RAD AIR SNOWBOARDS F/W 2025/26 PREVIEW

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboards F/W 2025/26 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Rad Air
Interviewee: Harry Gunz, co-founder

How was last season in the snowboard market?
We are in a niche of the market, but we see a slight increase of snowboarding on the mountains.

With the recent overall price increases, have there been any positive developments in manufacturing, sourcing, or logistics?Pricing will play a key role in the future. We negotiated with our manufacturers and suppliers on the best possible pricing and we are not increasing our prices for 2025/2026 as we are in a premium market segment already.

What are the major trends you’re seeing with product pricing in the snowboard market?
That’s a hard guess. Close out sales are negatively effecting the market. And there are too many red tag sales.

E-commerce Vs. physical retail, how are you balancing both channels?
80% online, 20% physical retail

How are you supporting retailers to sell this category?
We focus on the online market as we are facing problems with retailers to spend money with a niche brand or niche product line. There’s simply no open to buy in a product range that doesn’t sell by itself.

What unique brand messages are you focusing on for the 2025/2026 snowboard season?
We offer a wide range of longboards from 171 thru 201 cm, all full carbon body, wet process epoxy hand-layed sandwich construction. For 25/26 is a all new split-tail which is protected by an aluminium frame.

SNOWBOARD SPECIFIC

What trends or developments are you seeing with regards to board construction, shapes, and general innovation? How is this shaping your 25/26 range?
Everybody want to be sustainable, light and the perfect shape for any condition you can imagine. We believe that if you are a longboarder you want one of our TANKER models. Against popular believe – size matters.

Anything new concerning sustainability and related products or construction you would like to highlight?
superlight recycled woodcores, water-based printing processes, no solvents

Are you using any new materials in your hardware for 25/26? If so, what and why? We’re interested in anything new in inserts / edges / cores / sidewalls / glue / resin/ wood types / base material / top sheet / wax / etc..
We are using a full carbon construction for our 25-26 line and optimized materials to keep the weight as low as possible.

Any new design or pattern approaches in your 25/26 gear? Any collabs on the line?
We will stick to surf-related graphics which are in our DNA. In 2023, we launched “Project X,” which marks a collaboration with “Winterstick,” one of the very early snowboard manufacturers, made in Maine/USA. We continue this collaboration with the 25/26 “Project X TANKER 191 split-tail”.

Are you planning to focus on a special product range or type of customers? What’s your newest range?
Yes, our Tanker-line is focusing on the longboard freerider searching for a product that performs in deep powder as well as on groomers.

Key Products:

TANKER 171:
A lightweight longboard shaped for lighter riders and YES, ladies too! If your preferred terrain is the steep and deep, couloirs, and narrow trees – this is the board to go with. It’s a 171 but feels much shorter, and you’ll be surprised by its quick edge-to-edge transition!

Tanker 171

TANKER 181:
You know that you want that extra 10 cm for wide open and not super steep terrain. This is what drove the design for the 181, and you’ll find a ride that is the perfect all-around all-mountain board you always wanted. Incredible edge hold makes it a deck that is extremely versatile, no matter if it’s untracked terrain or corduroy groomers.

Tanker Split 181

TANKER 186:
This deck is designed for the big-footed or heavier rider or one who wants to take advantage of its wide body shape and outstanding floating performance. Wide-bodied but still remarkably quick from edge-to-edge. Its extra surface area offers incredible float and surf ability, especially in waist-deep powder and tracked-up terrain.

Tanker 186