Boardsportsource Retailers Choice best board design Award Winners at Shops 1st Try
Each year retailers attending the Shops 1st Try event get the opportunity to vote for the board they believe has the best graphics out there. Each brand at the event present one board, with all the chosen boards on display at the entrance to the Indoor Demo area. In order to vote retailers must get a voting token from a brand and then put the token into the appropriate container in front of the boards. The announcement of the winners and the presentation of the Awards took place in the Indoor Demo area in front of a packed crowd on the monday evening.
This years winner was Never Summer’s Trooper with Nideckers Tape deck coming in second and Gentemstick’s Super Fish Outline Core and Slash’s Happy Place Kim the Butcher’s joint third. Source spoke to each of the brands to hear about what inspired their ward winning graphics
Winner The Never Summer Trooper
The 26/27 Never Summer Trooper graphic is rooted in Colorado’s high country, drawing inspiration from the dense Front Range pine forests and the rugged Never Summer Mountains. Rather than making the ram the main focus, they leaned into the beauty of the surrounding environment to create a look that feels natural but still powerful. Anchoring the tail is the hand-drawn ram illustration by local wildlife artist Peter Eades, symbolising strength, resilience, and the raw mountain spirit behind where this board was born.
Nidecker’s Tape Deck in second place
Inspired by the golden age of freestyle, the Tape Deck takes the best of 90s design – true twin, wide waist, steep kick and pairs it with modern technology. Spin easier, butter better, and jib the crap out of that picnic bench. With graphic’s Designed by Danny McCormick from Scotland, the Tape Deck is a celebration of freestyle creativity and a homage to the pioneers who changed the world with their artistic vision with each length featuring into a different masterpiece unified by one very familiar smile. The Mona Lisa design is based on the Leonardo da Vinci painting Housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The world’s most famous painting needs little introduction. Da Vinci’s mastery of ‘sfumato’ – subtle gradations of light and shadow – gives Lisa Gherardini’s face its lifelike quality. It’s said her enigmatic smile was triggered when she landed her first back 5.
Gentemstick’s Super Fish Outline Core joint third.
The Super Fish Outline Core is built for longboard-style cruising. Its characteristic aesthetic isn’t a graphic; it’s the exposed core, featuring strategically placed heat-treated bamboo and poplar for enhanced torsional strength and dampening. The elongated, wide nose ensures effortless float in all powder depths, while the supple, extended tail provides superior edge-hold and balance. Unlike typical powder shapes that struggle on hard snow, the Super Fish is engineered to perform exceptionally on both deep days and firm groomers.
Slash’s Happy Place Kim the Butcher’s graphic for joint third.
Originally from a small village in Luxembourg, Kim grew up surrounded by the family butcher shop, skateboarding, and snowboarding. Drawing became a constant, and dark, skull-filled motifs naturally found their way into his creative universe. Today, Kim works as a graphic designer while channeling his passion for illustration and snowboarding culture into projects that blur the line between art and lifestyle. Snowboarding has been central to his life since1991, when he first strapped in at Zauchensee, Austria. His Happy Place graphic for Slash reflects a darker, spiritual side – skulls, thistles, and cycles of life and death symbolise resilience, resistance, and self-made happiness.
