Many companies have latched onto sustainability as an aspiration. Far fewer have actually made it a core part of their operating model and how they create value for customers. Gilson Snow, a manufacturer of snowboards, skis, and other gear, has embedded sustainability into its strategy and operations since its founding in 2013. In the ensuing decade, its rapid growth has been fueled by care for the environment and broader community. Thanks to this unshakable commitment to sustainable sporting goods, Gilson has revolutionized how the industry views manufacturing, supply chains, and fulfillment.
CEO Nick Gilson sat down with Scott Leff to discuss Gilson Snow’s inspiration and rapid ascent as well as its exciting plans to accelerate its trajectory.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Scott: Why did you decide to focus on snowboards, and how did the company evolve?
Nick: My original inspiration goes back to when I was a teenager building sailboats and surfboards in my dad’s basement workshop in Providence, Rhode Island. I asked myself, “When H2O liquid is so similar to H2O solid and physical principles, why is absolutely no one paying attention to three dimensions and fluid dynamics in light, solid snow?” I built my first curved snowboard prototype when I was a 14-year-old kid.
I became a middle-school science teacher in Nashville as part of Teach for America, and suddenly the idea for a curved snowboard came off the back burner. When I joined the school, the science program was at 18 percent proficiency. We were just years and years behind, with students who had been passed along by arguably a failing education system.
In an act of solidarity, I brought in my snowboard prototype and told the students, “This is what I was working on when I was your age, and I’m going to return to my curiosity project from middle school while you turn to yours.” And we got completely and totally carried away. At the end of that two-year period, we ended up launching the company out of the classroom with our students more or less by accident.
Our first sale was technically in September 2013. We got a 1976 Airstream trailer, loaded up the 60 snowboards we had built, and traveled across America to let people try out our product for free.
Scott: What part does sustainability play in your business model? Was that a conscious choice from the start?
Nick: My cofounder, Austin Royer, studied environmental science, and I studied at Johns Hopkins in earth and planetary sciences.
As I entered the world of business, I started looking at the industry landscape and asking our associates questions like, “Why are trees being harvested in Europe, shipped as logs to Asia, pressed into finished goods, and then shipped back to Europe for sale?” That just doesn’t make sense. The more we understood the landscape of the industry, the more we found opportunities where we could make a more sustainable decision—not for marketing or storytelling purposes but for operational purposes that could also be a business advantage.
We’ve been really successful in reducing our footprint while increasing the customer experience. We have consistently found opportunities to innovate and generate better business outcomes and customer experiences.
Scott: You also used sustainability as a lens through which to reimagine the supply chain.
Nick: When you source wood in Europe and ship it on a tanker all the way to Asia before you put them back on a tanker to ship them all the way back to the US and Europe, you’re undoing all of the good work that the trees have already naturally done in capturing carbon.
We built a sustainable supply chain for our wood, and it continues to be sustainable to this day. We’re close to the Allegheny National Forest. Ninety-nine percent of the lumber we use is Pennsylvania poplar, which grows incredibly fast and straight. We sustainably harvest trees and have wood delivered straight to our doorstep from miles away as opposed to the other side of the world.
Scott: Can you talk a little bit about the evolution of your approach to fulfillment?
Nick: Our model threads the needle by being differentiated from an operational sense and telling a great ESG story with significant environmental benefits.
We’ve essentially been able to reverse the order of operations. Instead of building all this stuff, putting it into containers, distributing it to retailers, and then measuring success by how much we sell, we flip the model. We sell products that don’t exist yet. Often only one unit is in inventory when we launch.
A great example of this involves Trippy Draws, an amazing up-and-coming female artist. She built a big following through her artwork—around 9 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. She reached out because she was interested in designing a snowboard with our team, and she came out to our facility and shared the building process with her community. When we launched the collaboration, sales went just absolutely nuts. She’s gone on to sell millions of dollars in Trippy Draws snowboards all over the world. And every time one of those orders comes in, it triggers the production queue to build that product and put it on someone’s doorstep, typically just a couple of days later. Every single product that we build has a home, and there’s absolutely no overstock waste.
In this one shift, customers are getting a better product that’s built for them with artwork that represents them and the right size and model for their riding style. The artist behind it is paid fairly, so it’s supporting her work as an artist. And for us, we’re now getting to build for human beings instead of warehouse shelves, which makes the whole thing so much more fun.
We sustainably harvest trees and have wood delivered straight to our doorstep from miles away as opposed to the other side of the world.
Scott: As you’ve grown, I’d imagine competitors have attempted to mirror your approach.
Nick: We don’t allow ourselves to think like that because who came up with an idea doesn’t really matter for who is going to win the next battle. First-mover advantage is incredibly short-lived in our industry. If we were to get on our soapbox and hit competitors with lawsuits, we’re going to lose focus. Snowboarders aren’t going to care about our fight anyway. So we’re staying completely focused on our customer instead of our competitor, and we are figuring out how to be relevant tomorrow.
What we’re working on right now is going to make our competitors’ heads spin without having to set foot in a courtroom. And there’s an amazing ESG story coming down the pipeline for how we’re going to then roll out some of these capabilities to others in the industry to reduce their footprint and overstock waste.
Scott: Where does sustainability fall among your customer base’s priorities?
Nick: Surveys find 90 percent of people say sustainability factors into their purchase decision. In my experience, it’s probably closer to the inverse of that: 90 percent of people say they consider sustainability, and 10 percent actually do. We’re not going to achieve our goals through altruistic people making good choices—although I think people should continue to make good choices.
Instead, we need to use technology to create solutions that are fundamentally better so customers, no matter what’s driving their decision, end up making the sustainable choice. That’s how we actually get to a better place.
You’re not going to buy a snowboard because it’s more sustainable than another one. You’re going to buy it because it’s cooler, it’s got artwork you like more, it rides better on the mountain, and it delivers a better customer experience in five to ten different aspects—and, by the way, it’s more sustainably made.
You cannot be the best by being just American-made or sustainable. You need to be the best, period. You can do that and still prioritize sustainability.
Scott: How important is sustainability in your marketing and communications to your customer base?
Nick: We lead by example. Before we make any decision as a company, we ask ourselves, “If everybody in the world were looking down into this room right now, would we make the same choice?” It’s important that the answer is always yes. We’re doing the right things for the right reasons because of the intrinsic motivation that we have as a team.
But we need to be careful in how we talk about sustainability. We’re in a grassroots space, and sometimes people want us to just make sweet snowboards. We absolutely do have an opinion, and when given the opportunity to discuss sustainability, when someone is receptive to the conversation, we jump at it. We bring people through our shop, we talk about all of the decisions we’re making and why, and we use our facility and all of the crazy science happening there as a platform to have that dialogue. If someone is not receptive to that line of thinking, it is my personal belief that by trying to advance it against their will, you end up doing more harm than good.
Surveys find 90 percent of people say sustainability factors into their purchase decision. In my experience, it’s probably closer to the inverse of that: 90 percent of people say they consider sustainability, and 10 percent actually do. We’re not going to achieve our goals through altruistic people making good choices—although I think people should continue to make good choices.
Scott: What are your aspirations for ten years from now?
Nick: When I look five to ten years out, the biggest drivers are continuing to advance product performance, bringing more bio-based materials into our products while maintaining or enhancing quality, and bringing people together.
Our resins are now 30 percent bio-based. We’ve achieved a 40 percent reduction in our ink usage in the new facility while increasing the vibrancy of artwork. We’re currently prototyping algae-based sidewall material and other composites. We are moving toward having our building and all our machines powered by solar. For our presses, we’ve designed a new system to recapture energy. So the 50th board of the week is borrowing energy from the first 49. We understand that by increasing the product life of our equipment, we increase the sustainability attributes as well.
We’ve just launched a project called the Off-Peak Project. The idea is helping old snowboards find new adventures. The most sustainable snowboard is the one that’s in the back of someone’s closet not being used. We estimate that there are millions and millions of snowboards and skis in people’s closets and basements that they no longer use. They’re too nice to throw away; charities don’t know the value, so they’re hard to give away. We’re on a mission with some of our partners to get those boards and skis out of closets and get them into folks’ hands to create access for a broader and more diverse set of snow sports participants.
Sometimes I worry we’re basically building luxury toys for predominantly wealthy white adults. Then I’ll get a letter from someone who is recovering from opioids, and snowboarding and getting involved in the community has been an important piece of their recovery story. Or someone who is deaf, and going on getaway trips and being part of the squad with Gilson have put hope back into their life. I’m like, “God, this is powerful stuff.”
We’re building snowboards and skis, but what we’re really working on is a lot bigger than that. We’re creating a sense of community and getting people outside to reconnect with nature and each other. If we can continue to scale that sustainably over the next five to ten years, I think we’re going to have a pretty meaningful impact.
We’re creating a sense of community and getting people outside to reconnect with nature and each other.
Behind the scenes
This interview is part of LEFF’s Into the Weeds interview series—a series that amplifies individuals whose work contributes to the achievement of the SDGs at every level. We’ll bring you insights from renowned experts and the leaders of global organizations and innovative local businesses. Scott Leff (he/him) is the president and CEO of LEFF Communications, for which Katie Parry (she/her) is the director of LEFF Sustainability Group.
Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of LEFF or have its endorsement.
