Nitro Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Nitro
Interviewee: Tommy Delago, President

How would you describe the 2024/25 snowboard season in terms of market performance and consumer demand?
Overall, the market felt strong and stable. This season we experienced growth in North America, while maintaining a solid and steady position in Europe. Korea and Japan continued to perform well, but China saw its first significant decline after years of consistent growth, mainly due to weaker consumer demand.

What major trends are shaping the snowboard market (pricing, consumer preferences, rider demographics, retail shifts)?
Shifts in consumer behavior are actually in line with our approach to the market. As a 100% authentic snowboard brand, we see riders increasingly looking for genuine brands they can trust — and that’s exactly where we feel at home.

From changing consumer behavior to tariffs and supply chain stress, what’s been the biggest challenge for your brand recently?
The constant changes and uncertainty around tariffs have definitely been the biggest headache

BRAND FOCUS

What is your brand’s core mission or philosophy, and how does it influence snowboard design and development?
Authenticity and independence. Authenticity because Nitro truly makes boards from riders for riders. With an inclusive and – after all these years – curious mentality, we explore board shapes, constructions and visuals to provide the best experience for any rider, in any terrain, and with any budget. Being a privately owned company allows us to do the fun stuff, not always having to look at the sales potential or profitability of a new board idea – to the benefit of riders and the sport.

How has your brand’s role in the snowboard market evolved in recent years?
While some 20 years or so ago, Nitro was one brand among many others, we’re now being looked at differently: as one of the few truly authentic and independent brands, and as a market leader that stands for snowboarding and its values.

Who is your target rider for the 26/27 season, and how has this profile changed compared to the past?
As we embrace all of snowboarding, we don’t single out a specific ‘target rider’. We have been on this path for a while now and it feels great but of course it is different and more challenging from a brand building perspective than being just a ‘core’, ‘backcountry’ or ‘park’ brand.

Which product ranges or categories do you expect to drive the most growth in 26/27?
We expect the tried-and-true all-mountain board range to continue growing, particularly board models inspired by team riders and/or passionate riders, such as our Alternator board series featuring Griffin Siebert and Hailey Langland. We also believe that uniquely shaped snowboards will still be “dream boards” for the snowboard community and beyond, for example, our Nitro Quiver Series – which we are expanding to include team riders Bryan Fox and Christy Prior this season. In general, we believe that snowboards featuring team riders and individuals with a holistic approach, from ideation to promotion, are the ones that create excitement and drive growth in the segment.

SNOWBOARD SPECIFIC

What trends or developments in construction, shapes, and innovation are guiding your 26/27 snowboard range?
Our creed is diversity, so of course, we keep exploring new, old and refined shapes throughout our entire line: The new Quiver MasterCarve is a humble nod towards the early innovators in snowboarding of the late 80’s: Snowboarding pioneered deep sidecuts and carving when skiers were still skidding down the hill on ‘French Fries’ with an almost straight edge. The MasterCarve celebrates playful Vitelli Turns and the outright fun of laying down turns in the groomers. We also continue the ‘Guest Shaper Project’ with a new exiting board model: We have asked our OG Team Riders Fabien Rohrer, Max Plötzeneder, Seth Neary, Lukas Goller, Jonas Hagström and Tom ‘Beckna’ Eberharter to dream up their ideal shape. And the result is s stunning mix of 90’s feel with 2020’ high end performance in three sizes and with a very personal graphic collab by Lukas and Seth. But also, our signature Team board has received an update with a bit of extra width for more useability in all snow conditions, making it a true Mid-Wide board. On the construction front, we’re introducing our new slim tip, a hybrid between classic ABS-filled tip and tail constructions and our Profile Tip where glass meets glass. The result is a highly refined look with improved durability.

What new materials or material innovations are you using — inserts, edges, cores, sidewalls, resin, glues, base material, top sheet, wax, or others?
Nitro’s Speed Formula II base has been upgraded to a new sintered running base made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Not just faster, but also more transparent to make the boards graphic brighter and poppier.

How are you incorporating sustainability and ethical production into your boards (materials, processes, lifecycle, packaging)?
In an effort to further reduce the CO2 footprint of our products, our Snowboards are made with 100% solar power coming straight from the factories own solar power plant. Additionally, the use of water-based inks, recycled materials in our tops, bases and edges as well as the use of bio-based resins increases the sustainability of our products.

What design directions are you taking — graphics, patterns, collabs, or signature editions?
Our graphics are as diverse as our brand. With three in-hose artists and an array of collabs, we take every rider and their taste serious: Clean with the Team Series and their derivates, playful with riders colabs such as the Alternator (with a special graphics easter egg – watch for it!) or Alternator x Hailey Langland. Markus Kleveland brings his very own ideas and storis to the table on his signature model while Lucas Baume’s style and graphics ideas for the Santoku speak for themselves. External projects such as the Phase x Motörhead (with matching bindings and boots) and the Mercy x Ali Bruce artist collab round off Nitro’s claim to diversity. And of course, not to forget: The already-iconic Cheap Thrills x Love collab: Seppi Scholler at his best!

Are you focusing on particular rider groups (freeride, freestyle, all-mountain, women’s-specific, youth, beginner) for 26/27?
Our biggest push this season was made for women’s boards: Bringing Christy Prior into the Quiver design crew gives this ever-changing capsule a whole new twist: From additional sizes of existing Quiver regulars like the Banker to an all-new women’s exclusive powder board shape – the IKA – there’s tons of fun stuff to discover here. But also new additions like the Altura, the Fate Prop and the Zaza are catering to female riders of different styles and budgets to underline Nitro’s claim of ‘Ultimate Diversity’.

Key Products:

IKA:

IKA

OG:

OG-Team-Guest-Shaper-Project

Phase X Motörhead:

Phase-X-Motorhead