Press images from White’s recent launch with Backcountry. Photo: Whitespace
The life of a snowboard pro generally has a certain arc to it. A young phenom rises. People start talking about them. More cameras point in their direction. The attention continues to rise – and then fades in favor of the next big thing.
Then you have Shaun White. He rose to prominence as a kid in the late nineties and has never really left the spotlight. For nearly two decades he was a star among stars, a mainstream snowboarding symbol, landing on the cover of Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and too many others to list. Then earlier this year he wore a competition jersey for the last time at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, emotionally saying farewell to a worldwide audience as he took his final bow one spot off the podium. No one would have second-guessed his graceful departure as being the end. But his relationship with snowboarding is evolving, it seems.
Yesterday marked the official launch of his brand Whitespace (he announced a soft launch in January of 2022) in partnership with Backcountry.com. Using the knowledge he gained over 20 years as a sponsored athlete, he’s developing his own take on what a snowboarder needs. Sure, it would be easy to just slap his name on a brand and collect a check. But that’s not his M.O. Shaun is developing, testing, and refining his snowboards to make sure that when they ship, the products with his name are held to the same high standard he held for himself all those years as he progressed the sport. In a press release, Backcountry says it will carry the Shaun White Pro, the Park Twin, and the Powder (as well as the accessory line). The Pro Youth Snowboard is also available on the site.
“I think one of the things I’ve carried with me (from competing), is that persistence,” Shaun told me. “Like I want everything to be better. We’ve already switched factories for the next season. And I’ve already been to Switzerland, trying out the new boards, trying different flexes. Like I love the boards we’re putting out this season – but I know they can be better, and I’m going to make them better every step that I can take.”
That type of dedication was in the DNA of White’s original snowboard sponsor, Burton — the late Jake Burton’s legacy. But growing up as Burton’s poster boy has probably done well to prime Mr. White in this next venture. Not to mention being mentored by none other than Tony Hawk – a man who elevated his own brand, skateboarding, and action sports in general throughout his storied career.
He told me that he’s using all that knowledge and more, and working to make the outerwear portion of his new business applicable in more places than just the slopes. “I always thought, how can we get more out of it,” he said. “When designing the line I thought about when I’m packing for a trip, I thought how can we get the most out of these outfits because my bags are always overweight. So we have a zipper jacket that isn’t like what you’d normally see on a mountain — it’s something you can wear to school, or the office. It’s all supposed to be worn in different scenarios but my roots are in snowboarding.”
Still, the outerwear collection is wide ranging, including jackets, pants, goggles, puffies, and even base layers, which you can see here.
It’ll be interesting to see if Whitespace can resonate with snowboarders, given White is aiming at cross-over appeal. As far as what else White’s been up to, it sounds like more riding in better conditions instead of just icy halfpipes and terrain parks. “A few years ago I fully committed to doing a powder trip with a powder board and it was a game changing experience,” he said. “Like floating above the snow instead of sinking in on my halfpipe board – it was just a night and day difference, the experience I had.” Amazing that he’s just finding that out recently – makes one wonder just how far he could go if he were to put the same drive he put in the halfpipe into the backcountry.
Speaking of backcountry, Backcountry.com is the only space for Whitespace’s full line at the moment, as it’s that online retailer’s product development that brought Whitespace out of the ether, entering into a multi-year agreement with White. So demoing the gear won’t be as simple as strolling up to your local shop, which seems problematic to me.
My press time with White was unfortunately cut short so I didn’t get to delve into some really important questions. Like, does the fact that the line is only available online and not in local shops make it less “core?” Maybe. But considering the failure rate of many snowboard brands over the years, any financial help is obviously welcome. Launching a product is not cheap, much less an entire line. The question will be how much influence White can maintain on the products he puts his name behind given the partnership. And perhaps most important, can he gain momentum with snowboarding’s “core,” a clientele that, no matter how you slice it, is still paramount in creating a successful brand in this industry.
