Rome Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snowboards F/W 2026/27 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Rome
Interviewee: Ben Morse, Brand Director

How would you describe the 2024/25 snowboard season in terms of market performance and consumer demand?
The 2024/25 season had its fair share of challenges, but with a better snow year, we also saw great success in working closely with our retail partners, reps and distributors to introduce new brand visuals and connect with consumers.

What major trends are shaping the snowboard market (pricing, consumer preferences, rider demographics, retail shifts)?
Certainly pricing has changed from a global perspective with more variation between markets than ever before. Beyond that, we’ve seen an appetite for new technologies that span beyond specific rider demographics. Our freestyle backbone

From changing consumer behavior to tariffs and supply chain stress, what’s been the biggest challenge for your brand recently?
While tariffs and supply chains have faced their fair share of headaches, our biggest challenge, albeit a fun challenge, has been in the development and introduction of a completely reshaped board line. While the goal was to maintain the DNA and technology of our snowboard line, we worked closely with Michael Chilton and Antoine Postaire to introduce almost all new shapes, with sidecut being a main focal point. Creating these succinct stories has been a fun challenge that has gone back.

BRAND FOCUS

What is your brand’s core mission or philosophy, and how does it influence snowboard design and development?
Our core mission is rooted in the undying passion for snowboarding. With our office collectively being on snow almost every day, our All Ways Down ethos is met with a youth-driven freestyle focus and allows for real time product testing and feedback.

How has your brand’s role in the snowboard market evolved in recent years?
Rome has had many chapters in its history, and it feel like the current state is the summation of its greatest hits. Whether we’re creating team-driven video projects, introducing new binding technology or crafting innovative board shapes and technology, we’ve shaped our focus to be the voice of youth-driven freestyle which influences these projects and products from development to the consumer.

Who is your target rider for the 26/27 season, and how has this profile changed compared to the past?
While our line truly has something for everyone, our target profile is freestyle-oriented riders who want responsive product.

Which product ranges or categories do you expect to drive the most growth in 26/27?
We continue to invest in our signature collection, driven by Ståle Sandbech and Rene Rinnekangas. Between the Stale Fish, Stale Crewzer, all-new Rene Pro and the new Rene, we truly have something for everyone who wants to ride like these certified shred freaks. There is also an excitement to the new Viper Family, consisting of the unisex Viper Pro, Men’s Viper and Women’s Viper. The Directional Twin family is the perfect blend of some of our key tech stories with Directional Diamond 3D in the nose for float and turn initiation, Directional Double Kick in the tail for torsional response, and carbon HotRod package.

SNOWBOARD SPECIFIC

What trends or developments in construction, shapes, and innovation are guiding your 26/27 snowboard range?
The demand for a ‘modern retro shape,’ as we call it, has helped influence our board collection. We are focused on having a unified line that is distinguishably Rome.

What new materials or material innovations are you using — inserts, edges, cores, sidewalls, resin, glues, base material, top sheet, wax, or others?
While we have not introduced new materials into our line, we continue to invest in our HotRods for added response and Flax construction for impact absorption and torsional performance.

What design directions are you taking — graphics, patterns, collabs, or signature editions?
We have refined our graphic offering to have a more cohesive feel. Cross category merchandising served as the baseline through the design and color process. This allowed us to segment our product line to maintain the attitude where needed and introduce new direction when necessary.

Are you focusing on particular rider groups (freeride, freestyle, all-mountain, women’s-specific, youth, beginner) for 26/27?
Our youth-driven freestyle approach will always be our DNA. We believe we have something for everyone while still honoring that freestyle ethos.

Key Products:

Womens Viper:

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Viper Pro:

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Rene Pro:

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