No place is perfect, but some are for sure worse than others.
What brands come out of SWS? I know Rome, Jones/Yes, Arbor; but who else?
I'd guess any Nidecker brand / (the brand formely known as ) Batalion / Lobster / Flow
Judging by this more recent SWS video on YT (below)... also White & Backcountry. But likely others as well.
They're claiming to be making 1/3 of all snowboards manufactured each year. Looking at another video of theirs from 3 years ago they claim that number to be 300,000. So, I'd expect it to be more than that today.
I'm so curious what Jones numbers are. I bet way more than I'd guess.
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Jones Snowboards is proud to announce that their 2024/2025 snowboards and splitboards will be Fair Trade Certified™.
SWS Board Technology, Jones Snowboards’ production partner, became a Fair Trade Certified manufacturing facility in October 2023. To achieve certification, SWS was audited to demonstrate adherence to over 100+ compliance criteria that cover social responsibility, environmental responsibility, employee empowerment and economic development.
Idk if this designation has a ton of cred. It mayor may not. I think a lot of 'going green' is just good business in the sense that the roi is in favor of the business. Like solar. etc. But SWS seems to have that sort of thing going on. Idk how to value their place in a shipping hub in terms of limiting supply chain fuel inputs or whatever. But it's one of their claims too. And I know Patagonia really puts a lot into limiting supply chain inputs as they think it's a main contributor in the negative environmental cost of their goods. I trust Yvon's intentions a great deal more than most other heads of business so personally I tend to think there's something meaningful there.
It's perhaps an unwinable situation where the tradeoffs don't equal
I may wait a season to upgrade my Jones Mercury bindings. Canted footbeds + new ratchets + new toe strap.
Those ratchets look Burton-esque, with less exposed teeth and a proper quick release lever. Maybe someone at Nidecker FINALLY figured that shit out and I can feel confident riding these stock.
Mercury Pro doesn't look that interesting to me. I've experimented enough to know I don't like carbon in my bindings.
Screen Shot 2024-01-24 at 11.38.34 AM.png (720.26 KiB) Viewed 1269 times
kimchi wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:43 pm
Those ratchets look Burton-esque, with less exposed teeth and a proper quick release lever. Maybe someone at Nidecker FINALLY figured that shit out and I can feel confident riding these stock.
All they ever had to do was use Rome's ratchets, they've been dialed for years.
oar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:50 pm
Also when did every company decide that their base graphics should be swirled/blurry rainbow colors? Burton, K2, Jones, Ride, etc
