Crafting the first known snowboard as a 13-year-old skateboarder in woodshop class, lobbying a resistant ski community to let us onto the lifts, digging the first halfpipe, putting on the first contests, and building a team of superstars, Toms Sims’ bold vision of surfing down mountains inspired everything in snowboarding we know today. He created the snowboard, and he created the snowboarder.
It started with Tom Sims. Kelly and Kidwell fueled the flames, and Salasnek and Palmer burnt the house down. Today’s SIMS team reflects the diversity of the snowboarder. Jump the entire mountain like John Jackson, dodge the camera like Scott Blum, ride the deepest powder of your life, ride the iciest park in your life – it is what you make it, and whatever that is, we make a snowboard for it.
He had wild ideas about surfing mountains. And one step at a time-chasing the unknown and the “what if?”-he pioneered a movement. Not just as a champion for the sport of snowboarding but his vision of a lifestyle and culture built around boardsports.
SIMS revolutionized snowboarding with forward-thinking concepts and rider-driven product innovations that fueled the technical progression of the sport. SIMS always had a gnarly team. The best graphics. Game-changing product. It shaped an industry and ignited global demand. SIMS built the future of snowboarding—the new and the now. Today, we look back and see we shaped history. It is a deeply held SIMS belief that the riders of the boards are the ultimate authority on product performance.
Photo #1: Terry Kidwell. Wine Rock, Tahoe, California. by Tom Sims.Photo #2: Terry Kidwell, Swatch Worlds, 1988, Breckenridge, CO, by Bryce Kanights.
Photo #2: Terry Kidwell, Swatch Worlds, 1988, Breckenridge, Colorado, by Bryce Kanights.
"Thank you for everything you did to make modern snowboarding and skateboarding what they are today. Riding for SIMS in the eighties was an incredible time in my life. Tom Sims, snowboarding and skateboarding legend, will live in our hearts forever.”
TERRY KIDWELL
These were Tom’s roots and informed his entire approach to snowboarding. The distinction was critical. For SIMS, it has always been about freestyle and fun. Not scoring points. And growing outward from this utopian vision of self-expression through radical action, a culture has flourished.
Rob Roskopp. Mt. Baker, WA. Photo by Bryce Kanights.
Firsts - From its inception, Sims has relied on the riders to guide and evolve every product. It is an inclusive, DIY approach that sets the standard, empowering progression in everything from construction and production innovations to tech and product breakthroughs that shifted the paradigm. The first metal edge board, the first pro model; the first double-strap binding, the first folding highback, the first women’s board, and so on. For decades.
Today, SIMS exists to celebrate the past, foster progression in the present, and push snowboarding forward into the future. Committed to the culture and those who live to ride, we pay homage to our founder, Tom Sims, and his inspired vision of life on boards.
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