A story of passion and family. 

They met a few years ago when Olivier was hanging around Chris' shop (skate, surf, snowboards ....) in Perpignan. A beautiful meeting as there are only a few in a lifetime, Chris a little older than Olive gives him a hand to find sponsors, snowboard & wear ... and Olive on the podiums with his stickers shop (BTR SHOP) promotes him! The current passes, things are done by themselves. Olivier grew up, got his diploma to teach snowboarding via the SSBS in Switzerland and Chris sold his shops to go on the international adventure of stand up paddle with Redwoodpaddle & now PWR foil. The years go by, they meet again, the friendship is strong, always present, and the idea to create a snowboard brand reappears with the sales strategy of redwoodpaddle... the less intermediaries to have the fairest price! 

Here we go, factory visits, tests, protos, tests, protos ... decos, (that they want without vintage), tests and validation of products! All the cores of their boards come from forests whose wood is FSC certified, which is a label guaranteeing that the forests are managed in a responsible and sustainable way. This kind of natural resource management is essential to Stone. 

Olivier Cluzel, 

"I started snowboarding in 1990 in the Pyrenees Orientales at the age of 8. Those were the best years of snowboarding! Skiing did not interest me, I then did competitions with the club of Les Angles (66), I immediately liked the atmosphere, it must be said that our coaches knew how to do. I went straight to the second biggest snowboard brand in the world. This was the beginning of a love story!  Snowboarding has guided my entire youth, both academically with sawtooth and mountain peak report cards! My parents saw that I had to develop this skill! I can never thank them enough.

Then I met Christophe Defrance who was the manager & founder of BTR shop! He himself was passionate about all kinds of sliding machines. I was a simple high school student, sponsored by the brands he sold, I often came to his store because he was the only one in the region to be always in the trend and to listen to me. Thanks to him I continued to integrate good brands, then our paths separated, I stopped snowboarding a little before 2006 to take over my father's company. Chris continued BTR but he had other ideas in mind. 6 years at the head of this company, I couldn't take it anymore, too many sharks. I am from the mountains, not the oceans!  

I went to Switzerland to get my BE snowboard because in France you have to ski to teach snowboarding! Life is an eternal restart.  In short, 3 years in Switzerland, enough for a Mediterranean man! Time for new projects, we're off! It was in 2015... (time goes on, we are in 2021, I am the father of a 8 years old boy & an 3 years old girl. Chris is the triple dad of 2 big girls & a brand new one of 4 years old....) snowboarding, a market in crisis in front of the ski which is very successful. We think that with products like we offer, new molds, new shapes you can only love.

We manufacture in Europe, 2 hours by plane from our home in Poland at NBL SPORTS in the clearest transparency. Today the splitboard market is in full development, we have finished leaders splitboard in France end of season 2021 & given the current context & the health crisis that we have just experienced, going off the beaten track is the alternative. This winter we will have 8 splitboards in our catalog.  We have to say that walking around in our beautiful mountains on skis while we are snowboarders is not a good idea! Our key word is minimalism. No more vintages, just simplicity. Our company is French & Stone Snowboards is the first brand in the Pyrenees. We are born to ride. "

Chris Defrance,

"I started snowboarding in 1985, with 2 plywood boards, a little fiberglass, polyester resin, and some manhole covers to make the press. I always liked to build my own boarding gear, windsurf, surf, stand up paddle, foil... I never had the level to be a pro rider, but I always wanted to live in this environment, so Brevet d'état, shape, salesman in surf shop then owner of shops. This is & will always be my life ! This job allowed me to make a lot of nice meetings but with Olivier, we knew for a long time that we would do something together... So this is our story, we love it, we travel, we surf, we laugh and above all we love what we do."

After 6 months together, Chris not being able to take care of Redwood Paddle & Stone Snowboards, Olivier took over the brand at the beginning of January 2016 like a chick taking its first flight!!! 

Thank you for following us in this beautiful adventure!