Stickers on Snowboards

Ok now this is not intended to offend anyone who may do this, it’s merely an observation by a 31 yr old who may be not up with the latest trends that the teens and others are ok with.

I notice on the mountain that many many younger crew and some older have boards with heaps of board company stickers on them.  This may in itself not seem like a bad thing but to me the inference is that said person with stickers is actually sponsored by these companies but some of these stickered board riders are either patently new to the sport or talentless hacks.  Others still seem to be ok but wear basketball jerseys and jumpers that might actually be a snuggie blanket, I dunno but they sure look gay.

I grew up surfing since I was 6, now surfing is a different sport with different trends but, no one in their right mind would put a company sticker on their board unless they had a deal with the company.  To do so without a sponno deal would be to invite a merciless bagging by all and sundry and even removal of the stickers and the lifelong tag of wannabe sponno, try hard, loser etc etc.  I had a few mates who were sponsored and occasionally I would borrow boards of theirs and feel uncomfortable about having the stickers on there.  The only exlclusion for this was if you were a rep for the company or under the age of 12.

What I want to know is what is the deal with this sort of behaviour in snowboarding.  Not like if it’s cool or acceptable I’m gunna start stickering my board up or anything though.  I’m anti them on anything, snowboard, surfboard, car, never really had em on anything, I like the clean look.  Actually I lie, if it’s cool I’m gunna go get a massive DC sticker for my snowboard, a big red Quik sticker for my surfboards and a Tempe Tyres and Pioneer sticker for my car!  Will be farken awesome, sponno me up scotty.

I have 4 stickers on my snowboard.

2 are from items I wear - Electric and Grenade (1 given to me and the other purchased)

and the other 2 are freebees from places I use - Boardworld and ESS boardstore.

I mainly did it to cover the large areas of white on the tip and tail of my board and definitely not to try and look like I’m sponsored. I think it’s becoming more of a trend with younger riders (15-25 year olds) especially when they buy a board for the board and not the Graphic. There are some with pretty average graphics out there (This years Burton Custom and Hero, Forum Manual and the K2 Darkstar just as an example) and people like to spruce them up.

Doesn’t bother me at all. It’s their board so they can do what they want with it.

I haven’t heard any snowboarder getting bagged about being a “sponno wannabe” before….perhaps its a “surfing” thing only? Then again I don’t pay attention to the youngsters…....I am too busy riding past them as they struggle with keeping their low waisted pants up

I have a sticker on one of my boards but its more so it covers the surface crack. Its just a sticker of one of the places I have ridden at.

I’ve got a few on my boards but generally as tjswish has said to cover the tip and tail of my boards. Also they act as a buffer in lift ques and they’ll take the abuse and get scratched up instead of the board in some cases. Also following on from what kort said in regards to stickers for mountains/resorts etc - throwing a sticker on your board showing where you’ve been is no different to what you see some people do with their 4wd’s where they’ve got a window covered in stickers from places they’ve been.

For me it comes down to the design of the sticker or the manufacturer in question (some of mine aren’t brand oriendtated and are just ones a mate has made up for me) - If I use that companies gear and I’ve been stoked with it then whats the harm in a little extra promo for them whilst brightening up a board with a really simple design as tjswish said. For example - smith sticker on helmet - great goggles.. couldn’t have been happier with the pair of IO’s i’ve got amd the sticker came with the goggles so figured i’d put it to use, sandbox sticker on my board - helmet has done it’s job and I’ve always really enjoyed their dvd’s etc.

End of the days it’s a case of each to their own, sure enough I may not agree with it in some cases but it’s not my board so I’m not going to really care about it.

Each to their own I say!! I have none on my board but I don’t mind the look of a helmet or board stickered up!

I had never stickered up my board until I got a few in the post from Jeremy last week.

I’d been thinking about slapping a few on mine for a while, mainly because my board is almost completely black apart from a little colour on the nose and tail.

Add to that, that my boots, pants, jacket, and goggles are all black, and I was desperate for some colour to break the black up.

Yea, Surfboards are way more custom… you don’t wear any gear but a wetsuit and the stickers would fade heaps quick in the water unless they were specially made.

It also seems quite pointless on a Surfboard and I would never do it on one.

So basically a totally different mindset to surfing.  I actually told a lie, I have used stickers in the past to cover dings that I couldnt be bothered to fix straight away but it’s pretty obvious what its for when its wrapped around the rail.  Thanks for the replies though guys, interesting the differences between the two sports in that respect.  Personally I just prefer plain stuff, as mentioned above each to their own.

my snowboard has stickers personally placed lovingly every time!
my surfboard has stickers but only cause it’s an old pro/am riders board with his sponsor stuff on it.

Haha a cheap and easy way to repair a board