If you happen you to live around a few select shops in North America you may have already noticed a new shop specific line of Celtek spring/pipe gloves. The gloves are a partnership between Celtek and a few hand picked local stores. The line is called the SLSH line and is short for Shop Local Shop Here. Word of the Milo collaboration hit Facebook late last season with a pic of Brandon Hammid sporting a pair at the shop. Now they are being officially debuted this week as the 2010/2011 season is upon us. If you happen to live near one of these shops go check them out and be proud that you are supporting not only a local shop but also a rider owned and operated company.

Heres the press release and official word from Celtek owners Bjorn/Erik Leines and Marketing Manager Jon Spiris…

Rider owned glove and accessory company, Celtek, has created a line of retailer designed gloves, dubbed the “SLSH Collection”.

We talk with our hands a lot at the mountain, from shakas in the lift line, to high fives after hammers. But soon, you’ll be able to say a lot more with your hands thanks to Celtek and eight of snowboarding’s raddest retailers. This season, Celtek introduces the SLSH (Support Local & Support Here) Collection, eight models of gloves, designed by the people that make up one of the cornerstones of Snowboard Culture: the Local Shop.

Celtek founders Erik and Bjorn Leines describe the motivation behind this collection, “The feeling of going in to a real snowboard shop for the first time is a mixture of wonder, intimidation, and stoke. It’s usually the moment when you become snowboarder and stop being “someone who snowboards”. We wanted to let these shops have total control on the artwork on the gloves to showcase their personality, and give the ability to fly the flag of people that bust ass every day to make sure that snowboarding stays awesome.”

“These were the types of stores that supported Celtek in the very beginning, they are the heart of snowboarding, and deserve to be recognized.” Bjorn added.

Celtek’s aim for this program is to give back to the roots of the brand, as well as keeping the excitement and energy of buying from a local shop strong.

Jon Spiris, Celtek’s Marketing Manager, knows how much pride snowboarders have in their shop.

“Kids are personally connected to these shops, they’ve gotten everything from product, to trick tips, to life advice from shop employees and owners. It goes so much deeper than just walking out the door with a purchase.”

The Celtek SLSH Collection is only available at the following retailers: Milosport (Salt Lake City, UT), The Youth Shelter Supply (Waite Park, MN), Easy Rider (Alberta, Canada), Shred Shop (Chicago, IL), Tactics (Eugene, OR), World Boards (Bozeman, MT), EVO (Seattle, WA), and Damage (Duluth,MN).



