50 Years of Burton. 50 Years of Snowboarding.

Five decades, five archive-inspired drops and a new documentary series – Burton is marking its 50th anniversary by looking back at the people, products and moments that helped shape snowboarding.

Fifty years ago, from a rented farmhouse in Londonderry, Vermont, Jake Burton Carpenter typed out his first press release. Its opening line announced that the small town had a new manufacturing company: The Burton Board Corporation.

Jake listed his home phone number as the contact, sent the release out to reporters and got to work making snowboards by hand. At the time, there was little indication of just how far the thing would go.

Half a century later, Burton is celebrating its 50th anniversary – and with it, 50 years of the culture, characters and progression that have taken snowboarding from a fringe pursuit to something that spans pretty much every corner of the world.

Rather than looking solely at its own role in that history, Burton is using the anniversary to celebrate the wider community that helped build snowboarding along the way: the shops that backed it before everyone else did, the filmers documenting what was happening, the crews building spots from whatever they could find and, of course, generations of riders continuing to push things forward.

“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,” says Burton Owner and Chair of the Board Donna Carpenter.

“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.”

Five Decades of Burton

To mark the anniversary, Burton is digging into the archives with five separate product drops, each looking back at a different decade of snowboarding and the riders, style and stories that defined it.

First up is 1977–1987, taking things right back to a time when snowboarding was still fighting to establish itself on the mountain.

For the first collection, Burton has brought back the ’85 Powder Shell kit, originally released as snowboarding’s first outerwear jacket and pant. The reissued version keeps the look of the original while bringing it up to speed with modern 3L weather protection, accompanied by heavyweight tees and an archive-inspired beanie.

And this is only decade one.

Four more collections will follow between October and February, working their way through the subsequent eras of Burton and snowboarding. If you’ve got a soft spot for old-school snowboard gear, there should be plenty more coming out of the archives over the next few months.

The celebrations won’t be confined to product either. Burton is also releasing a five-part short-form documentary series looking back over 50 years of snowboarding, alongside a programme of in-store and on-snow events throughout autumn and winter.

From Jake Burton Carpenter building boards by hand in a rented Vermont farmhouse to a culture that now reaches across the globe, snowboarding has come a long way since 1977.

Get the latest on the season of 50 th celebrations at Burton.com/Burton50