Can Grenade Save Itself from Grenades Image

It doesn’t matter if it’s a tale about a poor Italian boxer from Philadelphia or a snowboard brand that was a huge part to a specific generation of snowboarding, everyone loves an underdog story as well as all the comeback sequels it spawns. Yesterday the king of the Grenerds himself, Danny Kass made the announcement that he was coming back to helm the company he started with his big brother Matt in the early 2000’s as the latest part of the Grenade saga.

In an open letter to the “awesome sports community” Danny addressed the termination of CEO Joseph Condorelli and his plan for the future of Grenade.

Dear awesome sports community,

I wanted to take a moment to tell you about the exciting changes coming up for Grenade Inc. First, I would like to thank you for all of your support throughout the years, I am grateful for every door that you have opened up for me in my life and career. In 2001, my brother and I set out on a radical mission: we wanted to create a new clothing and gloves brand that was out-of-the- box and not like every other lame brand that we had to work for as teenagers. Not because we didn’t respect the successful brands out there that had done so much for our respective sports, but because we wanted to push the boundaries and create a line where you would never hear the phrase “no we can’t do that”.

Which awesome community is he addressing MMA, Motocross, Lifestyle, or Snowboarding? While collectively part of the action sports community they’re all separate entities and as Grenade has morphed into a brand that has seemed to focus more on the ‘bro’ aspect is that who he is addressing? Or are they finally going to come back to their roots?

Reading their manifesto off their website it seems so opposite of what they are. This message may have been true for the early years, but now seeing their product whored out to mall shops and their logo being the epitome of a passport stamp to the BroMuda Triangle the start to this letter feels contrived.

I am proud to say that there is an incredible new era of Grenade that will be blossoming in front of your eyes – soon you will start to see the new brand direction emerge on the worldwide web as well as at storefronts of our amazing retail partners. When we started this business I never wanted to be the sole owner of the company, because I truly believe it was built with a family, the Grenade Army, and very close friends that shared a common goal as simple as this – to snowboard and skate as much as possible, and travel enough to one day get barreled or hang 10. So as of June 17th, Joseph Condorelli has been let go from his acting role of CEO, and we have completed a full redemption of any and all shares in Grenade Inc. At this stage I am not looking for a “respected business man” to fill the big title as lead of the company. This is our brand and it belongs to our family, so moving forward I will be taking the active role as leader of the company – to bring it back to its roots and return Grenade to the brand that everyone knows it can be.

Should we all go down to Zumiez to see this new brand direction first hand? Or would the local MMA gym or motocross dealer be better?

Joseph Condorelli was the epitome of all things that are wrong inside the snowboarding industry. You can read my thoughts on this from four years ago here.

Danny makes a good mention of his family, the question is will his big brother Matt be on board. In what can be described as one of the most detailing interviews of the demise of Grenade Matt Kass told all. Time can heal all wounds, but these seem very deep.

We have made a lot of mistakes throughout the years, and with a team of some of the best people in the industry we will be fixing and improving in all departments from everything we have learned. I am dedicating my time to ensure this happens, and am really excited to share with you our dedication to board sports and love for all things wild and crazy that Grenade was founded on.

We all know our industry is in a delicate state and times have been harder on some more than others. Fortunately for Grenade we have a well-built KAT (kick ass team) of passionate people that know the industry and our mission. I hope one day you all can join the family at Grenade Inc., but for now I’d like to introduce you to our new upper management team . . .

Going back through the annals of snowboarding history the common theme with a lot of Grenades decisions is that they apologize for their mistakes, what makes this any different? While many are willing to jump on the nostalgic fervor fueled bandwagon one has to look at the veterans of the Grenade Army and how they will be taken care of after the aftermath of this internal civil war.

More importantly who is willing to jump in there and fight the uphill battle against the Grenade of the past to preserve the Grenade of the future?

I’m willing to answer any questions and comments you may have, so please email me at the link below. We are excited to answer and learn from any feed back – even if its just a “heck yeah dude”. And also just to clarify, as a preemptive strike on what many of you may be thinking right now, Yes!! we will be delivering on schedule!

It’s an honor to have worked with so many great friends, athletes, and industry leaders over the years, and looking forward to many more!

Thanks awesome industry.

Thanks friends.

Thanks Matt.

Yours truly,

General of the Grenade Army,

Daniel Scott Kass

Viva la grenade!!
[email protected]
[email protected]

For those that want to question where Grenade is at and where they are going I strongly urge you to reach out to them and see how long it takes them to answer an email from you. Because a sign of how well a company cares about its customers and loyal fan base can be judged in its interactions.