1-18-13-1-4-1 equals Armada Snowboards
The rumours have been circling around for months, and now the cat is out of the bag: Armada is making snowboards. We get it, when a ski brand crosses into snowboarding, the instinct is to question it. But Armada isn’t just any ski brand, with freestyle culture at their core, they came into this knowing they needed real snowboarders shaping this project. And they found the right crew. So let’s get into it. Their first offering, which will be publicly available through select retailers and online in autumn 2026, will include nine board models, with boots and bindings to follow in 2027. The brand will be built upon the same ethos as its skiing category, focusing on freestyle-first consumers and creating an athlete-driven product line.
In a statement regarding the move, Armada Co-Founder and General Manager Hans Smith says:
"It has always been a dream of mine to make snowboarding a part of Armada. We’ve built our entire brand on being freestyle-focused and dedicated to our team while producing beautiful and functionally designed products for our consumers to experience the mountains the way they want to. Our snowboard program was curated by diehard snowboarders with this exact same ethos in mind. By building a world-class team of riders and best-in-market product, we are so proud to introduce Armada Snowboards to the world."
Armada Snowboards will focus its efforts on product development, building functionally designed and expertly manufactured products to reach shop shelves around the globe in 2026. The 2026/2027 line was concepted, developed, and relentlessly tested by the Armada Snowboards pro team and in-house staff members last winter, following their brand mantra, “If it didn’t pass the team, it didn’t make the line.”
Paul Maravetz, Armada Snowboards VP of Product states,“I’ve been doing this a while, so I know how important it is to get more than just the product right. What sealed the deal for me was knowing Hans understands, is committed for the long haul, and has built a deep bench of snowboarders in-house. We’ve been entrusted with the freedom and resources to drive the process from the ground up, listen closely to athletes as we iterate on designs, and bring products to market that push the boundaries of performance, all while respecting snowboarding culture.”
While the team riders have yet to be announced, what we have received are more numbers. A total of eight riders and nine in-house employees for the US and Europe have been announced. Going over the list of names, it is safe to say that Armada Snowboards is in the hands of veterans with decades of experience in the snowboarding industry: The in-house staff of Armada Snowboards consists of Tanner McCarty (Brand Director), Paul Maravetz (VP, Product), Tom “T. Bird” Monterosso (Marketing Manager), Josh Manoles (Senior Graphic Designer), Trevor Brady (Global Sales Manager), Tom Kingsnorth (European Marketing Manager), Ryan Harris (Snowboard Product Developer), Maguire Shea (Binding Product Developer) and Karl Wurm (Boot Product Developer).
Armada’s core business will be anchored in building upon existing relationships with specialty snowboard shops worldwide, where snowboard culture will always be a key component.
Built from the ground up, Armada Snowboards’ strong ethos is rooted in the legacy brand’s approach of team-driven quality product for a freestyle-centric consumer. Brand Director Tanner McCarty says, “There’s an honesty at this brand that’s refreshing. You can write down that you’re ‘team-driven’ or you can have your team walk through the office doors every day, snow still stuck to their pants, bugging the product teams about how something flexes. Armada has the latter. Their commitment to quality product via strong team culture is a dreamy little ethos to build a snowboard brand from.”
Learn more about the brand launch, the athlete team, and everything that’s in the works at www.armadasnowboards.com and on social media @armadasnowboards.