DC

Always ahead of the fashion pack, DC continually make some of the best looking, bang-on-trend snowboard clothing season after season, whilst DC snowboards, despite only being in their 3rd winter season, are still a run away success. The 2010 DC snowboard program, with its ground-breaking technologies, magazine accolades, contest results and pro rider collaborations(Devun Pro snowboard, Ilkka Pro MLF snowboard and the Lauri Pro Tone snowboard), continues this 2011 season, to charge forward with new technologies and a strikingly different look.

Their team, products, technology, innovation and fun stand at the heart of the DC brand and keep it at the forefront of, primarily the snowboarding and skateboarding scenes. There is always a lot going on in the DC world, with fun being a huge part of it, welcome to their world of witty and ironic graphics, artistic partnerships and collaborations creating unique and innovative products. Cue the MNT.LAB, DC’s exclusive 22-acre snowboarding park in Utah, built as the research & development(read use & abuse) HQ, where their world class team get to go out and mess around so they can constantly improve the products. The Lab of Luxury, The Mountain Lab, The House on the Hill, The Playboy Mansion – call it what you will but here the DC crew know how to rock it, immortalised by the artist Andrew Rae, with his hand-drawn, ‘Where’s Wally-esque’ people & creatures who spill across the Lab in a state of bedlam.

Founded in 1993, DC, which originally stood for ‘Droors Clothing’, had its roots firmly in the skate scene but soon went on to provide some of the best sport specific footwear, influenced and driven by the realms of BMX, surfing, motocross, WRC rally, snowboarding and of course skateboarding. When Ken Block(yes, the same rally driver) and his DC crew entered the snowboard market in the late 90s, they were proud of their initial offering. They felt they entered a market that was somewhat stale at the time, and were able to offer a new choice and make some improvement on the technical side of things. As each season came, then the next and the next and the one after that, they constantly found themselves trying to one-up what we’d done the year before as they’d set the limits so high each time. Hard work but with their typical emphasis on fun, they continued improving in terms of the look and technology of their snowboard boots and snowboard outerwear. As if they were never satisfied, they always looked forward and thought about what’s possible – what’s next. In May 2004, DC Shoes was acquired by Quicksilver Inc., making them part of a $2billion action sports family. With their huge variety of sports gear and a world class team of extreme sports athletes, it meant that DC could continue to take their worlds by storm, going rapidly onwards and upwards.