Watching Wayward, learning about the history of women's snowboarding, and how women changed the sport has inspired me to learn more about the past. I've been diving into the archive of Fresh & Tasty, the first all-women snowboard magazine from the '90s, by Bethany Stevens and Melissa Longfellow.

The motivation behind F&T was representation. It was about creating a platform that included women in the culture of snowboarding. At the time, roughly 25–30% of snowboarders were women, while according to an ad found in F&T from Avalanche Snowboards, only 4% of the boards were made for them (64 out of 1,600).

The magazine's position was that women weren't a niche group to write off. Women had real buying power in an industry that kept treating them as an afterthought. They wanted to raise the industry's awareness of the value of women snowboarders in a male-dominated space and give women a platform where representation was otherwise low.

In Fresh & Tasty's Buyer's Guide, Oct. '97, the editor's note put it plainly:

"Keep in mind the bigger picture as you choose products to purchase. Companies which support the environment, make charitable contributions, host events and competitions, sponsor female snowboarders, make women-specific products, and don't belittle or objectify women in their advertisements: companies goal is to make your snowboarding experience the best one, those are the companies who deserved your hard earned dollars."

F&T's buyer's guide covered both soft and hard goods designed specifically for women, a new phenomenon at the time. Shannon Dunn's Sims pro model in 1994 was the first board marketed specifically to women, and it sold incredibly well. The following year, Shannon was picked up by Burton, where she worked directly with their engineers to design the Dolphin board. This was the first time a female snowboarder was invited to collaborate with engineers to shape a board from the ground up. This collaboration was a huge milestone for women-specific products, and the rest of the industry followed quickly.

Pro snowboarders at the time were also vocal and passionate about the importance of women-specific gear. Morgan LaFonte, one of the first, if not the first, snowboarders to do a double backflip, expressed this in an interview in the October 1996 issue of F&T. She had just gotten a pro model with K2—the brand’s first women’s board.

"Some people in this industry think it's not necessary to make boards that appeal to women, but I think women are going to become the major consumers of this whole industry. It's also necessary for us to have women's magazines and clothing. We have to somehow separate ourselves from the big male nightmare."

Strong voices in the industry were emphasizing the importance of women's gear. Some of the brands run by women, with products made specifically for women, in that era include. 

Kurvz

A snowboard outerwear brand founded by Kristy Roach. As a UC Davis freshman, Kristy chose snowboard apparel as the topic for a marketing class research project. She was frustrated by having to choose between women's ski wear that didn't function and men's snowboard wear that didn't fit. She asked women in Tahoe what they didn't like about their gear and heard the same complaints again and again: pants too long, jackets baggy enough to wear as dresses.

The project earned her an A, and at 19, she founded the company KURVZ. In the first all-women snowboard movie, Hips That Rip, Kristy said: “We got boobs and hips and waves, time somebody make clothes for em.”

With this in mind, she wanted to make outerwear shaped to fit women's bodies. Already at 21 years old, she was running a successful business with team riders, sales reps, and distributors. Read an interview with Kristy from Fresh & Tasty below!

Belladonna

Belladonna sprung out of the already existing '90s brand Haz-Mat. They focused on making functional, waterproof clothing with a standout effect. They hired a new head designer, Gitana Brazlaukas, who had extensive experience designing fashionable, custom-made women’s clothing.

Betty Rides

Betty Rides was started by Janet Freeman. Her sister asked for winter pants that actually fit a woman's body. With that simple request in mind, she made one of North America’s first women's-only outerwear brands.

Freeman had the background: a fine arts degree from Parsons School of Design in New York City, design experience at Jantzen Swimwear, and a men's snowboard brand, Tonawawa, that she'd co-founded a few years earlier. She built a small line, and the response confirmed what she'd already suspected. Women's-specific outerwear was a real gap in the market.

The company grew steadily over its first decade and later doubled between 2005 and 2007. Eventually, she was distributing across Europe, South America, and Australia from its Portland, Oregon, headquarters. For design direction, Freeman drew both on her female team riders as well as traditional fashion inspiration from magazines like Vogue.

Bombshell

Bombshell's mission was also to make clothes that fit women's bodies. Their designs focused on “hip, new school designs that still fit a woman's body.” Founded by Jerris Greenblat and Kathy Allison in 1993.

Cold As Ice

Founded by Darcy Lee Post in 1993, she was the CEO as well as the head designer. Darcy started the brand on the premise that women tend to get colder than men and wanted to make technical, warm clothes that were roomy but fit women. Cold As Ice also issued some snowboards for a few years.

Prom

Prom was created and designed by Shannon Dunn and Tina Basich, two of the most recognizable women in snowboarding at the time. They were already big ambassadors for female riders and working with their sponsors to get products made for women. They teamed up with the snowboard clothing company Swag to launch a women’s line of outerwear and streetwear, and called it Prom. They made gender-specific fashion available to the masses. More companies started offering women’s products after that, helping grow both the sport and the snow sports industry.

Flipping through these pages now, I'm impressed by the work they put in for women's representation in the industry. I am also surprised, and a bit sad, that a lot of the content still reads as relevant today, 30 years later.

Maybe the women running F&T were simply ahead of their time. Or maybe snowboarding hasn't had enough spaces where women held a collective voice to say these things out loud. Maybe the ideas weren't rare, but the platform was.

Now Mia Lambson's documentary, Wayward, is picking that platform back up in a different format, offering a complex dive into the history of women's snowboarding.

Fresh & Tasty's 1998 editor's note said it best:

“Keep in mind the bigger picture as you choose products to purchase. Companies that support the environment, make charitable contributions, host events and competitions, sponsor female athletes, make women specific products, and don’t belittle or objectify women in their advertisements: companies whose goal is to make your snowboarding experience the best one - those are the companies that deserve your hard earned dollars.”

So many brands are doing this work right now, and here are some brands that we think deserve some highlighting:

Armada, one of the first brands to reach 50/50 gender representation in its lineup.

Burton, both for backing Wayward and helping spread the word on why women's representation matters, and for being one of the early catalysts for women's products back in the '90s.

The North Face and Yeti, both putting real support behind women's snowboarding through R&D and The Uninvited.

Stay up to date on all Mia Lambson and Tom Boy Media Productions by following @tomboy.media on Instagram, and stay tuned for more here at Slush. WAYWARD will be available to purchase and watch on November 10th.

Other Honorable Mentions of Brands With Women-Specific Products From 1995

Soft Goods:

Burning Snow, Burton, Convert, Dead Molly, Deep, Dish, Girlie, Girlie Things, Jaded, Jaro, Jato, Minx, Molly Reiling, Prom, Stryke, Twist, Varlesi

Hard Goods:

Boots: American Boot Co., Burton, Airwalk, K2, Kastinger, Mojo, Switch, Vans

Bindings: Burton, Duratech, Switch

Boards: Apocalypse, Aurora, Barfoot, Burton, Cold As Ice, Daisy, Flite, Fresh and Tasty, Java, Life, NOW, Puppetshow, Pure, Sims

READ RESH & TASTY 1997 BUYERS GUIDE ON YOUR COMPUTER

Contents: 

Dear FAT (letters) — 8
Interview: Morgan LaFonte — 18
FAT Photospread — 27
U.S. Open 1996 — 36
Buyer's Guide 1996/97 — 45
Anatomy of a Snowboard — 46
96/97 Boards — 48
96/97 Boots & Bindings — 52
96/97 Clothing — 55
SACH! — 62
Major Events of 1996 — 66
CHAT with the FAT Posse — 69

Music
Joan Wasser: Rock Violinist — 72
Cakelike — 76
FAT Tracks — 78