drake Snowboard Bindings 2024/25 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboard Bindings 2024/25 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Drake
Interviewee: Davide Smania, Product & 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?
Snowboard binding market is stable, also for our sales. We just renewed the high-end collection with a brand new TPU injected ankle strap for evolving trusted and well-known models. Drake started as binding specialist brand with trusted and long lasting performance, having durable goods is always well appreciated.

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 keeping our production in a well-respected factory, partnership started many years ago and this allowed us to have more stable prices and trustworthy bindings. Investing in new tooling in order to reduce the labor cost on products is so important, especially when you’re able to increase the performance side.

Is e-commerce sales still strong since most brands have been put a lot of effort in physical retail?
For us the e-commerce is more a way to serve our customers in those nations where we are not distributed. Traditional sales channel is so important to provide the right level of service and consultancy to consumers, we are selling technical products in the end.

After last winter and the lack of snow in Europe, what’s your overall sales and production/inventory strategy for 24/25?
We kept some carryover colorways in order to not force our partners to sell them at too discounted price, not changing just color details and keep same components, products don’t have to be “too seasonal”, but have to provide something new.

BINDING SPECIFIC
Are you introducing any new innovations in buckles, straps, highbacks, bases baseplates, heelcups, etc.?
We are proposing a new TPU injected ankle strap which is the result of the growing of the know-how built in the last five years. It takes the best from our existing straps, maximum power transmission thanks to its volume, maximum adaptability thanks to its geometric pattern and total comfort due to its 3D shape which eliminates all painful contact point, while it’s almost 10% lighter than its predecessor.

Anything new concerning sustainability and related product or construction you would like to highlight?
It was easy to be more sustainable on the packaging, but it will probably take some more time to use more recycled materials for performance and safety reasons.

Any quick entry bindings in your collection for 24/25?
No

Any collabs on the line?
We are taking inspirations from the color palette that is the result of internal researches made by our Creative team in order to meet new trends from the outdoor world, as probably you know we also have the bike division really focused on All-mountain, covering all different shades, from gravity, trail to freeride. We started adding again some poppy colours, but also going on proposing earth colours

Are you planning to focus on a special product range or type of customers?
Yes, but development is still going on. Something dedicated for jibbing, super light, minimal, which will allow maximum freedom of movement and on the backcountry side a playful splitboard binding to enjoy powder in our way.

What are your top product marketing stories for next season?
No new collabs in particular, but we are bringing on our partnership with Rusty Toothbrush crew and developing new gears together with them.

Reload

Our most freestyle oriented binding in the collection, it’s equipped with the Change-up strap, that can provide a great lock of the foot but tons of freedom for the rest of leg once they are swapped, or be centered if used as they are out of the box. It’s a unisex model, well appreciated also from ladies of our team.

Reload

Supersport

For the new season it will be provided with the new Grand Royal ankle strap, which thanks the new design, it takes out all the contact points while still assuring maximum power transmission. Carbon composite hiback and Lightsaber with a stiffer base pad are completing this binding that is really reactive, but at the same time still allows you to have some freedom in later movement.

Supersport

Fifty

This model should need no presentation, it was introduced in market in the late nineties and has been renewed in the meanwhile will all best and trusted components available in our collection. With its 3D basepad placed between the binding and the board it’s absorbing all vibrations and shocks while riding, making it perfect for progression but also appreciated from experienced riders.

Fifty