A former pro snowboarder who graced the covers of magazines across the globe, Max Jenke knows snowboarding and, most importantly, he knows what feels good under your feet. As one of the founders of Endeavor Snowboards, a company committed to making the most comfortable boards to ride under any conditions. Max has transitioned from pro shred to business man, but he always makes time for fun. I personally have been riding Endeavor since 2004 and their boards have only gotten better over the years. I recently hit up Max to see what he has been up to recently and learn a bit more about Endeavor.
Max still has it, chucking a huge and stylish melon to prove that running a business doesn't mean forgetting how to shred.
Let’s jump right into this: you guys weren’t at SIA this year, what were you doing the in the meantime to ensure you still get buyers in the States?
We didn’t show in the tradeshow, but we were definitely there. We chose to private show with our shops in a suite at a boutique hotel. Everyday after the show, we’d roll in our Cadillac Escalade limo to the room, fill up on food and Red Bull vodkas and talk about the new line. The objective was to see our US accounts and spend some quality time with them before hitting the town. The rest of the time our man Nando Alcocer is busy on the road, waving the Endeavor flag all over the west coast of the US.
Endeavor is a unique brand because it really is one of the last rider-owned and –operated companies. Our dealers that support us do well with it because they know our story, trust the quality, and understand our products. We launched back in 2002 – there’s a reason why we’re still here seven years later. I think right now is an amazing time in snowboarding for us because of the lack of authentic brands. So many have been bought and sold that whatever roots they might have had have disappeared. We’re growing in the right ways and that’s what's important to focus on. Finding or being sought out by dealers who want to have something unique on their shelves, something that stands for what snowboarding is about is what we’re after. Convincing hesitant dealers doesn’t work for us. Having dealers that are hyped on Endeavor and are stoked to tell their customers about it is what does work.
You have an awesome pro team, how did you get the riders on board? What have they been up to this year, can we expect to see them in any videos this fall?
Yeah, the team has come together nicely but look at them more as Endeavor ambassadors because they do a lot more for us than just ride the product – Johnny helps us around the office when he’s not riding or at school, we do Airhole with Kale, and Kevin and Gillian lend a hand with photo shoots and tradeshows. All of our national riders in each of the countries do the same for our distributors too, which is awesome. It’s nice to see that they care about the brand and know that Endeavor needs ambassadors and advocates to get the word out, again bringing authenticity back to the game. That said, our team definitely has skills. Kevin Griffin will have an amazing part in the new Sandbox movie “Shine On” and Kale and Johnny will have parts in the new 8 Mile project, so look out for those in the fall.
The whole crew making it happen in Whistler.
Here is the big one, what is Endeavor doing to keep up with current trends in board construction? Do you have any reverse camber or multi-camber boards to offer?
There’s no denying that reverse camber is here to stay and we’ve included some versions of it in our line: you can get the Colour 151, Live 156, Next 159 and Boyfriend 148 all in reverse camber this fall. I prefer a cambered board myself, but the reverse cambers are definitely fun to ride and jib on, and are great boards to get beginners out on because of how easily you can maneuver them.
Gillian is the mastermind behind the Boyfriend series, here she is hiking back up to give her man-cakes flying lessons.
What else do you guys have on the table, tell us about this accessories company you guys are also involved in.
Yup, we also run Airhole, which was founded by Kale Stephens and Chris Brown. They came up with this amazing idea three years ago and they never cease to surprise us with their crazy designs and concepts. Airhole is the best facemask on the market – cop one early as they sell out quick.
It was just Canada Day recently, what did you guys do to celebrate? In America we celebrate by blowing up a small part of our country… Got any funny stories?
Canada Day was amazing. We organized a big Endeavor crew day up on the Blackcomb glacier at Camp of Champions. It was hilarious – all of our friends that I used to shoot and film with six years ago were in attendance and even Scott Serfas was there shooting. We were all hitting this mini pipe and documenting the fun… It reminded me of old half pipe contests where the pipe was basically a bunch of highway hits. There certainly weren’t any 20-foot airs, but that wasn’t really the point. It was about all of us going up and having fun. Johnny and Kale did end up shooting with Serfas on a huge hip and Jbone got a sick method. You can check out the whole story on our blog.
Johnny Lyall plants his hand for Scott Serfas' lens. Photo: Max Jenke
Endeavor has really unique graphics that consistently stand out from the crowd, and you always work with a variety of artists for each year’s line, can you explain that process and how it came to be?
The graphics are a big thing for us – our brand is called Endeavor Snowboard Design for a reason, and working with artists is an important part of that. The draw to starting our own brand was we got to design the product the way we wanted it to look like and, because I know what I want but don’t have the skills to create it, I got outside artists to help me. Before it was a trend to do artist collabo products, we were doing it. I really believe we were one of the first, if not the first company to really push the artists we work with. I look at our graphics more as fine art – it just so happens that the medium is a snowboard!
I love working with a communit of talented artists. I look at it like I’m curating an art show more than designing snowboards. Watching the process of how everyone works is also amazing – each has a very unique way of going from concept to finished artwork. Some are very structured and articulate their thoughts very well and clearly. Others just let it happen. I’m jealous of their abilities and feel very privileged to work with acclaimed artists like Marck, Mr. Jago and Phunk Studios. You can check out artist page on the website, that has links to all of their online portfolios…
Kale Stephens keeps it local with this rawesome Canadian Bacon grab on the hip.
Vancouver is an awesome place to surf, skate and snowboard, what do you have on tap for the summer?
It is and the weather has been good so far. Unfortunately we’ll be inside working on the 2011 program and getting ready to ship out all our product in August. You would think it gets slow for us in the summer, but we’re busier than ever, which is exciting. Got a bit of travel planned and I just came back from a trip overseas to check on our factories – I actually blogged my entire trip daily on our site so can see what I’m up to.
Interview by Andres Quintana
Photos by Scott Serfas and Max Jenke