Out of the vast consolidation of the snowboarding industry in the late 1990’s emerged a new breed of snowboarding brand, built on ideals and values over bottom lines and market trends. To know one of these brands is to know what it stands for.

Industry long-timer and cofounder of Working Holiday Distribution, Dan McNamara, is the creator of two such brands: Bond Outerwear and Weekend Snowboards.

We had the opportunity to talk to Dan about the ideals behind Bond, Weekend and Working Holiday Distribution.

Bird’s Eye: When did you decide you wanted to start your own brand?

Dan: It was a couple of years ago. My partners and I started talking about how much we were working and what we liked and what we didn’t like about what we were doing at the time. There were a lot of positives and there were a lot of negatives and finally we were just like, if there’s ever a time to do something on our own, now’s the time. So, we put our heads together and started Bond and shortly thereafter we started Weekend.

Bird’s Eye: What is your main focus with Bond?

Dan: The biggest thing with Bond was that I was always pretty psyched on the whole environmental side of things. It’s always interesting to see how a company applies it to their business. In the snowboarding world it had this hippie vibe and everything had trees and Rasta colors and kooky names. Everywhere else in the world they don’t really look at it like that. When you go to Switzerland or France or Austria the environmental movement isn’t associated with the earthy hippie vibe at all.

So, I’ve always liked companies that were eco-friendly, but the way they did it never really appealed to me. We were looking at outerwear primarily, because that’s where we felt we could effect the most change. We thought…what if there was an outerwear brand where everything they made was eco-friendly? Most companies at the time, and still today, if they have fifteen jackets in the line maybe one is an eco piece.

So then, we looked at it and said, “Ok, well, there’s no reason why any eco piece can’t be stylish and have the right colors and cut and everything else.” That was kind of the main motivation behind Bond. Remember back in the late 80’s when soy milk started popping up in grocery stores and it was in this weird paper container with a wacky name and everybody was like “what is this?” But then, as soon as they put it in the normal milk container and put it up front, people were like, “oh, I’ll try this.” That’s the way we see it with Bond. We’re taking something that’s really cool, that has a ton of benefits and that people want to be into, and putting it in a container that people can actually appreciate.



Bird’s Eye: Is it more expensive for you to use all eco-friendly materials?

Dan: It is slightly, but at the same time, if we’re just more mindful of it [we can design around it]. We’re getting better and better at sourcing, too. That was a big problem I’ve seen at larger companies. Everyone’s jobs are based on margin, and they’re taking direction from the top and unless it comes from the top [it just doesn’t happen]. I think there are probably a lot of product managers out there that want to go a more eco-friendly route but it might not be mandated from the top.

So for us, we look at it as, yeah it might hold us back sometimes or it might add costs here and there but that’s what we’re known for and that’s the box that we’ve put ourselves in. I think that’s the difference. We’ve established it to where we’re saying, “Hey, this is what we do.” We may be a little bit more expensive than other options out there, but at the same time the quality and the story behind it are offsetting that. Now, we know that only goes so far with some people. We know we can’t charge 40% more than other brands, but as long as we’re mindful of it and we’re actually designing around it rather than getting to the end and saying, “Ok, well that’s fifty bucks more,” we’re able to manage it throughout the process and I think our experience helps out a lot with that.

Bird’s Eye: What about with Weekend? What were you after there?

Dan: With Weekend, it’s really similar. We started to see so many graphics just started to become so phoned in and basically it was like, “Ok, this series is gonna be our ‘Skull’ series and this is gonna be our kids series and then the girls series is gonna have a butterfly or a star or something on it and this series is gonna be…” So, we were pretty over it and looked at it like, snowboards at one time were looked at as pieces of artwork, like pretty iconic pieces. You know, like the Lib Tech, Matt Cummins, or the Simms Switchblade, the Craig Kelly. People still talk about those boards and that’s what we aim to do by using some of our artists. The first year we had Steve Nazar do all the Town and Country stuff. The guy’s super talented. And then this year all the graphics are playable board games, which is pretty cool. So, we just wanted something that was actually unique and actually limited. A lot of snowboards people will say are limited edition and there are still probably two thousand of them [laughing]. These boards are truly limited and all hand numbered.

Bird’s Eye: So you made how many, 450 last year?

Dan: Yeah, we just did 150 of each size.

Bird’s Eye: Is that what you did again for the 10/11  season?

Dan: Yep. With Heikki’s board, we split it down the middle between camber and reverse camber, but yeah, basically.

Bird’s Eye: So, how did you get from creating Bond and Weekend to starting Working Holiday Distribution?

Dan: Well, we started out with Bond and then with Weekend we wanted to have a small cool board brand that was more coveted than anything. We had our vision of what we wanted to do and how limited we wanted it to be. Also, our outerwear designer, Rob, who had been designing the Blend and Four Square lines for the past eight or nine years, had a small streetwear brand called Salvador that we brought in as well. So we had three brands and were like “Ok, well what’s the best way to package these together?”

We all went to Asia right after we got started and were talking about how we needed to have an umbrella group to deal with so it’s not like “Oh yeah, I work for Bond, Weekend and Salvador.” There had to be more of a cohesive unit. So that’s when Working Holiday evolved into a distribution company.

Bird’s Eye: Does the distribution angle help get exposure for the different brands?

Dan: Yeah, absolutely. I think that it helps get the word out like if there’s a guy that reps Stepchild out there, he might not rep Bond but for every shop that he goes to, it’s associated with him loosely, and the same with Bond. There might be a shop that carries Bond that hasn’t carried Stepchild. I always saw, when I was a rep, that if you get a good rep agency going, shops will support anything that comes into that agency, once they know your mentality and your distribution philosophy. It’s the same with us. We want to build it so that, when people are carrying Bond, Weekend, Stepchild and Salvador, they know what our philosophy is.

Bird’s Eye: What was it that made you want to start brands that were as specific as these?

Dan: I think it was just seeing the opportunity out there, and then knowing that we actually had an idea and a story that was unique and would resonate with people. I think the whole idea for Bond was pretty unique and the way we were looking at it at the time was that, if we were looking for products like this, and if we would be stoked on a company like this, then we couldn’t be the only ones. There’s definitely room for it out there. I think that’s probably the biggest thing; we really saw the potential in it and the benefits of it.

Bird’s Eye: So you essentially put it out there first by taking on that added expense, and maybe it slows down the brand’s growth a little bit in the short term, but at the same time you build that ideal, that inherent quality into your brand, and that’s where the brand’s longevity comes from?

Dan: Exactly. Yeah, I think that’s the idea. I mean, we’re a little bit ahead of [the curve] now, but as time goes on it’ll become more and more commonplace. Our biggest thing, especially with the environmental side of things, is that we’re doing something that we can be proud of at the end of the day, with an idea that we think has some longevity and can actually inspire other people to do the same. We hope other people go that route too.

Bird’s Eye: Thanks Dan.

By: Steve Reaves


Bond Outerwear is available now, here on Bird’s Eye!!


Check back soon for Weekend Snowboards!!