Burlington, VT (March 8, 2022) – Burton is honored to share its second collaboration with renowned artist, designer and visionary, Virgil Abloh. Created with Abloh over the past two years, the Burton c/o Virgil Abloh™ collection includes 10 exclusive boards that will be digitally auctioned on March 15th by the Virgil Abloh™ “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund. Then on March 22nd, a limited-edition collection of snowboards, boots and bindings designed with Abloh will be available for purchase on Burton.com. To celebrate Abloh’s life and legacy, Burton will donate $300,000 over three years to causes that increase BIPOC representation in snowboarding.
Virgil Abloh grew up snowboarding, noting the influence the sport held on his own perspective throughout his 20+ year career and projects across fashion, art, design, music, and philanthropy. In 2017, he visited Burton headquarters in Vermont to get inspiration for a fashion-forward women’s outerwear collaboration with Burton and his brand Off-White™. In late 2020, Burton connected with Abloh again about future projects.
“It was very important to Virgil that his next collaboration with Burton stand for something, that it share a larger message, so he created a manifesto to guide the collection,” said Adrian Josef Margelist, Chief Creative Officer at Burton. “Every person who worked on this project, from the snowboard designers and the project managers to the riders at the photo shoot took Virgil’s words to heart. They became our manifesto, our mantra, our motivation. Virgil’s words say it best:”
PRODUCT THAT BY ITS EXISTENCE NOT ONLY STANDS AS EVIDENCE FOR THE EVOLUTION OF A SUBCULTURE AND SPORT BUT BECOMES AN ARTIFACT WHICH PROVES THAT DIVERSITY WITHIN SNOWBOARDING IS NOT ONLY AN IDEA, IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING, CARE OF BURTON and VIRGIL ABLOH™ – an excerpt from the Virgil Abloh Burton Manifesto.
Abloh’s manifesto is the graphic centerpiece of the 10 exclusive snowboards that will be digitally auctioned by the Virgil Abloh™ “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, which aims to ‘foster equity and inclusion within the fashion industry by providing scholarships to students of academic promise of Black, African American, or African descent.’ The manifesto also resonates with Burton’s brand values and commitment to driving justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion for the long-term health of our company, sport, and community.
To understand the importance of representation in snowboarding and Virgil’s manifesto, Burton team riders Brolin Mawejje and Zeb Powell shared their perspectives.
Brolin said, “The Manifesto says it well. It’s not just an idea; it is beyond the conversation. It is happening. We are watching it happen and will continue to watch the sport of snowboarding grow.”
Burton team rider Zeb Powell added, “I try to leave my impact on snowboarders just like Virgil left an impact on me. Keeping up with me. Taking the time to talk, it meant so, so, much.”
In closing, Brolin said, “Be like Virgil. Be the gatekeepers who can open up those gates wider so that more kids can flood in and be a part of the culture.”
Starting at 12:00 p.m. ET on March 15, 2022, visit https://pmfbrtn.givesmart.com to join the Virgil Abloh™ “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund’s digital auction of 10 exclusive Burton c/o Virgil Abloh™ ‘Manifesto’ snowboards. Starting bids begin at $1977.00 – a nod to the year Burton was founded. The auction is visible globally, but a US-based credit card and telephone number are required to participate.
About Virgil Abloh
Born in Rockford, Illinois, Virgil Abloh was an artist, architect, engineer, creative director, artistic director, industrial designer, fashion designer, musician, DJ and philanthropist. After earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he completed a Master’s degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago. At IIT, while studying a design curriculum devised by Mies van der Rohe, Abloh began to craft the principles of his art practice. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago presented a major traveling survey of Abloh’s work in summer 2019—one of the highest attended exhibitions in the museum’s history. Abloh was the Chief Creative Director and founder of Off-White™ and Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton.
About Burton
In 1977, Jake Burton Carpenter founded Burton Snowboards out of his Vermont barn and dedicated the rest of his life to snowboarding. Since its founding, Burton has played a pivotal role in growing snowboarding from a backyard hobby to a world-class sport by creating groundbreaking products, supporting a team of top snowboarders and pushing resorts to allow snowboarding. Today, Burton designs and manufactures industry-leading products for snowboarding and the outdoors. As a sustainability leader within the outdoor and winter sports industries, Burton is the world’s first snowboard company to become a certified B Corporation®. Privately held and owned by Donna Carpenter, Burton’s headquarters are in Burlington, Vermont with offices in Austria, Japan, Australia, Canada and China. For more information on Burton, head to www.burton.com and follow our line at facebook.com/burtonsnowboards, twitter.com/burtonsnowboard and @burton on Instagram.
Media Contact: Taren Dolbashian – [email protected]
very good