Kitchen experiment turns into eco-friendly ski wax revolution

Erik Smith, founder and CEO of Salt Lake City-based Board Budder, talks about rethinking one of skiing and snowboarding’s most overlooked environmental impacts: wax. He shares how concerns about petroleum-based products and toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” led him to experiment with hundreds of formulations before developing a plant-based, PFAS-free alternative. Smith also discusses taking Board Budder from his kitchen to national retailers like REI while keeping manufacturing and quality control in Utah.