Downhill All the Way
How Jake Burton went from teen snowboarder to snowboarding mogul.
By Athena Schindelheim | Mar 1, 2006
- 1968
Fourteen-year-old Jake Burton Carpenter falls in love with Sherman Poppen's Snurfer, the precursor to the modern snowboard. He breaks a finger riding one.
- 1976
As a senior at New York University, Burton becomes an assistant to Victor Niederhoffer, a hedge fund manager who sells privately owned companies to big corporations. He hates it but is inspired to start a business. Niederhoffer gives Burton money to help.
- 1977
Burton builds his first boards. None sell.
- 1979
Burton sells his 700th snowboard. He's $100,000 in the hole, but on the plus side he wins the World Snurfing Championship.
- 1982
Jake meets his future wife while making a snowboard.
- 1984
Burton has its first million-dollar year.
- 1988
A million Americans now snowboard.
- 1994
Sherman Poppen, quoted in the online zine Flakezine: "I'm probably ahead of what Jake's ever going to make on the boards....He's got some heavy competition now. Whoa, I wouldn't want to be in that business now."
Jake Burton collides with a skier and breaks a leg.
- 1996
Burton launches R.E.D. helmets, revolutionizing snowboard accessorizing.
- 1998
Snowboarding becomes an Olympic sport.
- 2001
Snowboarding now has 5.3 million riders.
- 2002
Seven million snowboarders. Burton's sales clear $100 million.
- 2003
Burton launches Analog Streetwear, its first casual apparel line.
- 2006
Burton is the official outerwear for the U.S. Olympic team, and five Burton riders qualify for the team in the marquee half-pipe event.
