After over 20 years of making skis, Armada have sailed into the uncharted waters of the snowboard game, and they have a good heading. They have announced the release of a full snowboard brand, including a range of nine boards and a stacked team of riders.
1-18-13-1-4-1 is the position of ARMADA in the alphabet, if you were wondering.
Armada Snowboards
Stories
skiing or nada?
Armada is a snowboard brand now?
“Snowboarding doesn’t need just another brand. It needs another good one.”
A bold—verging on arrogant—statement to launch a brand with, and one that’s ruffling a few feathers on the other side of the wall.
The announcement has been met with understandable skepticism from the snowboard scene. Another ski brand attempting to profit by appropriating the snowboard culture that it has resisted for years—pumping out substandard products developed by people who don’t even snowboard. Why does snowboarding need another brand? What makes Armada think they can do it better than the establishment? Why would any self-respecting snowboarder choose to ride a ski brand?
If the shoe was on the other foot, the aristocratic guardians of core freeski culture would be raising their monocled eyebrows wondering what YES Snowboards can do for freeskiing, right?
It's weird seeing snowboarders in Armada hats, right? This edit is undeniably dope though.
Armada Snowboards Youtube
Maybe that whole antagonistic rivalry is outdated—confined to the fringes of the debate, only safeguarded by entrenched extremists. Has the world moved on towards a more accepting society where you can ride what you like, how you like? Hell, we are running this whole piece on a snowboard release.
Wherever you stand on the political divide, there’s no denying Armada are making the right moves. Unlike Line ski’s snowboard add-on, Armada Snowboards has been developed from the ground up by some of snowboarding’s most respected characters. With the likes of Tom Monterosso, Tanner McCarty, Jake Durham and Josh Manoles at the helm of the new ship, Armada have assured themselves credibility. Add in Paul Maravetz, co-founder of Rome snowboards and board designer of the Burton Custom, to develop the hard goods—which will include boards, boots and bindings—and you have what resembles a legitimate core snowboard brand.
“This isn’t a team we just assembled; it’s one that assembled itself around snowboarding.”
What about a team of riders committed to developing products? Armada has that covered too. Household names such as style-lord Danimals, Mike Liddle and Stefi Luxton are all on the team, alongside five other shredders.
“Every board and binding has been put through it by the people who ride them for real. Seasoned pros, lunch-lap engineers, reps that rip. From sidecut radius to binding buckle teeth, we tested and improved until we had 100% buyoff from the whole crew.”
Much in the same way Armada broke onto the scene in the early 2000’s, the snowboard flotilla are a heavy group of passionate riders and industry stalwarts, who are ingrained in the culture, with the motivation to drive change and create something new.
“Every part of this brand has a lifelong expert driving it. Board Engineers with decades of design under their belts. Marketing led by photographers and artists, and sales managers who started on the shop floor. This isn’t a team we just assembled; it’s one that assembled itself around snowboarding.”
Another year of product testing and brand development lies before Armada, who will be releasing the range in Fall 2026. We will have to wait until then to see whether the snowboard community can put aside our differences and accept skiing’s latest olive branch.
