Snowboard Boots FW15/16 Trend Report

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Snowboard boots are one of the key tools for bricks-and-mortar snowboard shops; buying a snowboard boot will always be a question of fit first, with function and form less important. And no matter how long he spends Googling, a consumer is never going to get that foot-in-boot feeling from a screen or live chat window. 


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Ride

2015/16’s boot orders are only a couple of weeks away; the season will be notable for the absence of Nike, who became an important part of the boot category in the short time they stuck it out. Next year will also see the return of Vans snowboard boots, who have done a lot of tuning during their one-year category hiatus. Tom Wilson-North rounds up the best of next year’s product in our exclusive snowboard boot trend report.

KEY NEW MODELS

As is with every year, there is an influx of new models with redesigns of existing staples alongside completely new characters. Vans are banging back onto the scene with their flagship V-66 model, designed by Taka Hayashi; a masterpiece of rich leather and impressive craftsmanship – put it on your shopping list for the tradeshows. They’ve also got a girl’s Hi-Standard boot developed with rider Hana Beaman, which has delicate rose patterning and complementary earth tones.

We’re looking forward to seeing Flow’s new mid-range Helios and women’s Lunar boots. These have Vibram soles and wrap up using Boa Focus Coiler lacing; their medium flex means they’ll be an easy sell. Equally, Salomon’s mid-range Dialogue gets a juicy upgrade with memory foam footbeds and RF3 construction, which delivers a better fit and more rebound.

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Burton

Backcountry boots are still trending; Rome’s Guide boot is a great choice for this part of your boot wall, with bombproof construction and easy selling points like a Boa-powered liner, premium full-grain leather and Vibram Icetrek 2 compound sole. Meanwhile, for the splitboard crew, Xavier de Le Rue gets another new model from Deeluxe, now with a lighter sole and updated aesthetic. 32 have a Jeremy Jones backcountry model to show about: “Designed for snowboarding, mountaineering and split boarding these boots will have every feature needed for Jeremy’s next big mountain challenge.” 

Northwave’s Legend boot gets a new EVA outsole that combines the lightness and durability of mesh with a thermowelded, waterproof material. Also going lightweight are Head with their Three boot, equipped with a similarly lightweight EVA outsole. The heat mouldable liner on the Three is brand new too, with bonus width adjustable for riders with freakishly wide or narrow plates of meat.

Wrapping up our tour of the 15/16 must-sees, we loved the look of Ride’s top-end Trident, which contains all their technology – there’s a new Boa closure system inside the SlimeTongue, and Michelin rubber Peak outsole beneath.

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Nitro

AESTHETIC

Gone are the days of a moody-looking, badly-lit boot wall with black, L-shaped lumps snarling in the twilight. Boots are better looking than ever, even though your number one selling colour is going to be – you guessed it – black. “Black is a very safe colour to match with almost any kind of apparel”, confirms Head’s PLM Christian Verlohr, while 32 are offering combinations of pop colour and earth tones.  But we’re also seeing patterns on snowboard boots trending after a prolonged absence. You’ll not only find them on Deeluxe’s signature models, but also at Ride, who have a great acid washed denim print and a daisy floral on their Sage. Other unexpected colours we saw were the marbled and pastel colours from Nitro, and sunburnt beach tones from K2.

INFLUENCE AND INSPIRATION

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Ride

Just as interesting as aesthetics is where brands find inspiration for their collections. Almost every brand we spoke to cited trail running as a source of influence; this market is seeing phenomenal success and growth, so it’s natural snowboarding would borrow ideas. At the same time, not everyone wants to look like they’re rocking running shoes; in fact the back-turning of Nike to the snowboard market has almost encouraged core riders to represent core snowboard brands and rely less on crossover product from athletic companies.

Skateboarding was, understandably, a huge source of inspiration, and explains the real leather and light cordura that’s trending. Mountain hiking and vintage outdoor shoes are also big influences, but Ride’s Treu Hahnenberger is confident it’s for more than just the look: “Our dealers are asking for more hiking oriented features that are functional inbounds while improving the backcountry experience”.

LINERS

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Burton

A boot is nothing without a decent liner in it. Head have a whole new liner range at all their price-points using heat mouldable Perfect Fit foam borrowed from their ski-boot making chums. They’re also adding bamboo charcoal lining to stop your sweaty feet turning the boot into a petri dish, and multi-density footbeds for extra cushioning underneath. Salomon see a footbed improvement too, investing in the same Ortholite inserts that are used with so much success in their trail running shoes. They’ll be in the whole range, regardless of price-point.

NEW VIBRAM LICKS

There’s plenty of Vibram around next year thanks to an increase in product options from the grippy-sole specialists. Burton’s clearly-titled ‘Burton Exclusive Outsole’ débuts on the SLX and will use three separate materials – EVA, Vibram and TPU – to create their lightest weight Vibram outsole ever. Equally, Deeluxe are using a new kind of Vibram outsole on their BC series, and Flow have an all-new BareFoot Technology outsole with Vibram, which is low profile and very supportive with great traction and dampening.

Consumers seem to trust third-party component manufacturers on snowboard boots and are reassured when they see their logos on the product. It’s not just Vibram getting in on the game though; Deeluxe use Slytech foam for cushioning, and Nitro use orange d3o supergoo in the liner tongues of the Select, Team and Faint models for cushioning against forward flex impact and liner lace bite.

CUSTOMIZABLE FLEX

No one boot will fit two different snowboarders the same, thanks to different usage, biomechanics and physical differences in foot shape. So brands haven’t hesitated to offer easily customizable flexes.  “We have considered customizable flex a key element since day one, as every rider out there is different”, says Vans’ Action Sports Product Manager Juss Apivala. “Our removable high-rebound Hytrel® tongue stiffeners allow riders to custom-tune their boot flex. On top of that there’s something we call the Reach Around: allowing a rider to easily customize the fit and response of their boot”. 

Other brands take a different approach, preferring to offer a variety of flexes throughout the line, thus leaving it to the rider to find the sweet spot themselves. Both approaches have their merits. Burton was the first brand to experiment with adjustable flex boots, having offered TPU tongue inserts on Driver X for many years.  “However,” admits their Boot Director Eric Gaisser, “we found that the majority of consumers just weren’t using them. In most cases shops were simply throwing them away. Our research indicates that consumers are more concerned with out-of-box comfort and a fit that will last all season long”.  Head agree; “We did not add a flex customization into the boots for a good reason. We believe that you will only set your flex once, so why not buy the boot that already has the right flex. In addition, a lot of flex adjustments cause pressure points from the inlays that you need to put into the boot.”

From a retail perspective, a mix of custom-flex boots and a coherent line of flex choices ought to work best.

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Nitro

CLOSURE SYSTEMS

Last year was the first season where engineers starting mixing up closure systems on snowboard boots. Multi-system closures are now market-wide; they’re commonplace and here to stay. The European market is definitely still trending away from traditional laces to the speed and convenience of quicklace solutions. No surprises that Boa is the dominant market player, with a couple of cool new innovations. K2 have a brand new solution using a new Boa design which they’ll be showing for the first time at ISPO. Likewise, Burton have developed the industry’s first soft lace Boa closure system. It will use the same durable ropes which have made Speed Zone so popular, and you’ll see it line-wide on all of their Boa models. An added plus is that with no more dull metal wiring, the boots are able to be a lot more colourful.

CONCLUSION

Snowboard boots are a great category where your salespeople will engage with customers, develop relationships and prove their expertise. And with a ton of modern tech and relevant colour stories, the boot wall is going to be a light, bright place for all that to happen. Go deep on the models that your clients dig the most, include plenty of the new technology, offer a couple of small lines of funky colours to brighten up the wall, and your boot order ought to write itself.

HIGHLIGHTS

Patterns on boots
Running shoe inspiration
Advanced shock-absorbing foams
Update heel pocket fits
New OEM Boa development

 

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