www.ashleyswan.com

So yesterday I came home from work to find this sitting in my mail. Bitchboards went to the effort of tracking down my address/telephone number just so that they could send me this. First of all, who sends anyone anything via ground mail anymore? I have an email address for a reason. If you feel the need to get in touch with me, send me an email or a direct message on twitter. Sending mail like this to my parent’s home address is ridiculous, I do not technically have a mailing address because I move too much. So I get important stuff like phone bills and goverment stuff (and stickers from shay!!) sent to their address and then they pass it along to me, there is a reason I don’t list an address anywheres… So now I’m like WTF? Not only that but they felt the need to include my cell phone number in the letter. Tell me if I’m wrong here, but does that not cross the privacy line? I realize nothing is safe on the Internet but I mean come on have a little decency. If you have a problem with what I’m writing then email me…simple as that.

Now onto the next part about this that bothered me, you can not say that my article translated into positive results for you. “All PR is good PR” – I don’t think so…Telling me that it increased your sales conversion rates for hard goods (which thanks for telling me it meant snowboards…I would have never figured that out all by my little self!) is total BS. If you want to claim that I expect to see some numbers to back it up. No, I’m not your random snowboard blogger…I’m business administration degree student, with a major in marketing and human resources…and this is my second post secondary course. I already have my business certification in marketing & economics from my provincal technical school. So I think this is a empty claim on your part! Or the only other way that this could have increased your sales is if you really didn’t have any to begin with. That post has had a total of about 120 hits in two months. This is not exactly a high traffic blog! Most of the views came from links that The Angry Snowboarder posted. He shares the same view as I do on this company so I highly doubt that someone would want to buy your product after that have read either of our opinions on it.

Sure my post may have increased the traffic that your site was getting, and that’s not a bad thing because I think everyone should see for themselves what your company looks like before they decide to support someone who is actually doing something for women’s snowboarding.

Yah, yah, yah…you have the snowboard camps for women. That’s not what I’m talking about though, I’m talking developing a product that is pushing the progression of the sport for women. I want to see some actually technical innovations in your product. I’m not trying to hate on your product as a personal grudge or anything I just find the marking and board designs to be a huge scam targeted at naive women who are new to the sport and do not have a lot of knowledge regarding the technical features that avaliable for women.

I looked at your “Construction” section for each of the snowboards in your 2009/2010 line and the first thing that I noticed that every single one of your boards; including the twin tip board had almost the same description. “Great pop with a medium flex to provide a forgiving and stable ride yet, extremely light weight and easy to control. It is decked out with black sidewalls a metallic silver screenprinted logo on both sidewalls. The BitchBoards® Couture snowboard has carbon fiber reinforcement to support a woman’s lower center of gravity.” So every one of your boards has a medium flex? Every one is super poppy and lightweight? Wow, I’m starting to think that that only difference between your board models is the topsheet graphics. I also love that you mentioned the “decked out” black sidewalls. Sure that might be important if you plan to hang it on the wall, but for any girl who is really pushing her riding the color of the sidewalls really doesn’t matter. What the sidewalls are made out of is the part I want to know. Take a look at Ride’s Slimewalls, now those are sidewalls worth mentioning in the construction description!

Rad Galz Camp holdin’ it down at Big White…I don’t see any bitchboards here!

Also most of your boards are all mountain boards but they don’t offer any specific information as to where their strengths are. I have no idea which board I would buy if I was looking for something specific. Say I want a board for making some fast stable carves in choppy conditions, I have no idea which of your six all mountain boards would suit me best. The only thing you have to offer me that “This board is for the woman who appreciates beauty in the details around her.” or “As hot as its name, this carbon fiber board melts the snow as it carves down the mountain!” (funny since all your boards are carbon fiber!) Those descriptions don’t give me any more information on the performance of the product at all. So I took a look at your technical specifications down at the bottom and that was also no help at all. You have one set of specifications for all of your seven boards? You have no differences in your sidecut radius’s? No change in camber, flex, or effective edge in those seven models? Your website is your chance to share that kind of detailed information with your consumer and the fact that it’s not avaliable raises a pretty huge red flag for me.

Really I could keep going on and on here, but the fact is I think that your snowboards are preying on the uninformed female consumer. For women who are  just coming into the sport it can be quite daunting to try and find a board that suits them. Especially if they are over the age of 25 since most of the current marketing trends are directed at the younger ladies. They see a company like yours that is obivously creating boards for women and they just jump at it because it’s an easy purchase for them. It’s for a girl so it must be right for me! Not so much, the board and the flex that you want really depends on what stage of riding your at. Different levels of riders need different flexes in their board. Some need something that is forgiving to learn on, some need something stable and less poppy so that they can handle the fast carves, and others still need something that falls somewheres  in the middle, something poppy and fun yet stable enough to handle jump landings. Surely a lot of women don’t realize this when they first start riding, and really how could they? Unless they do some serious research or have a guy/girlfriend who can hook them up they’re walking blindly into a market that’s full of cash hungry companies like this one who will jump at the chance to convince them to buy a product that may not suit their needs.

I really wish there was more companies doing things like the K2 Women’s Alliance. The alliance is a great tool for developing quality products that suit women who are at all stages and ages of their riding journey! From beginners to pros, they have something for everyone and the tech and explanations to go along with it. Also companies like Ride, Burton, and Rome are offering boards that are designed and tested by the girls who are out there riding them hard. When you read their description you will quickly know what skill level and type of board you’re looking at. They are as honest as it gets with the type of product that they are selling you.

K2 Women’s Alliance + Brooke Voigt, Photo by Sarah Tollestrup for sbcwomen.com

So for all the ladies out there, I think you really have to be careful when you are choosing new products. Take the time to check out the technical specs behind the boards, and even if you don’t quite understand them head down to your local shop (or even the rental shop) and ask for some help in figuring it all out. Asking questions will go a long ways in helping you pick a product that suits you. Take the time to check out the companies team, find out whose riding for them because usually a good rider is going to be backed by a good company. Find out if the company has any women’s development or research teams in place. Also check out the board’s materials and where they’re coming from. A lot of companies are offering more eco-friendly women’s products now, and every little thing you do for the environment  helps! We wanna keep shredding, so stop the global warming ASAP!

Basically what I want girls to take from this is the fact that you need to get informed on what’s out there for products for you! Check out websites like ShredBetties, Lady in Shred, Shredunion, Powderroom.net, The Angry Snowboarder, and Shayboarder.com for some women specific product information, opinions, and reviews. Don’t purchase a product because just because it’s women specific or because it has pretty graphics, do yourself a favour and make sure you’re getting something quality from a company that’s making the effort to help you out too!

Some other good reads for women:

Behind closed doors withe the K2 Women’s Alliance by Sarah Tollestrup for sbcwomen.com

Hey Ladies on The Angry Snowboarder

Product Testing on Shayboarder.com

My Favorites, thus far… on LadyinShred.com

How to tell a snowboard company is bad on desertsdontsnow.com

oh and p.s. Bitchboards, you should really spellcheck that website of yours…particularly this one!