Gnu Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: GNU
Interviewee: Marketing Team

OVERALL MARKET

How would you describe the 2024/25 snowboard season in terms of market performance and consumer demand?
We had a fun year working with the Gnus on new treats…the market felt like it was still recovering from post Covid extended hangover and challenged snow years.

What major trends are shaping the snowboard market (pricing, consumer preferences, rider demographics, retail shifts)?
Trends move so fast and are so empty in the digital world they don’t exist for long enough to matter any more…we ride everything and enjoying advanced geometries every way imaginable.

From changing consumer behavior to tariffs and supply chain stress, what’s been the biggest challenge for your brand recently?
We manufacture here in the USA and have for 4O years we love building boards so that stays locked in as awesome. The ever changing tariffs have been interesting and a challenge on both the supply chain side and shipping side forcing day to day short term planning and logistical dancing.

BRAND FOCUS

What is your brand’s core mission or philosophy, and how does it influence snowboard design and development?
We are a hands on board building company…we love to build our own damn boards in a constant quest for more performance and fun. We work with riders like Cannon Cummins, Jayden Chomlack Forest Bailey, Jamie Anderson, Temple Cummins , Maxx Worbington and Barrett Christy on their models to give them exactly what they want to ride. Our inhouse design team led by Matteo Soltane works on our house or non pro models like the new S-Corp others.

How has your brand’s role in the snowboard market evolved in recent years?
We haven’t changed in 40 plus years….we build boards we want to ride for ourselves and our riders in our own factory. We intend to dominate!

Who is your target rider for the 26/27 season, and how has this profile changed compared to the past?
Gnu was started when Mike Olson and I were young, a bit more innocent and thrilled with every moment, carve or jump on a snowboard. Today we are even more snow surf skate frothy but a Matteo, Cannon, Forest, Max and crew are living and loving that snow shred life… its their time to define what good snowboarding looks like.

Which product ranges or categories do you expect to drive the most growth in 26/27?
Love it all, jib, resort daily driver, park, freeride, side-country, backcountry. We have some new easy riding lower point womens models like the Pepper, Miira and Setsuna that will be fun to throw in the mix. Temple and Cannon’s Banked Country and Cannon and Jayden’s Wagyu have been sliding, gliding and flying well. Barrett Cummins worked with the team to dial in her Barrett model and rest of the magical womens Gnu line.

SNOWBOARD SPECIFIC

What trends or developments in construction, shapes, and innovation are guiding your 26/27 snowboard range?
We loaded the new Turbo Gremlin with carbon fiber and narrowed it into an agile high powered resort atv high performance powder sniffing hot rod.

What new materials or material innovations are you using — inserts, edges, cores, sidewalls, resin, glues, base material, top sheet, wax, or others?
Every year our hands on product design team and engineers refine our process and materials to optimize the ride and build efficiency. Design and ride unite into a fiberglass and resin smoked salmon quesadilla.

How are you incorporating sustainability and ethical production into your boards (materials, processes, lifecycle, packaging)?
Mervin MFG is North Americas longest running snowboard factory and from the beginning our entire process was built on principals of sustainability and a healthy work environment. We are solvent free and zero hazardous waste. We use fast growing renewable wood core materials, plant based bio resins, food grade UHMW sidewalls. Our eco sublimation process is water based and creates vivid colors with non of the traditionally graphic printing fumes. We work here with our friends every day and control every material and variable in our process…we do our best to makeit a special place.

What design directions are you taking — graphics, patterns, collabs, or signature editions?
Shawn Bishop our head designer lives a crafty, builder, DIY skate influenced Gnu lifestyle and works with Barrett and Matteo and our team and their favorite artists to create easy on the eyes and in your face good times. Hannah Eddie, Sara King, Jay Howell of Bobs Burgers returns as a favorite on the Money series. Jayden Chamlock and brother Caleb worked on the Wagyu and S-scorp models. Shawn worked with his skate hero Anti-Hero graphic designer Sam Davidson on the Facts model. Temp and Cannon did their Banked Country model themselves with a little help from brother Bish. We worked with Jesse from Air Blaster on a special SNARF machine co-lab but it was so sick wereleased it this fall.

Are you focusing on particular rider groups (freeride, freestyle, all-mountain, women’s-specific, youth, beginner) for 26/27?
Gnu covers the full range of snowboarding with our primary focus being resort based every day good times…what ever the day offers and your heart desires we build boards that try and maximize performance all over the hill…pow, ice and in bounds out of bounds and everything in between.

Wagyu:

2627-WAGYU

Turbo Gremlin:

2627-TURBO-GREMLIN

Pepper:

2627-Pepper