DWD: Dysfunctional Family

Dinosaurs Will Die has never operated within the confines of what a snowboard brand is “supposed" to do. Instead the small brand has always done what they wanted to do, and as a result, have duly earned their reputation as one of the few brands most in touch with snowboarding’s DIY, anti-authoritarian/anti-establishment roots.

Throughout the brands 13-year tenure owners, Sean Genovese and Jeff Keenan have walked the tight rope of snowboarding's industry pitfalls including, but definitely not limited to, a terrible industry-wide seasonal business model and the notoriously low margin on hard goods. These are traps that have swallowed so many other "small" brands with callous disregard for how devoted or "core" they may be. The duo has established a reputation of fully supporting what their riders want to pursue individually rather than trying to fit them into the typical industry team dynamic vis-a-vis controlled and calculated branding. As a result, they have cultivated more of a family mentality than a traditional "team" structure and ultimately have succeeded in organically producing the tight-knit cadre of riders that many well-funded brands try so hard to create by force. This can be immediately and undoubtedly recognized by this past season’s release of "Dysfunctional Family" a collaboration with Magic Hour Moves' Brendon Hupp, himself a longtime member of the DWD fold.

As longtime supporters of Arkade, and we ourselves ardent supporters of DWD, we were lucky enough to receive a treasure trove of behind the scenes shots taken by Brendon during the filming of "Dysfunctional Family." Capturing the riders from the streets of Alaska and Canada to the backcountry of B.C. and the downtimes in between these images show that the DWD "family" moniker is more than hype. We are both excited and honored to share them here. Enjoy.

Photos by Brendon Hupp

Words by Daniel Cochrane