Brand Feature: Burton
The brand that invented modern snowboarding and still makes the benchmark boards, boots and bindings. What they're best at and where to start.
One thing upfront: I’m a skier. I’ve been on a snowboard twice in my life, neither time convincingly. So this is honest reporting rather than personal testing. I’m not going to pretend I have strong opinions about how a Burton Custom carves compared to a Lib Tech, because I don’t. What I can tell you is what the evidence shows — the brand’s history, their reputation among riders who know what they’re talking about, and where their products stand in the market.
With that said: Burton are the most important company in snowboarding, by a significant margin.
Who they are
Jake Burton Carpenter founded Burton Snowboards in Londonderry, Vermont, in 1977. The context matters: snowboarding barely existed as a sport. There were some early boards around, crude by modern standards, and a handful of people making them in garages. Burton took it seriously when almost nobody else did, and spent years developing the equipment, lobbying ski resorts to allow snowboarders on their slopes, and building a company around a sport that hadn’t proven itself yet.
He got it right. Snowboarding became one of the defining action sports of the 1980s and 90s, entered the Olympics in 1998, and is now a standard discipline at every mountain resort in the world. Burton was central to that. They didn’t just ride the wave; they helped create it.
Jake Burton Carpenter died in 2019. His wife Donna Burton Carpenter took over as CEO and the company remains privately held and independent, which is unusual for a brand of this size and significant for its culture. They are not answering to shareholders. They have maintained a strong stance on environmental responsibility and worker welfare. Whether that matters to you when buying a snowboard is your call, but it’s worth knowing.
What they make
Boards, boots, bindings, outerwear, and accessories. The full snowboard kit, developed over nearly fifty years. The product range is extensive enough that it can be confusing to navigate from the outside. Here’s where to focus.
Boards
The Custom is the closest thing snowboarding has to a universal reference board. It has been in production for decades, refined season by season, and remains the benchmark against which a lot of all-mountain boards are measured. Medium flex, directional-twin shape, works on-piste and off, suitable for intermediate to advanced riders. If someone has been riding for a few years and wants to know what a well-regarded all-mountain board feels like, the Custom is a logical answer.
The Process is softer in flex than the Custom and more forgiving for intermediate riders who are still building confidence. It’s the better starting point for someone buying their first serious board who isn’t yet at the level where the Custom’s performance characteristics make a meaningful difference. Accessible without being a beginner’s toy.
For park and freestyle riding, the Descendant sits at a more accessible price while the Family Tree series covers the premium end of the range, designed for experienced riders who know what they want. Those aren’t the boards most people should be looking at first.
Boots
The Ion is the high-performance boot in the Burton range: stiff, precise, and built for riders who want to feel what the board is doing. If you’re an experienced rider who prioritises response over comfort, this is the product to look at.
The Photon occupies similar territory to the Ion but with a slightly different last shape and fit. Both are well-regarded. The choice between them tends to come down to foot shape and personal preference rather than one being objectively better.
For intermediate riders, the Mint (women’s) and Moto sit at accessible price points without making serious compromises. Comfortable, reliable, compatible with Burton’s Step On binding system if that’s of interest to you.
Bindings
The Mission is the all-mountain standard: medium flex, adjustable highback, responsive without being punishing. Works for most riders in most conditions. If you’re building a first serious setup and don’t have strong opinions about binding flex, start here.
The Cartel steps up in stiffness and is aimed at advanced riders who want more response and precision. The highback is stiffer, the baseplate is more rigid, and you’ll feel it in your riding if you’re at the level where that difference is meaningful.
Burton’s Step On system — where the boot clicks directly into the binding without traditional straps — is genuinely useful for convenience and has improved significantly since launch. It requires compatible boots, so it’s a whole-system decision rather than something you can add to existing gear. Worth considering if you find traditional binding entry and exit frustrating.
Outerwear
The [ak] line (short for “above-the-knee,” referring to powder depth) is Burton’s technical outerwear range and the part of the collection that takes performance seriously. GORE-TEX construction, proper seam taping, thoughtful pocket placement, cut for movement on a board. It’s genuinely good technical outerwear. It is also expensive, typically sitting above £500 for a jacket, which puts it in a bracket where it’s competing with the top end of the market rather than offering unusually strong value.
Burton’s mid-range outerwear — the Covert, Pillowline, and related pieces — is functional and well-made but doesn’t represent the same value proposition as their hardware. For a jacket at that price point, Dope Snow and Montec both offer comparable specs at lower prices. The Burton name carries weight in snowboarding culture, and some of what you’re paying for in the mid-range outerwear is that name.
If you’re building a snowboard setup and budget is a consideration, I’d prioritise spending properly on boots and bindings before the jacket.
Who Burton is for
First and foremost, snowboarders buying their first serious setup. The Custom or Process board, a pair of Photon boots, and Mission bindings is a coherent, well-matched combination that will serve most intermediate riders well for several seasons. You don’t need to research across a dozen brands to put that setup together. Burton’s ecosystem is complete and internally consistent.
Burton also has ongoing relevance for experienced riders who have grown up with the brand and trust their hardware. The Custom in particular remains a legitimate choice at any level — it has been refined for long enough that there’s very little left to complain about.
The [ak] outerwear is worth looking at for serious riders who want the best technical kit and are prepared to spend accordingly.
The honest verdict
Burton’s position in snowboarding isn’t nostalgia or marketing. The hardware — boards, boots, bindings — is consistently strong and the Custom remains one of the most trusted boards in the sport for good reason. The mid-range outerwear is fine but not the priority purchase, and better value can be found elsewhere at that price point.
If you snowboard and you’re building out a proper setup for the first time, Burton is an obvious and well-justified starting point. That recommendation isn’t complicated to make, which usually means it’s the right one.
Prices and specific model availability vary by retailer and season. Check current stock before buying.