Snowboard Wear Carves Out a Place for Fashionistas

Snowboard Wear Carves Out a Place for Fashionistas
The powder may be melting on local mountains, but snowboarding's influence on what people wear continues long past the point when the chairlifts shut down.

Even hard-core brands like Sapient Snowboards and Arson/Orb have expanded streetwear lines, the former with a range of punk-edge Ts and hoodies, the latter with such stylish touches as gathers and ties on its screen-printed tanks and Ts for women.

Even hard-core brands like Sapient Snowboards and Arson/Orb have expanded streetwear lines, the former with a range of punk-edge Ts and hoodies, the latter with such stylish touches as gathers and ties on its screen-printed tanks and Ts for women.

"A lot of great companies come from here because they're inspired by what's around us," says Arson's Jordan Junck from his head office in Richmond, pointing out that having three local mountains, the ocean, and a world-class ski resort just an hour-and-a-half away make the Vancouver area a natural hotbed of 'boarding design.

"For us, we started out predominantly in outerwear and that was the foundation, but the brand sort of worked into a lifestyle brand as well-and that's the transition happening within the whole industry as well."