DOUK Snow: Crafting Custom Snowboards In The UK Since 2012
DOUK Snow has been hand crafting boards at its UK workshop since 2012 and is now looking to expand out into the European Market. Source sat down with founder Lewey to hear the brands unique story.
Please tell us the story behind DOUK Snow?
DOUK was founded in 2012 after the founder David Ombler came back from multiple seasons and decided to combine his passion for Snowboarding with his cabinet making and woodworking skills.
In 2020 Lewey who started as an apprentice for David back in 2016, took over the company bringing a new energy and focus around offering boards for everyone, with new shapes, sizes and options for customisation. Since then he has continued to grow the vision, handmaking each board himself in DOUK’s cosy workshop in Worcestershire.
You specialise in custom-built skis and snowboards, tell us more about this
Since we handmake every part of the boards and skis in house we have always found that our bespoke touch lends itself well to small batch or one of custom skis/snowboards, working both direct to customers and riders, as well as working with brands and smaller snowboard companies to produce fully custom or partially customised boards to meet the exact needs of the end user.
Please take us through your product development process
Our development process is, and always has been, a constant steady progression, testing and trialing new materials, shapes and processes throughout the year to enable us to continue to make better and more diverse skis and snowboards.
What is your best selling product and why?
Our most popular board is our Freighter, a ultra wide 30cm+ waist width board designed purely with riders with size UK12+ boots. Helping to fill a niche that the big brands have neglected, but one we think is important, and we are looking to increase our ultra wide line up because of the success we have had with the freighter.
What is DOUK’s USP?
We are the longest running UK manufacturer of skis and snowboards, as well as being one of the only places in the world offering a full build your own ski/snowboard experience allowing customers to come into our workshop and build their very own custom ski/snowboard with us.
How do you market the brand?
We use social media as our main marketing tool, with most people finding us through there, via our website or through word of mouth (which is huge for us as a smaller brand) We also run snowcamps where customers come out on a trip with us, try the boards and then get a board included in the trip price which is a great way of getting people involved in the brand story.
How has the market for custom boards and skis changed over the last 5 years?
I would say the biggest change has been the coming and going of various other brands in the space, with it being rare these days that snowboard brands actually manufacture in house, it is also becoming rare to find small scale custom boards which naturally draws more people into us. I have also found that people come to us much more informed these days too, knowing more about which camber/profile they are looking for etc.. With less people asking for advice from me on these details, probably due to people being informed via social media and review sites.
How do you sell your products across Europe?
All our sales currently come direct through the site, selling to Europe is trickier since Brexit, but we do still get a large amount of sales to the EU as well as people travelling to us to build their own board/skis on our experience courses.
How do you envision the brand evolving in the next few years?
We would love to look into small scale retail in the short term future with a focus on allowing our customer to get hands on with our boards as well are trying to work with shops to make it as beneficial for them as we can as we know these small retailers are the life blood of the industry, especially here in the UK. We are also looking to expand physically by potentially taking a new apprentice on to allow more ability for growth, to go along with this new small scale retail campaign and growing range of boards. But with this said, I think it’s important that we grow organically and don’t rush it as it’s super important that we maintain our authenticity and handmade quality focus.
