The Bomb Hole

Since our brands inception, professional snowboarder/punk and poet, Chris Grenier has been part of the Stance family, and is a huge part of our overall success within the core snowboard market. During 2020 Grenier teamed up with longtime friend and professional snowboard photographer, Ethan Stone Fortier, better known as E. Stone to host a podcast centered on the snowboard industry, and the players involved in the sport. The show has seen incredible growth in a short time because of Grenier and Stones’ authentic approach to hosting the show, and deep diving into their guest history and paths forward. Stance is proud to debut our first partnership with every snowboarder’s favorite snowboarding podcast, The Bomb Hole. The collaboration features a merino wool blend snow sock, built with FEEL 360 technology, and highlighting The Bomb Hole logo knit on the side of the socks.

Check out the exclusive interview with Chris Grenier below.

You and Ethan have a long history in the snowboard industry. How did you both originally meet? How did you become friends and now business partners?  

We met through snowboarding, E. stone shot photos for snowboarder magazine for a long time, so we would link up at spots and get snowboard photos. He is one of the funniest people I know, so when I was coming up with the podcast idea, I thought he would be the perfect partner on the mic.

What interested you to start your own podcast? 

I had been thinking about starting one for a few years, and when Covid hit I had some free time and that just expedited the process. There was some snowboard podcasts out at the time, I didn’t think they were very good so I thought we could offer a different podcast experience in the snowboard space.

How was the process of starting your own podcast, and preparing for interviews w both your peers? 

It was a surprise how well it was received; it’s been a real pleasure learning the process over the past year and a half. I spend a lot of time preparing on the phone with the guest. I believe that good questions make for good answers, so the art of learning how to interview has been a good learning experience.

You have had rapid success with The Bomb Hole, why do you think that is?

I think key factors are consistency and authenticity. We put a podcast out every week and try to be honest and authentic. We also got really lucky with the timing during Covid, there was a lot of people just sitting at home discovering podcast, so we built an audience fast.

You have been a Stance punk and poet for 10 years. How has the experience been growing with the brand from an idea to disrupt a category to today? 

It’s been wild. I have been with Stance since the early days, it has been very inspiring to watch it grow into the juggernaut of a company it is today. It’s been an honor to be a part of, so thank you guys!

Tell us about the collaboration on The Bomb Hole x Stance snowboard sock. How did the idea come about? 

Albie Rosario (VP of Marketing at Stance) and I were just talking about the idea, then we decided to make it happen. Honestly, I have had a bunch of pro model socks in the past, but I like this one the best.