From our friends at Burton Snowboards:

Burton is celebrating its 50th anniversary—and considering Burton has been there since the earliest days of snowboarding, it feels like a milestone for all of snowboarding.

To mark five decades, Burton is tracing the story from Jake Burton Carpenter’s beginnings in Vermont to the global snowboard culture we know today. Fifty years ago, Jake wrote his first press release from a rented Vermont farmhouse, announcing the Burton Board Corporation in Londonderry, Vermont. This was long before snowboarding was widely accepted, when simply getting on the hill could be a fight in itself. 

A lot has changed since then. Snowboarding grew from a fringe pursuit into a worldwide culture, shaped not just by Burton, but by the riders, shops, filmers, crews, builders, artists and countless others who kept showing up and pushing it forward. So while this is Burton’s 50th, there’s plenty for the entire snowboard community to celebrate. 

Fifty years later, that still feels about right.

FIVE ERAS. FIVE PRODUCT DROPS.
DROP 1: 1977–1987

Burton is breaking its 50-year history into five eras, with each collection highlighting the riders, styles and stories that helped define a decade.

Today, September 10, the first era has arrived: 1977–1987.

These were the first ten years—the experimental years, when snowboarding was still finding its footing and fighting for its place on the mountain. During this period, the sport was famously described as “winter’s worst new sport.” Safe to say that assessment didn't age particularly well.

For Drop 1, Burton reached into the archives to bring back pieces inspired by those early years, including:

BURTON 50TH ’85 POWDER SHELL 3L JACKET

A modern reissue of Burton’s 1985 Powder Shell, updated with 3-layer weather protection.

BURTON 50TH ’85 POWDER SHELL 3L PANTS

The matching pants bring the original ’85 kit back to the mountain with modern construction.

BURTON 50TH ’80S EARFLAP BEANIES

An archive-inspired nod to the headwear of snowboarding’s early days.

More of the collection here! 

This is only Era 1. Four more collections will roll out from October through February, continuing the story through five decades of snowboarding. Here's some photos of Danny Davis ripping in the collection: 

Explore the full Burton 50th collection here and stay tuned for next drop!