Dear CLEW fans,

foremost, we would like to thank you for the great support and demand from all over the world. Within two months, we were completely sold out! Currently, our presale for the upcoming season is in full swing, the early bird discount is only valid for a few more days. In the next six months we will change a lot in the background, implement new systems and produce our Freedom 1.0 for the upcoming season 22/23 in 3 sizes. More about this in the outlook on page 3.
Enjoy reading - keep riding!

Looking back

Our multi-day CLEW try-out tour in Austria was a real highlight in January. At this point we would like to thank the responsible persons of the resorts Schladming, Saalbach, Stubai, Hintertux and Pitztal for the great cooperation. We have also planned another CLEW try-out tour in Austria and Switzerland next year. In due time, we will always publish all locations and times on short notice on our new website. At the end of January, we were present at the Laax Open in Switzerland. One of the 200 pros from 25 countries was our team rider Mark Schrott from Snowboard Germany. We are really proud to have such a halfpipe talent in our own ranks. Concerning team riders: We can already tell you that we are having a lot of talks, both in Europe and in America. In February, we had a lot of productive meetings with our suppliers. The shortage of materials, due to the worldwide pandemic, has also taken a toll on us and our suppliers. Thanks to our "Made in Germany" philosophy and our network of highly specialized suppliers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we have developed a certain resilience and are thus able to maintain our supply chains as far as possible and cushion the noticeable price increases to some extent.We have received our new product samples from Portugal for the CLEW summer collection at the end of February. Our textiles are "Made in Portugal" and stand for fair working conditions and high-quality, sustainable manufacturing processes.
We have also developed a new packaging board for the upcoming season. This not only impresses with new color and shape elements, but also convinces with a clear and functional design. A personal touch inside the carton rounds off the new packaging of the Freedom 1.0 (22/23).

5 Facts about CLEW.

1. Who is behind the CLEW brand?

We, Jakob, Johannes and Matthias, three former students, founded CLEW in 2019. We had one thing in common: We wanted to save ourselves the trouble of buckling and unbuckling after every lift ride, while still not giving up the unsurpassed riding experience of a buckle binding. Until then, there was no snowboard step-in binding on the market that satisfied us. Thanks to the university module "Methods of Product Development" in 2017, in the last semester of our mechanical engineering studies, we were able to develop our first idea of a new type of step-in snowboard binding using 3D printing processes and make it feasible. 

2. Where does CLEW produce? 

At a time when globalization has given companies a wide variety of options for their production processes, we have opted for the only way that feels right to us. From the very beginning, we wanted all CLEW models to be produced in Germany so that we could control and optimize every single step of the manufacturing process ourselves. This refers not only to the quality of the binding, but to the social responsibility we have for our employees in production and the resources we use as well. The challenging and difficult year 2021 is a confirmation that the approach "Made in Germany", along with our conviction of a socially and sustainably operating company, is the right one. 

3. In how many countries can I find CLEW stores?

In the upcoming season 2022/23 you will be able to purchase CLEW snowboard bindings in Germany, Spain, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, China, Spain, Turkey, Australia, USA, France, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia and Italy. Currently, we are in talks with other stores. 

4. What awards or honors has CLEW received?

We submitted our first business plan to the Stracheg Award and won the first place. In January 2020, 42 jurors from 13 countries voted the CLEW binding the ISPO Award Gold Winner, making it the best and most innovative snowboard binding in the world.

5. Are there any other CLEW products? 

In addition to our CLEW Freedom 1.0 snowboard binding, we offer you a "2nd Base Set". This gives you the possibility to ride directly with your second board with the CLEW without having to change the screws. Furthermore, we will offer again in cooperation with Moonchild a limited Moonchild board in CLEW design.
For the summer, we are planning a limited CLEW Summer Collection - consisting of shirts, hoodies and socks, among other things.
We always welcome more exciting questions from you:
Feel free to send us your question to magazine@clew.de

Outlook March

In March, we continue to prepare at full speed for the 2022/23 snowboard season.
We will move into a new CLEW production hall, because we have already reached our capacity limits in shipping last year and are now going to increase our quantities again significantly. There will be an exclusive CLEW customer portal next winter, where an even easier and faster exchange can take place. We are looking forward to your messages, because thanks to our intensive exchange in the last 3 years we were able to develop steadily. Every feedback from our fans is a crucial part in the development of CLEW.
Our backend systems, including shipping, customer management and accounting, are being converted to an all-in-one software solution. This will optimize our warehouses, as well as the shipping process, and significantly simplify the general workflow in CRM.
Furthermore, our websites (EU and America) will change completely. For the new season, clew.us and clew.de will be merged and our worldwide clew-snowboarding.com domain will go online! To go with this, we will also be increasing our headcount in some areas. This concerns especially our marketing and production/logistics departments.
As promised, there will be another exciting board project with Moonchild, our strictly limited snowboard collaboration. In addition, there will be an exclusive and limited CLEW summer collection (including t-shirts and hoodies)! So, it's worth to check our website every now and then during the summer ;-)
At the end of March, we will have our team-internal end of season party and go snowboarding for five days. We will use our evenings together to review the last season and to make creative plans for the future.
Directly after that, we will start a busy spring with fresh energy. We have a lot of plans - these will be exciting months for us again!
The next edition of the magazine will be published in time for the start of the season in October. It will contain all the important information for next winter, exciting impressions from our new production hall and much more... 
Be curious - there will be a lot of changes!
Best regards from Munich,
 
Your CLEW Team