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What Will Tariffs Do To The Snowboard Industry?

7K views 85 replies 31 participants last post by  TooNice  
#1 · (Edited)
Do you think it's completely fucked or not?

Products imported to the United States from China will now be subject to a cumulative tariff rate of 54%. This includes a newly announced 34% tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2025, which is added to the pre-existing 20% tariff introduced earlier this year.

Obviously China, isn't the only country snowboard co, get stuff made but most popular and easiest to reference.


A close friend of mine works for a large online retailer. They're already in deep trouble, they're sitting on a few years of past inventory and creditors are banging on the door to get repaid. This company is supposedly trying to find a buyer to save them.

I saw a post on reddit that K2 just let go of their entire team, not sure if there is any truth to that.

I watched a vid last night saying the bike industry is pretty much decimated.

What's in store the industry? I really hope they can pull through!!
 
#3 ·
Your guess is as good as mine… It's gonna be chaos--which is most likely the point--but how it will stabilize? We have no idea. We're gonna have country accepting bribes to lower tariffs and become "shipping" country, meaning your canadian made board could go through Surinam to avoid tariffs. We could have countries saying, well "f" the american market but some jumping back to the void… it's going to be crazy and it's gonna last because those tariff are so volatile anyways that nobody is gonna plan around them.

My raw guess is that "outside of the US" will become a safer option for most manufacturer. The MTB vid you linked seems pretty on point tbh :oops:
 
#5 ·
Inside the US, I think everything will depend on the specific company and how desperate they are for cash. For example, some may not do deep sales in order to retain some stock for next season. Others may do the reverse because they need pay big bills. I don't think it will be uniform.

The major question is what will happen wrt resorts? Some are very dependent on rich foreign visitors using the resort parts of the properties.
 
#6 ·
Unpredictable. The USA is about 30% of the market, and you can't just move the 'assembly' there, as all the 'parts' (edges, ptex, inserts, core, glass, bindings) would be subject to tariffs. If you move the actual manufacturing, you've still got tariffs on the raw materials.

The US had tariffs on Chinese aluminum, so what happened was they bought Canadian aluminum... and then Canadians started supplanting Chinese Al for themselves. Mexico was a conduit for a bunch of stuff. These workarounds are going to happen... and tariffs will be adjusted accordingly.

But then how does the US sell their products elsewhere? They'd have to seriously devalue their dollar... oh wait...
 
#8 ·
Apparently the global snowboard equipment market size is only 0.3 billion. I can't really see much of that moving to the US... Americans are just going to pay for these 'luxury' items.

Mervin probably sources many components from overseas, like everyone, and I wouldn't be surprised if the cores were Canadian Aspen.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Yes but
Mervin boards going cost the same? Most likely.
However, a lot of the countries Mervin exports to have hit us with retaliatory tariffs..

Also, nearly everything- outerware, goots, gloves, etc, etc, is made china- which is getting a slapped with a 54% tax upon entry into the US!

Products imported to the United States from China will now be subject to a cumulative tariff rate of 54%. This includes a newly announced 34% tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2025, which is added to the pre-existing 20% tariff introduced earlier this year
 
#11 ·
I mean they could make this work, e.g. by giving subsidies to compensate tariffs, that still makes an incentive to produce locally and would decrease over the years. That would be a plan. I don't think they have one.

It's hard to relocate though (which is a problem BTW). Russia has been trying super hard, but their factories are on European and Japanese automation, assembly lines in Poland and Czech etc...

If it's" just 30% more expensive", I think most could deal with it and make gear last. It coutume be cascading much more though... Or someone is gonna find a way to circumvent those and wounding been much ado for nothing. Who knows 🤷‍♂️
 
#15 ·
Stuff like jackets have been produced for 30 and sold for 600, at least, so meh, someone would be making 15 less, but at the same time have an excuse to make 300 more. Quality will go down for sure, because that costs more. This stuff will shift the world economy, at the same time it is interesting to see if it ends up being good or bad for US. Feel like war and space industry is making a big comeback, and two old men know very well what two countries made a "killing" in that area awhile back. For that to happen, you need to produce wars. Sorry, that got a bit deep, but doubt it's far off.
 
#16 ·
I'm down 89k in my crypto portfolio and couldn't care less. People are so fickle and the market is going to bounce right back. Snowboard forums should not be the place to talk politics tarrifs effects or not. Although I support everything trump is doing and voted for it. I can't think of a single snowboard made in China and wouldn't buy one manufactured there anyway. Clothes i can always find on clearance.
 
#17 ·
Snowboard forums should not be the place to talk politics tarrifs effects or not. Although I support everything trump is doing and voted for it. I can't think of a single snowboard made in China and wouldn't buy one manufactured there anyway.
You're kind of new here, so I'll try to politely explain the various ways you're being rude.

Politics have been discussed on this board for years. Walking into the community and blasting it for well-established norms is rude - especially when the discussion is directly relevant to snowboarding (pricing, travel, etc). The political thread titles are pretty clear, so just stay out of them if you want a no-politics zone.

A huge number of boards are made in China, including many well known brands. This is no secret and loudly claiming otherwise is just confidently wrong.

Finally, this board is based out of Canada. Would you walk into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and loudly claim Trump was right to tariff Canada?
 
#18 ·
Talking about tariffs and the impact on Snowboarding is not a political idealogy, it is reality. Just ignore the thread if it is not your taste. Pretty much what I do.

All that said, it is going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Higher prices are fairly inevitable at this point. How much? I have no idea. Honestly, I don't know why all the other countries in the world just don't stop trading with us. Given that is what the current POTUS wants. Of course with 4% unemployment currently (probably going to jump though), there are not enough people to provide the manufacturing is supposedly going to return. Child labor could help fill the gap some I suppose. Right now I am wondering how much the price of the Switch2 is going to get jacked by this. That is the first thing on my list that will be tariff effected.
 
#33 ·
I’m panic buying all the snowboards and boots I can find before prices go even higher

I do that anyways… but more so now!

But yeah, to think that Mervin/Never Summer doesn’t source some of their materials from overseas… (inserts, edges, bases, carbon/basalt fibers etc)… doesn’t really understand how the global supply chain function.

Not to mention, I can almost guarantee those snowboard molds aren’t made in the US. No one makes cheap(ish), small quantity, high quality molds like China can.

Machinery, tools, bits… likely all imports. even most “American made” tools are “American assembled” with parts from overseas.

Mervin already charges more for less (tech/materials), so tariff will defo make them raise prices higher.
 
#35 ·
My sentiment is that a lot of the brands are non American, to be honest, but I haven't really done my homework. Regardless of that, I think a lot of them have regional warehouses and when the product is ultimately manufactured in "China / Vietnam / whatever", it's probably shipped directly to an individual continent warehouse, and not imported into the USA as such?
 
#36 ·
with the tariff going from 54%, to 104%... getting backup boards now vs later seems like the move.

ski monster in boston has had a board on sale for quite a while that ive been keeping an eye on. just went to their site, and everything is back up to full MSRP. can't help but think this is in anticipation of capitalizing off riders trying to stock up now, in order to avoid the incoming shitstorm of the 25/26 season of tariffs.