Spark R&D Splitboarding 2024/25 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Splitboarding 2024/25 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Spark R&D
Interviewee: Dan Ventura, Marketing Manager

How would you describe the current state of the snowboard market? What big developments, changes, challenges, and/or opportunities are you seeing and how is your brand navigating them?
As everyone is well aware, there is excess inventory in Europe stemming from a combination of large pandemic-fueled orders followed by a lackluster snow year. This is a huge challenge for all of us who make and sell gear, as we are still adapting to the whiplash and sudden shift of supply versus demand. Though there are a lot of challenges that can be identified (inventory, world economies, war & politics), there are always opportunities that come out of difficult times. For us, this has been a really good time to catch our breath. After three years of non-stop crazy growth, we really needed this slower time to re-group, plan, and set goals. Spark will come out of this stronger. As far as the current state of snowboarding goes -it seems we are all in a waiting game. Waiting for snow and waiting for the world to stabilize. It’s been hard to predict, but we are cautiously optimistic about the future.

Following overall price increase, any positive developments with regards to manufacturing, sourcing, or logistics and the changes you’ve made? Are there any examples you can share of how your business pivoted effectively? What developments are you seeing with regards to product pricing?
We are happy to report that most of the material-based supply chain and logistics issues seem to be working themselves out. For the past couple of years, we had to put so much emphasis into sourcing, which was incredibly time-consuming, not to mention expensive. As many manufacturers can empathize, not all materials are created equal. With our standard materials coming from several different vendors, we had to be flexible and creative with our internal engineering strategies. Some alternatively sourced metals had to be bent a new way so as to not crack, others had to be heated to a different temperature, or processed differently. Again, this was very time-consuming, and we had to work more slowly and intentionally to get everything just right. This forced us to really up our quality control checks throughout every process. In the end, this led to us putting out better products, but it was a lot more work and it made us value our long-term vendors! After the big price increases from raw material, logistics, and wages, things seem to be stabilizing. There may still be some product price adjustments coming out of the aftershock of all of this, but for the most part, hardgood prices should be leveling out.

Is e-commerce sales still strong since most brands have been put a lot of effort in physical retail?
We are not seeing a big shift away from e-commerce. Our general impression is the mix between the two is about the same as it has been.

After last winter and the lack of snow in Europe, what’s your overall sales and production/inventory strategy for 24/25?
We will be conservative. We’ll probably do a snow dance too, results may vary. We’d much rather be in an oversold position than an overstocked position. Bindings will be built to orders, not built on hope.

BINDING SPECIFIC

Are you introducing any new innovations in buckles, straps, highbacks, bases baseplates, heelcups, etc.?
Not really. This will be year three of our ST Tech. It has been a big hit with splitboarders and we’re not making any big changes to the tech or the line. We’ll have some updated color options that we’re excited about. We’ll also be offering new colored puck options. We did a limited run of colored pucks in 23/24 and it was quite popular, so we’ll be expanding on that program a little. Like we mentioned above, we are really appreciating this slower time. We have a lot of ideas we’ve been cooking up for future innovations and we finally have time to work on them. Stay tuned.

Are you using any new materials in your bindings for 24/25?
No. The materials we use are tried and true. We’ve spent a lot of time developing and testing what we have and are very satisfied with it.

Anything new concerning sustainability and related product or construction you would like to highlight?
We are excited to be implementing a plastic grinder into our operations for this coming season. This allows us to reuse any mis-manufactured plastic parts and the part trimmings by grinding the pieces back into pellet form. We can then mix up the “regrind” with our raw plastics and create a new highback, strap, or other plastic part consisting of up to 20% of the recycled material.

Any quick entry bindings in your collection for 24/25?
Nope, but I can put mine on pretty fast.

Any new design or pattern approaches in your 24/25 gear? Any collabs on the line?
We have some new aluminium ano colors that we’re stoked on. Black and darker palettes are the conservative choice, but anodized aluminium looks awesome, so we always have some pop colors in the line.

Are you planning to focus on a special product range or type of customers?
Split bindings will always be our biggest seller. Everything else we sell is designed to compliment our bindings or splitboarding in general, so we’ll continue to focus on our bindings. They appeal to a broad range of customers. The tech is easy to understand which is great for beginners and intermediates while the reliability and performance allows more experienced riders to go deep into the mountains in search of big lines and open pow fields. Split Hardbooting also continues to grow. We will put some added emphasis on this customer next season to make sure we cater to their interests.

What are your top product marketing stories for next season?
We will continue to spread the stoke for splitboarding. Splitboarding is fun and can be enjoyed in a lot of different ways. However you choose to do that is cool, what we try to do is encourage people to get out and Go Splitboarding.

Key products

Arc ST
This is Spark’s lightweight and surfy splitboard binding. Cutout baseplates save weight, Pillow Line Ankle Straps with a flex window allow for maximum agility, and a medium flex version of the Asym Highback is perfect for powder and tree riding. They feature our industry-leading T1 and ST technologies. This is our top selling binding every year!

Arc-ST-Black-front

Surge ST
This is Spark’s stiff and powerful splitboard binding. We recommend it for bigger riders or those tackling big lines in the backcountry. It features a solid baseplate, a robust Pillow Line Ankle Strap, and stiff Asym Highback. They feature our industry-leading T1 and ST technologies.

Surge-ST-Black

Spark Pucks
Pucks are how our bindings attach to the splitboard in ride mode. Spark pucks come in both flat and canted versions to suit every rider. They allow for tons of stance adjustability. Look for new color options that allow riders to match their bindings and boards. These are our most popular splitboard accessory.

Pucks