Beloved nineties brand, Morrow Snowboards, has been silent for years. But just over a month ago Morrow launched an Instagram account, @morrowsnowboards.
The account has been posting rad vintage photos and catalog images from its heyday. So, what does this mean?
Morrow Snowboards was founded by Rob Morrow and his cousin Neil in 1989. Both 19 years old at the time, Rob was a former Sims team rider and Neil was an engineering student. Legend says that while waiting for their snowboard press to be assembled, the first prototype they made was pressed by backing a truck into their warehouse and onto the board.
Morrow quickly rose to fame in snowboarding, both for their innovative board designs and their team, which included Todd Richards, Noah Brandon, Tucker Franzen, Josh Dirksen, and Kurt Heine.
The brand was the first large-scale American snowboard manufacturer and is credited with creating the first spoon-nosed boards, as well as the first short board specifically designed for the park (the infamous Lunchtray), among other board-building advances.
In 1999, K2 purchased the brand. In the early 2000s, Morrow was relegated to pricepoint distinction and petered out over the next decade, fondly remembered for its heyday. But now, the brand is back on Instagram, posting regularly, bringing snowboarding history and heritage to the forefront.
Legendary snowboarder and cultural steward Todd Richards is the person behind the account.
He explained in an Instagram caption:
"So, as a bunch of you have already guessed/assumed/figured, I (Todd) am running this account. Why now you ask? Couple reasons: the first is that Morrow had such an impact on the industry in the 90’ and early 2000’ but there isn’t really any record of that anywhere except for old mags and fading memories of old heads. I thought it was time to create some kind of a visual historical archive of the brand that was so much more than a sponsor. It was a family to me. The other reason…well, you’re just going to have to wait."
We’re definitely following @morrowsnowboards to find out the other reason.
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