Burton Snowboards has signed a letter of intent to acquire four snowboard brands from Four Star Distribution – Forum, Special Blend, Jeenyus and Foursquare. Once this acquisition is complete, slated for August, it will mark the first time that Burton will sell and market snowboards under a name other than Burton.
SEWs sister publication, The B.O.S.S. Report, was able to catch up with Burton President Laurent Potdevin, who said that the attraction of these four brands was that “They have remained very true to snowboarding and maintained a very tight distribution to specialty stores, not all companies do that.”
“I think I speak for all of us at Burton when I say that we have gotten tired of watching ski companies buy up snowboard brands,” says Jake Burton, founder and owner of Burton. “Forum is a company we have always respected, and it is a brand that needed to stay in the hands of snowboarders.”
Potdevin also said that they are still in the process of due diligence, so it is too early to discuss strategy for the brands, but they expect no major changes in distribution, or positioning. Currently the four brands production is being sourced in different factories in Europe. Potdevin said no decisions have been made about future production.
Potdevin told BOSS that Burton is continually looking for acquisition opportunities, and if they present themselves, then we can expect to see more in the future.
