Brand Focus - Signal Snowboards

Dave Lee is a snowboarding legend. Not only is he more experienced in snowboard manufacture, design and riding than pretty much any other human being on the planet, he’s also a super mellow and approachable guy. Snowboard-Review dropped Dave an email and he was more than happy to answer a few questions; and let’s face it, Snowboard-Review isn’t Transworld Snowboard Mag… yet.

Signal is Dave’s Snowboard brand, it’s cool, understated and pushing Snowboarding products in a pretty unique and positive direction. We spoke to Dave about Signal’s boards, the Signal Huntington Beach Factory, the slick new range of Outerwear and Coffee of all things.

1) What makes Signal Snowboards different from the hundreds of brands out there?

I could fill a page with answers to this question, but to keep it short, we started Signal based on a foundation of community. The name comes from the approach of sending a Signal out to riders. It’s a group of friends that are artists, musicians, and pro snowboarders choosing an alternative path on how to run a small business. We build our own boards, we’re independent and we grow within our means. It’s kind of amazing, we’re hitting our second year of profitability in these tough times and I believe it’s because we’re focused on Signal’s mission of community and slow steady growth.

2) It’s fairly apparent that that you’ve adapted to the business element of Snowboarding pretty successfully, but was that transition from snowboarder to businessman a difficult one, and have you found yourself having to make decisions that as a snowboarder you might have criticised?

It was a pretty easy transition for me. When I was a pro rider, I was always thinking of starting my own brand one day. Not to say it’s all been easy, we definitely are faced with tough decisions weekly. I’ve definitely learned a lot from this experience over the last seven years with Signal, but I feel we’ve stuck to our guns.

3) I think most people that read this article who know of Signal Snowboards, know of your history as a pro rider, and how as a young shredder you worked at the Mervin factory in Seattle. Signal and Mervin obviously share a huge interest in pushing the snowboard design envelope by using new materials and shapes. Do you think Mike, Pete and the rest of the guys at Mervin have inadvertently shaped the way Signal has developed as a brand?

Without a doubt the experience of growing up under their wing has inspired me to push Signal in the direction we’ve chose. It was a lot of fun growing up in Seattle, working at Mervin out of High School and then riding for them professionally. It made the decision to own and run a factory easy for me having been through that.

4) Do you think riding to such a high standard has had any impact on the quality of Signal’s snowboards?

Absolutely! We ride everything we make, so of course we like it to handle perfectly in for whatever terrain it’s built for. Quality and design are our number priority in the factory.

5) Do you have any untold anecdotes form your years at Mervin?

Those guys are pioneers. Growing up a skater and snowboarder there was no better place to work at that time in my life.

6) Your roots are in Seattle, but you now live in LA California. Do you think Signal as a brand reflects your roots in Seattle or where you are at in California?

I was born in Boston, raised in Seattle and now live in California. I consider myself lucky to have been raised on both coasts. Our influence comes from all of our travels.

7) I’ve seen tons of Signal videos featuring your Huntington Beach factory, not least your new ‘Every Third Thursday’ videos where you document your attempts to incorporate new materials and try new shapes. Your factory is obviously the apple of your eye… what are the main benefits of having your own factory and are there any headaches that those brands ordering boards from overseas factories don’t have?

The biggest benefit is simply the fact that I have the perfect job. I love to build things, and I love snowboarding so in that regard I’m pretty set up. It’s great for business as well. We can build boards whenever we need to, we don’t have to project and we are in control of our quality and materials at all times. We’re definitely not immune to headache from time to time - maintaining machines, managing employees, cash flow, etc.

8) How many people work at the factory?

12

9) A lot of people associate Signal with the ridiculously soft flexing Park and Park Rocker Snowboards, where did the idea to create such soft flexing boards come from? And out of interest how do you make those boards so durable?

Softer boards are easier to ride. When we started messing around with the flex of the park series the feedback came back from all the riders that they initially loved it with a softer flex, so that’s how we built it. Durability comes from the wood, resin and glass. We make our own cores so we’re able to do our best when it comes to lightweight and durable.

10) Last season you released Wavelength technology on the Omni and when you came along to the Kaunertal board test in May on the ‘Volcanoes Blow Tour’ you brought some crazy shapes with you for testing. Has Signal got any new designs or technology up its sleeves?

We do. We have a few boards in the works now that include core technology and alternative shapes.

11) How much R&D goes into Signal snowboards? Is the whole team involved?

Everyone is involved. I always say we have one of the best R&D crews out there. On top of the Signal team, we have the Volcom team giving us feedback all the time as well.

12) Talking about your videos, Signal is a brand that uses a hell of a lot of social media. You guys Tweet every 5 minutes, release vids on You tube and Vimeo pretty much constantly and are currently using a blog as your main website. How important is communicating through social media to Signal and what are the benefits over conventional media like mags and videos? Could Signal exist without being able to communicate using social media?

I’m sure it would exist, but it would be a lot harder to reach as far as we have. Social media is huge for small brands. The bigger companies have all the distribution and media wrapped up so tight that the only way to engage riders, new accounts, distributors or even you for that matter, is to get you information on Signal from the source. Show you that we are authentic and approachable. This is not just a job for us where we make products and hope you buy. We want you to be part of what Signal represents.

13) You recently teamed up with Rockstar Energy Drink for the Signal RV tour. It’s fairly common place to see Andreas Wiig sipping his Rockstar at the bottom of his slopestyle run, these guys are obviously putting a lot of money into a sport which is struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Do you think that teaming up with brands like Rockstar is detrimental to the Signal brand image? Signals association with Rockstar is obviously valuable to Rockstar, does the association benefit Signal?

My partner Marc has been tight with them for years. It was a cool deal for us because they let us borrow the RV and wrap it with Signal for the tour. It’s not detrimental to our image to team up with anyone, but I do think it’s important for smaller brands to hook up with non-endemic brands sometimes, it can be a great way to get new people to take a look at snowboarding, Signal or anyone else. Once you have them looking then there’s opportunity for Signal to reach new people with our own message.

14) You recently expanded the Signal range into Outerwear, it looks amazing! Do you work on the designs yourself or do you work with a professional designer?

Thank you! Chris Miller from Planet Earth has been a long-time friend of mine and he is the designer and brand developer for the Outerwear. I take care of the boards and he takes care of the outerwear. It came together really organically and it’s a lot of fun working with Chris.

15) So expanding into outerwear is a pretty logical step, but Signal makes Coffee?

We’ve been running Signal Coffee for five years now! It’s just something I wanted to do coming from Seattle. All my friends drink it, I love it, why not source and roast the best beans in the world for the snowboard community. We’re doing well with the coffee now. You should get some.

16) Are we likely to see any other products brandishing the Signal name?

I think we’re all set for a while.

17) One of the most impressive things about Signal is that for quite a small brand you don’t half have some good snowboarders on your pro team. How did you manage to convince Chris Dufficy and Matt Hammer to jump on ship?

Matt’s been partnered up with me for a long time now. He used to ride Supernatural when I was running that brand. And Duff, we’ve been friends for a while now and it just happened.

18) Are there any brands or individuals out there that you aspire to?

I like what Wooly’s done with Volcom. With everything they been through the message is still very clear. I see he still gets many days on the hill and in the water, and a lot of people that were there in the beginning are still representing. I think that speaks volumes.

19) What’s on the cards for Signal and Dave Lee in the future?

It’s an open canvas. Pushing forwards always.

20) Is snowboarding as important to you now as it was back in the early 1990s?

It is still very important to me, just as skateboarding is. It’s how I grew up and it makes me very happy.

Big thanks Dave

Posted by Rich Ewbank in Features.

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