A love of snowboarding, a passion for drawing, and a flair for entrepreneurship has helped to determine the future for Adam Vindigni ’15 and four other UVM students who are on a mission to create an eco-friendly snowboard company based in Burlington, VT.

Growing up in Chester, NJ, Adam began sketching at an early age without any formal training.  These pencil sketches helped fill his creative energy while at school and at home.  In the winter months his time was spent snowboarding—so much so that in eighth grade he remembers thinking how great it would be to start a snowboard company. 

Fast forward to UVM. His time is filled with studio art classes, courses supporting his minor in art history, and, like so many UVM students, working part-time. Adam landed a job at Sticky Brand, a homegrown print shop and vinyl die cutting business located in Burlington. While working for Sticky Brand he discovered that the snowboard company Technine was once housed in the same building. That was inspiration enough for the idea that had been tucked away since eighth grade to return as a real possibility—now he just needed a few creative partners to help move it forward.

Enter Will Romeo ‘15, an Environmental Studies major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.  Will and Adam had been friends since their freshman year and one night Adam pitched the idea to Will. Why not create a company that could be more environmentally conscious with an ecological approach to making snowboards that would also allow him to showcase his artwork? They knew there had been a few companies that used hemp to make top sheets for snowboards, so they wanted to expand on that concept by adding bamboo sidewalls to the board. Such a board would be super light, super durable, and as earth-friendly as possible.  Adam would create one-of-a-kind, limited-run art designs for the snowboards. He and Will found a custom builder in Madison, Wisconsin who would manufacture the boards from hemp, bamboo, poplar, and bio-resin epoxy to get away from plastics and carbon fiber materials. Powe.Snowboards was on its way.

Another Environmental Studies major from the Rubenstein School, Joe Stark ‘15, joined the team, as did College of Arts and Sciences Political Science major Sean Israelski ’15, and Rob Mortenson ’16 from the School of Business Administration. Sean would handle the business calls to insurance companies and other administrative details while Rob focused on the finances and budgets. Joe and Will were also interested in starting a children’s program and used the idea for one of their environmental studies courses. The course would focus on mountain ecology:  snow science, mountain safety, and animal science. They wanted to bring together education, ecology, and safety to create a positive and informative snowboarding experience for children.  Partnering with Bolton Valley Resorts, the Alpine Shop, and the greater Burlington YMCA, the program Powe.Mountain Mentors has hosted days at Bolton Mountain to establish stronger relationships with the surrounding environments and to promote pastimes that define the state of Vermont.

Tom Brennan, Art and Art History Department Chair, says it is has been exciting to see how Adam “has successfully incorporated his love for graphic design with environmental concerns to create a company that produces snowboards featuring Adam's graphics.” This semester Adam will work on new snowboard designs for the company as part of his senior seminar in drawing, and he’s also branching out into such courses as News Writing Across Media and Drawing and Painting Botanicals.

Adam hopes he and his partners can continue to build interest in their local product. A sponsorship this winter of the Cranmore Mountain's terrain parks is a big step in creating awareness. Teton Gravity Research, a well-reputed snowboard research company based in Wyoming, will feature Powe.Snowboards in its Upstarts and Underdogs section. With the company based in Burlington, Adam said, “Our efforts to use renewable and sustainable materials are something we are very aware of and it is something we have in common with our immediate audience.”  This past year they produced 40 boards, with two different graphic designs: The Chedda Shredda and the Powder Hound.

This summer the Powe.Snowboards team will be living together in Burlington, working day jobs while launching a Kickstarter campaign, visiting local businesses to raise awareness, and taking additional orders for next season as well as producing a line of children’s boards.  So far, the response from Burlington, VT to Vail, CO and beyond has proven that Adam’s eighth grade business idea, along with his passion for artwork, has come to fruition on the slopes of Vermont.