Overview
- How it all began
- Snowboarding belongs to everyone
- The 50/50 anniversary collection: five decades, five drops
- The 90s drop of the anniversary collection: the Biolight era is back
- Coming next: the 00s drop of the anniversary collection
How it all began: a farmhouse in Vermont
Fifty years ago, Jake Burton Carpenter sat in a rented farmhouse in Londonderry, Vermont, and typed his first press release: “Londonderry Vermont has a new manufacturing company… The Burton Board Corporation run by inventor/designer/entrepreneur Jake Burton Carpenter.” He mailed it to reporters, listed his home phone as the contact and built one snowboard after another – by hand. What came next was something nobody could have imagined back then: the spark jumped from rider to rider, and a fringe obsession turned into a worldwide culture. And it's not only us at Blue Tomato who are incredibly grateful for that. Happy Birthday, friends!
Our 50th anniversary celebrates the counterculture spirit of the global riding community, the creativity and grit that got us all here and the next generation of riders taking snowboarding to a place we never imagined 50 years ago.
Donna Carpenter, Burton Owner & Chair of the Board
From ‘worst sport’ to world-class sport
The road wasn’t easy. A US newspaper magazine once called snowboarding “winter’s worst new sport”, and many ski resorts wanted nothing to do with it at first. Burton kept at it: with groundbreaking products, a team of top snowboarders and a lot of persuasion, until resorts finally opened their lifts to snowboarders. That’s how a backyard hobby became a world-class sport. Today, Burton is the world’s first snowboard company to become a certified B Corporation®, and alongside its headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, it also has an office in Austria.
To mark the big anniversary, Burton is planning plenty of events in shops and on the mountain, plus a five-part short documentary about 50 years of snowboarding. The first two episodes are already out:
Snowboarding belongs to everyone
Snowboarding’s story has never been Burton’s alone. It belongs to every shop that believed in the sport, every filmer who caught that one moment, every crew that shaped a kicker out of nothing and every rider who kept showing up, even when snowboarding wasn’t welcome everywhere. From Vermont to Japan, from the Alps to China, it has grown into a community with no borders – and we at Blue Tomato are part of it too.
Jake was often asked to predict snowboarding’s future, and he always said it was up to the riders. That’s what we’re celebrating this season – each generation of snowboarders making snowboarding their own.
Donna Carpenter, Burton Owner & Chair of the Board
The 50/50 anniversary collection: five decades, five drops
The celebration runs all winter long: Burton is releasing five drops, each one dedicated to its own era with its riders, styles and stories. It kicked off in September with the first decade, 1977 to 1987, and a reissue of the ’85 Powder Shell kit – snowboarding’s first outerwear jacket and pant, now with modern 3-layer weather protection. The 90s follow, the 2000s come in November, and more drops are on the way through February.
The 90s drop of the anniversary collection: the Biolight era is back
By the mid-90s, things got quieter: less neon, more of a rugged everyday look. Freestyle went through the roof, the new school took over – and right at that time, the Biolight line became one of Burton’s most iconic pieces ever. The idea behind it: gear that feels like your regular clothes, just without the weight, the wet and the wear. High-quality materials and a construction without unnecessary bulk made solid weather protection accessible to far more riders. 30 years later, the classics are back as reissues – with the look of back then and the tech of today.
Burton 50/50 Bio Jacket: the highlight of the anniversary collection
presented by Ylfa Runarsdottir, Burton Team Rider
The relaxed fit gives you room for layers and movement, and the mesh-lined Pit Zip™ vents let you dump heat fast. Stretchy, adjustable cuffs and a hem drawcord you can adjust right from the handwarmer pocket keep wind and snow out. For your stuff, there’s a chest pocket, a pass pocket on the sleeve, a mesh inside pocket and microfleece-lined handwarmer pockets with an extra card slot.
- Weather protection: 20,000 mm waterproofing, 20,000 g breathability – sealed on the outside, breathable on the inside
- Material: DRYRIDE™ 2-layer tussar fabric made from 100% recycled nylon, fully taped seams
- Sustainability: bluesign®-certified, PFC-free DWR finish
The jacket in Thirteen Yellow is limited to a small run and available exclusively online at Blue Tomato. And when you bundle it with snow pants like the Burton 50/50 90's Bio Pants, you save 10%.
More from the 90s drop of the anniversary collection
To go with the jacket, there are matching Bio Pants that bring back the original 1995 Biolight Pant almost unchanged, and gloves modelled on the Biolight Spring Gloves with a grippy goat leather palm. T-shirt, beanie and cap round out the drop for the lift, the parking lot and on the go.
Coming next: the 00s drop of the anniversary collection
In November, Burton jumps into the next decade: the 00s drop brings a jacket, pants and gloves with the spirit of the 2000s. And with more drops following through February, it’s worth checking back here regularly.
50 years of Burton. The next chapter is yours to write.