Burton Snowboard Factory 1977-1992
Photo credit: JAck Coghaln, Christian Robert, Burton Corporation
Carpenter stayed in the financial world after graduation, but eventually felt burnt out. After hitting the “eject button”, he relocated to southern Vermont and started Burton Boards. A relative, Mimi Wright, suggested that he move to Londonderry, a town close to where he first tried Snurfing nine years earlier. Carpenter learned woodworking, opened small shop in Londonderry and recruited his first three employees – including relatives Mark and Mimi Wright Located right across from a deer weighing station, the locals doubted the new operation. Carpenter recalled that “they thought that we were a front for a drug operation – they thought this snowboard was no way.”[i] During that first winter, Jake held a competition amongst his employees – a hundred dollars’ for the best logo. Mimi Wright won the challenge with her iconic mountain logo. Jake recalled in 2013 that the four of them “tooled up and made 50 boards a day. That was our goal, and we F*&^%ing did it.”[ii] There was a lot of trial and error in the manufacturing process. The wood planks snagged in the router “catapulting them through the barn wall “like something out of Austin Powers.”[iii] Carpenter admitted to feeling like “a fish out of water” and the early mistakes “could easily have been the end of me.”[iv] He recalled: "It seemed like starting a business wasn't that difficult ... I thought I could just get it going, but it wasn't a service business. It was a manufacturing business, and I didn't even have a product." [v]
In the early 1980s, Carpenter moved operations to a farmhouse and barn in Manchester. One of the earliest employees was Bob Novak, who dated Andy and Jack Coghlan’s sister. When Novak decided to return to Michigan, a job opportunity arrived for the Coghlan brothers. Jack Coghlan recalled that Bob approached Carpenter and said “'Hey, I know these guys Andy and Jack that would be willing to take over’ and Jake was in such a pinch to find someone, he gave us a shot."[i] Having joined during the summer, the Coghlan's first experienced snowboarding when the snow fell. "When the winter rolled around after building the boards, we were really psyched to jump on them and start to learn how to snowboard,” Coghlan added, “and quickly picked it up and loved it … it was a major passion of ours from then on."[ii]
In the early 1980s, Carpenter moved operations to a farmhouse and barn in Manchester. One of the earliest employees was Bob Novak, who dated Andy and Jack Coghlan’s sister. When Novak decided to return to Michigan, a job opportunity arrived for the Coghlan brothers. Jack Coghlan recalled that Bob approached Carpenter and said “'Hey, I know these guys Andy and Jack that would be willing to take over’ and Jake was in such a pinch to find someone, he gave us a shot."[i] Having joined during the summer, the Coghlan's first experienced snowboarding when the snow fell. "When the winter rolled around after building the boards, we were really psyched to jump on them and start to learn how to snowboard,” Coghlan added, “and quickly picked it up and loved it … it was a major passion of ours from then on."[ii]
