Want to know more about the men that make your dream board come true? We met Philippe Tiercin, snowboard product manager at Wed'ze, who kindly answered our questions. Focus on a man of passion...
Wed’ze: Hello Philippe. « snowboard product manager », that sounds like a dream! Can you explain your job ?
It is about helping people find THE perfect snowbaord, THE perfect binding and THE perfect boot, the ones that will make them enjoy riding the mountains to the most.
With a team comprising engineers, designers, manufacturing managers, quality managers, supplychain managers and field testing managers, we work on developping a catalogue of snowboarding products (boards, boots and bindings): we develop, we test, we validate, and then manufacture them to deliver them to the Decathlon stores. I am also in charge of the marketing and communication on my products, so that I can help the clients to make the right choice for them, so they enjoy riding with the right gear...
You have to know what snowboarders all around the world need and want. The goal is to meet the needs and the requests of all the clients, but also to find sources of innovation.
Wed’ze: Do you snowboard yourself?
Snowboarding, for a snowboard product manager, is a basic requirement! It can't be otherwise. This allows a better understanding of our clients, and allows me to test my products, and to garantee their quality; I can't accept a lesser quality on the products I sell as I use them too!
Wed’ze: Why did you choose to work in the snow sports industry, rather than any other field?
This choice came to me naturally. While I was in college (Philippe is an engineer in the Science of materials), the friends I made were moutaineers (skiers, snowboarders, hikers, trailers, climbezrs...), and I still ride the moutains with them today, 20 years later. My passion for the sport made me enter the Decathlon Company, and then my passion for snow sports drove me towards Wed'ze, as soon as the brand emerged, in 2007.
Wed’ze: do you have something you would like to add?
I'm living a teenager's dream.
Before, when I was to buy gear, I used to read all the special test editions of snow magazines to try and figure out everything about the new features.
Today, I stille work with the same pleasure I had as a teenager to figure it all out, make new features arrive on the market, and help my clients understand the products and what they need to enjoy snow sports.
I feel like there is a real motivation coming from the young generation, event the youngest ones, for this sport. And I'm really happy about that!
Wed’ze: Thank you Philippe for sharing your trade and your passion with us! We are looking forward to the next season, to uncover the new features of the Wed'ze snowboard collection.
