Burton Finds Perfect Set with Channel Islands…

Burton Snowboards expanded its stable of brands and the scope of its company, paddling into the realm of snow’s melted cousin when it announced last week that it had acquired the assets of Channel Islands Surfboards. The founders of each company, Al Merrick and Jake Burton Carpenter, forged an agreement over the fact that they share a similar mindset and passion for their respective sports. Channel Islands will remain in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Merrick will continue to lead the company he founded in 1969 to create surfboards for many of the world’s best surfers.

The B.O.S.S. Report sat down with Laurent Potdevin, CEO of Burton Snowboards to talk about the acquisition and plans for the future. According to Potdevin, the companies will look to the marketplace like completely independent entities without any cross-branding, co-branding or Burton-designed Channel Islands softgoods, “Burton is going to continue to be a pure snowboard company and Channel Islands is going to be a pure surf company.”

Potdevin sees the real synergies in the acquisition coming in the back-end in sourcing, purchasing, and distribution. While he feels that a collaboration between R&D might be possible or even likely in the future, there are no plans for it. The real help that Burton can offer to Channel Islands is in expansion. “There are markets in which maybe they haven’t penetrated as much as they could or they have the potential in a market in which we have a presence….Europe or Japan, or maybe the Southern Hemisphere. They have a pretty global penetration because of the success of the brand, but they haven’t reached their full potential in all of those territories,” commented Potdevin.

Burton plans to keep the sales forces as they are for now, at least domestically. In some of the areas in the international scope, things may be a little different as each brand tries to utilize the existing distribution channels of the other.

Al Merrick was the founder and sole owner of Channel Islands before the acquisition and will remain with the company after Burton takes over, but will focus more on the design and shaping side of things. “Both Jake and I have a real passion for staying at the forefront of technology, innovation and design. In the future, I will continue to work in the same capacity that I have always worked in, designing and shaping surfboards,” said Merrick.

One of the main points for Potdevin will be the ability of Channel Islands to leverage Burton’s resources to use and experiment with new technologies in its manufacturing. In the wake of Clark Foam’s closing in December, this point becomes all the more relevant. Potdevin conceded that the entire industry has been through a tough period as a result of losing the main blanks supplier in the U.S., but believes that this is just for the short term and that losing Clark can actually be a boon to the industry as companies venture out and try new ways of creating surfboards.

In the future, Potdevin sees growth for Channel Islands coming from “New technologies, new distribution, and more people in the water enjoying the best brand out there, which is Channel Islands.”

Burton Finds Perfect Set with Channel Islands…

Burton Snowboards expanded its stable of brands and the scope of its company, paddling into the realm of snow’s melted cousin when it announced last week that it had acquired the assets of Channel Islands Surfboards. The founders of each company, Al Merrick and Jake Burton Carpenter, forged an agreement over the fact that they share a similar mindset and passion for their respective sports. Channel Islands will remain in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Merrick will continue to lead the company he founded in 1969 to create surfboards for many of the world’s best surfers.

Sports Executive Weekly sat down with Laurent Potdevin, CEO of Burton Snowboards to talk about the acquisition and plans for the future. According to Potdevin, the companies will look to the marketplace like completely independent entities without any cross-branding, co-branding or Burton-designed Channel Islands softgoods, “Burton is going to continue to be a pure snowboard company and Channel Islands is going to be a pure surf company.”

Potdevin sees the real synergies in the acquisition coming in the back-end in sourcing, purchasing, and distribution. While he feels that a collaboration between R&D might be possible or even likely in the future, there are no plans for it. The real help that Burton can offer to Channel Islands is in expansion. “There are markets in which maybe they haven’t penetrated as much as they could or they have the potential in a market in which we have a presence….Europe or Japan, or maybe the Southern Hemisphere. They have a pretty global penetration because of the success of the brand, but they haven’t reached their full potential in all of those territories,” commented Potdevin.

Burton plans to keep the sales forces as they are for now, at least domestically. In some of the areas in the international scope, things may be a little different as each brand tries to utilize the existing distribution channels of the other.

Al Merrick was the founder and sole owner of Channel Islands before the acquisition and will remain with the company after Burton takes over, but will focus more on the design and shaping side of things. “Both Jake and I have a real passion for staying at the forefront of technology, innovation and design. In the future, I will continue to work in the same capacity that I have always worked in, designing and shaping surfboards,” said Merrick.

One of the main points for Potdevin will be the ability of Channel Islands to leverage Burton’s resources to use and experiment with new technologies in its manufacturing. In the wake of Clark Foam’s closing in December, this point becomes all the more relevant. Potdevin conceded that the entire industry has been through a tough period as a result of losing the main blanks supplier in the U.S., but believes that this is just for the short term and that losing Clark can actually be a boon to the industry as companies venture out and try new ways of creating surfboards.

In the future, Potdevin sees growth for Channel Islands coming from “New technologies, new distribution, and more people in the water enjoying the best brand out there, which is Channel Islands.”


>>> SEW heard rumors of this deal back in October, but no doubt the closing of Clark and the need to find new means of manufacturing the traditional surfboard helped speed the process along…

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