Ride recently brought on board two new members to the in-house crew on Vashon Island: Joe Florence as Softgoods Assistant and Treu Hahnenberger as Binding Engineer.
Joe hails from Bellingham, WA where he grew up riding Mt. Baker for about 20 years, 15 of which were on a board. He learned to snowboard at a very early age, following locals like Craig Kelly, Mike Ranquet, Jason Bass and Brian Hollenbeck. After rep riding for Ride a few years back in the late 90's, Joe moved to Seattle to go to school for fashion design at AIS (Art Institute of Seattle) and worked for the Pogues at Faction. When he graduated in 2001, Joe began his career at KAVU as head designer for a little over a year.
“I am super stoked to be here at Ride. I knew a long time ago I wanted to be involved in the snowboard industry, but my paycheck as a rep rider just wasn't as big as I would have hoped, so I decided to go into the fashion side of it, and if only Grandma could see me now,” says Joe.
Softgoods Category Manager Robin Mavis continues, “Its great to have Joe as part of the softgoods team. I have no doubt his excitement and experience will go a long way … that is, if he can survive the initiation!”
Treu comes to Ride from Salt Lake City, UT where he just graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in mechanical engineering. With interests ranging from kayaking to surfing to golf, hes been a part of the snowboard industry since 99, most recently working at MiloSport in Salt Lake City.
“I am stoked to be working for such a great snowboard company right out of school. It is a dream come true to be able to stay in the snowboard industry doing something I love. Ride and I are a great fit,” says Treu.
Binding Category Manager Mark Zwahlen continues, 'We're excited to have Treu on the team. His enthusiasm, intelligence and market knowledge are going to be a tremendous asset to our binding program. We're looking forward to seeing his innovative ideas show up on the mountain.”
