Mas Snowboards 2024/25 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboards FW24/25 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Mas snowboards
Interviewee: Mas Marketing

OVERALL

How would you describe the current state of the snowboard market? What big developments, changes, challenges, and/or opportunities are you seeing and how is your brand navigating them?

– Our strongest part is, we have the flexibility to adapt to the needs of our partners. 100 % rider-owned and operated with a close connection to the end customer. Additionally, the nearest ski resort to our factory is 1 hour away. In this way, we have a very high chance of simultaneously testing and analyzing each snowboard we produce. This helps us quickly understand the true product and raise our quality standards. Snowboard production needs new technologies and improvements more than ever due to climate change. This challenges us to evolve to our best.

Mas Karamel

Following overall price increase, any positive developments with regards to manufacturing, sourcing, or logistics and the changes you’ve made? Are there any examples you can share of how your business pivoted effectively? What developments are you seeing with regards to product pricing?

– As MAS Snowboard, we grow day by day rapidly, we are aggressive to enter, new markets and we maintain quality in the production and logistics network with our “right price, right customer” policy against rapidly rising prices. We can show that we stand by our customers by providing advantages such as pre-orders, pre-payment, and pre-season discounts. In this way, a win-win situation is created for both parties.

Is e-commerce sales still strong since most brands have been put a lot of effort in physical retail?

– E- commerce is good way to show board to customers. However physical retail is the primary way to reach customers. Retail stores do the hard work. Stores explain the characteristics of the boards and advise the right board for the rider. MAS Snowboard’s main purpose is to produce a board to reflect the riders own style. So physical retails are crucial to reach this idea.

After last winter and the lack of snow in Europe, what’s your overall sales and production/inventory strategy for 24/25?

– Last winter was a bit difficult for the whole market. The snow level was also low in Turkey and we also experienced a big earthquake. We have a large network and we believe that we will overcome this with “the right price to the right customer” policy. For Europe, we achieve our goals on the edge so as MAS Snowboard we cannot complain much. On the other hand, North America was beyond our expectations. Hopefully, with the early snowfalls, this year will be better than the previous one.

Star destroyer

SNOWBOARD SPECIFIC

What trends or developments are you seeing with regards to board construction, shapes, and general innovation? How is this shaping your 24/25 range?

Mas L.O.T.E.

– Split boards are now on our focus. We have changed the structure of the board and it is much more playful now. We are increasing the size range for 24/25 so it will reach to more people.

Anything new concerning sustainability and related product or construction you would like to highlight?

– We take care to use recycled materials. We believe this is an important thing from a sustainability perspective. Everything is handmade in our workshop. And we try to use it in something different, without throwing away anything left.

– Our main focus for sustainability is resin. Resin is one of the most harmful material them all. We are using bio-resin which has been developt by Entropy Resins. This “Super-SAP” allows us the decent our environmental effect vastly.

Are you using any new materials in your hardware for 24/25? If so, what and why? We’re interested in anything new in inserts / edges / cores / sidewalls / glue / resin/ wood types / base material / top sheet / etc. here.

– Our R&D department works non-stop. For 24-25 season we have tested several materials to lower the weight of the boards. While improving, we need to sustain the harmony of the board as well so these changes should be done with a great care and tests. We believe that we found the true materials for our products for now. Everything is perfect for boards. Nevertheless next year it might be a surprise to show up we will announce after the last tests.

Any new design or pattern approaches in your 24/25 gear? Any collabs on the line?

– Yeah, our designs are changing every year. We are trying our best to design with a story. Each board has their own story with the graphic on it. For next season we have a collaboration with Elet Hall. He is mainly focused on backcountry. New mockups has been announced. For the other collabs of 24-25 season because we are the producer as well it is not appropriate to tell. We are open to any collabs! Both for production and as a MAS Snowboard.

Are you planning to focus on a special product range or type of customers? What’s your newest range?

– Our newest challenge is Splitboarding. In the last couple of years, the demand for splitboarding has been increasing. Due to the riders want to spend more time in the snow and do not want to wait on the chairlift line. So they changed their direction to the backcountry as we are.

What is your top product marketing story for next season?

We are working on a team movie for next year. It will be a big production. We hope that this movie will be appreciated by many snowboarders. It will also be a good opportunity to explain our selves.