Burton Grails: Olympic Uniforms That Wore American Culture on Their Sleeves

There’s no bigger stage than the Olympics.

And sure, we could go off about the politics — how FIS doesn’t always have snowboarding’s best interests in mind, or how it pits contest circuits against each other — but here’s the bottom line: when snowboarding shows up to the Olympics, we show up loud, proud, and fully kitted.

We’ve had the honor of designing the U.S. Snowboard Team’s uniforms across multiple Olympic cycles. And while it’s a high-pressure gig, it’s also a chance to reflect who we are as riders — a creative, culture-driven community with deep roots and zero interest in playing it safe. These aren’t just uniforms. They’re wearable statements, shaped by iconic moments in American history and filtered through the irreverent lens of snowboarding.

Here’s a look at some of the most unforgettable Olympic kits we’ve built over the years.

As Burton Team rider alumni Keir Dillon perfectly stated, “Nothing is more American than baseball, so we went for the retro ball game uniform style mixed with a baggy fit that [we were all] proud to wear.”

A nod to America’s pastime, our 2006 uniforms combined classic American sports apparel styling with mid-00s snowboard culture. Pinstripes, throwback logos, and a clean, white silhouette shone on the grand stage as Burton legends like Shaun White and Danny Kass graced the podium.

A fresh and progressive style that paid tribute to classic Americana fashion staples. Honesty, what’s more American than a pair of well-worn jeans and trusty ‘ol flannel?

With the pants combining a look of real, worn, vintage denim, and the jacket donning prep-inspired plaid with leather patches and crests, this kit incorporated classic U.S. fashion with the on-hill performance that only GORE-TEX fabrics could provide.

Like everything we’ve made, these uniforms were rider-driven from start to finish — meaning every U.S. athlete was proud to rock them in front of the entire globe.

Once again turning to America’s heritage for inspiration, our kit for the 2014 Sochi Games was directly inspired by handcrafted patchwork quilts and the American flag – the DIY ethos of our nation. But the backstory to how this uniform came to life is inspiring in itself.

On the hunt for the perfect design elements, Burton designers ended up finding a vintage quilt at a local antique fair. After bringing it home to Vermont, they deconstructed it, had it re-constructed by a veteran quilt maker in Vermont, and then replicated it into outerwear fabrics that could withstand the stresses of snowboarding. After doing all of this, we developed a tactic to print exact replicas of the quilt and a vintage American flag onto the fabric. The end result? A quilt pattern that looked hand-stitched, just like the antique fair original.

But it didn’t stop there. We then enlisted the U.S. Army Natick Soldier RD&E center to develop an all-new DRYRIDE Vaporshell laminate, which made its grand debut in these Olympic jackets.

Can it get any more patriotic than that?

Marking our fourth consecutive Olympic uniforms to be worn by the U.S. Snowboard Team, 2018's PyeongChang kits were literally out of this world. Once again drawing inspiration from America’s innovative heritage, these NASA-inspired suits paid homage to the United States’ leading space exploration program. With aesthetics that mimicked our astronauts’ space suits, this down one-piece was finely crafted with bright white non-woven Dyneema fabric, which happens to be the world’s strongest fiber. Extremely lightweight, breathable, and waterproof, the fabric itself had a space-age vibe inspired by the iconic 1960s moon landing suits.

But more than anything, the essence of this one-piece was not only drawn from something that was bigger than any of us, but ultimately, was built to meet the demands of world-class snowboarders first and foremost. As Jake Burton stated, “If the global expectations are that U.S. snowboarders represent their country in a uniform, then Burton wants to design and manufacture it. By doing so, we assure U.S. riders that they will have outerwear they can trust to perform at the highest level, with a look they have input into and ultimately respect. Simply put, they want snowboarding outerwear, not athletic wear, and who better than Burton to provide it.”

No matter how you feel about competitive snowboarding — or the powers that be behind it — there’s no denying the Olympics offer a rare spotlight for our culture. Every four years, snowboarding steps onto the world stage. And when it does, we make sure our riders are seen.

As Jake Burton once said,

“The sport of snowboarding is neither nationalistic nor team-oriented in nature; however, all of that changes for a minute every four years during the Olympic Games.”

At Burton, we’ve taken that minute seriously. Designing these uniforms has never just been about performance — it’s been about expression, pride, and showing up in gear that speaks to where we’re from and what we stand for.