line is too big.” We gotta see what bookings are like year two and what sell through looks like year one, and kind of condense this before it gets too far away from us, as far as being able to tell the correct stories and be able to market things correctly.
So I think our top three bookings were the Team board, the Permanent Vacation, and the Snafu. So what they really should have been. It was your three base boards.
SA: Yeah I rode the Permanent Vacation last year and didn’t feel like it was a debut first year kind of board, you know?
BA: And that’s a really big…. I think our first ad I’be been pushing Cook and everyone like, I want a big, bold statement because there’s 108 shapes, you know? Like, this is not taking old Nickecker, YES., Jones molds and slapping ThirtyTwo graphics on it. These are boards engineered and designed from the ground up of what we wanted. And I think that’s a really big story that we just need to put it on a billboard, honestly. Because I do think our competition is going to bad mouth or could bad mouth and just be like, “oh those are YES. boards with ThirtyTwo graphics” where we eneed to communicate like the loudest that no, these are all designed from the ThirtyTwo brand.
And I think that’s the challenge over the next few months is, how loud do we say it?
Steve Andrews is a lifelong adventurer since before he could walk. A skier since age 2, snowboarder since 11, he began his guiding career in 2007. He has a passion for teaching people how to fish, and helping them discover their own power in the mountians. He started Alpine Islands to give people a different take on achieving mastery in the wild (hint: you’re never a master of Mother Nature). He lives in Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia with his partner and two kids.
