Small Business Spotlight: Spiral Wax Company

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- It’s no secret that Central Oregon is a haven for snow-sport enthusiasts. With Mount Bachelor right in our backyard, you’ll find many live here for that sense of community. 

KTVZ News is introducing a new segment called ‘Small Business Spotlight’, and what better way to kick it off than by highlighting a local eco-friendly snowboarding lifestyle brand?

“We're trying to change the perspective on waxing to be more about snowboard care, self-care, and that we should slow down in life,” said Tim Karpinski, the co-founder and co-owner of Bend-based Spiral Wax Company.

For Karpinski, snowboarding and its culture have engrained themselves throughout his life.

“When I was super young, me and some of my best friends joked around about starting a company when we were just snowboard rats. I would draw my grip tape and make up our crew names, like the ‘Vernon Valley Hardcore’ which is where we were from, and create tags and stuff like that,” Karpinski said. “But going to school and learning about marketing and design, I became aware of how brand really works.”

At just 20 years old, Karpinski started Grenade Gloves with a few friends—that turned out to be a massive success.

“We didn't have any idea what we were doing. So we were breaking rules and didn't really understand the rules that we were breaking,” said Karpinski.

After taking some time off, two years ago, Karpinski and his friend Max Warbington decided to take another leap—creating Spiral Wax Company.

“We are snowboarders running a snowboard company,” Karpinski said. “We're not a snowboard wax company. We're like a snowboard lifestyle brand…We make a lot of stuff, and we're going to experiment with whatever we really we want to make as long as it falls into the wellness self-care umbrella with wax is used to take care of your snowboard base.”

All of the magic happens inside of Karpinski’s home.

“Max and I own and operate this business with Clara Machado and Troy Lalonde, who are my brand and operations partners. We're just four people in a tiny house with a lot of passion making it work…It’s insane what we can produce out of this tiny room. I can make 500 bars a day of wax, quality, beautiful wax. We're packaging in the living room. We're warehousing in my garage, but we're also able to ship to massive retailers,” Karpinski said. “Every product we make has to have a little bit of a twist on, something new, a little bit punk rock, a little disruptive.”

From wax to apparel, Spiral has blossomed into something greater—with a focus on remaining eco-friendly.

“Solar power has become pretty accessible these days. We live in Bend, so it's sunny 300 days a year or more. We just basically have an unlimited source of energy for free if you have this set up….We are making it with all solar power, which is pretty unique. All of our packaging is made in Eugene with recycled craft cardboard, and it's biodegradable,” Karpinski said. “It's not harming the groundwater up on the mountain, because when you snowboard, the wax goes from your board to the snow. It melts, it goes into the soil, into the groundwater, down into the reservoirs, into our homes, into our bodies. So what we really want to do is put a stop to this. And with the support of retailers in the community, and without sacrificing performance, you could do that by just riding spiral wax.” 

Karpinski said Bend is the perfect spot to make this dream a reality.

“I think living in Bend and the snowboard community here really helped with the seed and the germination of it,” Karpinski said. “I'm a snowboarder, and I ride my product. But Max is my partner, and he's a professional snowboarder. Then the Bend community—Mount Bachelor is our backyard, and that's where we develop and test and work with our team.”

Spiral is backed by local athletes.

“People like Randal Seaton, Janessa Bork, (and) Max Warbington, to name a few, are some of our team riders. They’re on the mountain every single day riding, and they're perfect people to help develop and test products,” Karpinski said. “If you can make a product that works at Bachelor, it's going to work anywhere. We've successfully done that.”

Rachael ‘Shabs’ Warner is Spiral’s first intern.

“I was pretty new here, and I kept seeing Spiral around with either people I knew or just events
I've been to. And I was like, okay, I got to know what this is. So I reached out on Instagram. I was just like, ‘Hey, love what you're doing. I can do this. I'm all over the place and would happily come over and help out.’ And yeah, it worked out pretty quickly,” Warner said. "I have tested (the wax), and not to be biased, but it works very well."

The dream team—working to combine their passions with the local community.

“I mean, our mantra is slow down, but (the wax) will get you going fast if you want to,” Warner said.

For the Spiral team, it’s about a lot more than running a business.

“I just live it and breathe it. I can't escape it, and I don't want to. I’m obsessed with it, and it’s to a degree where it may be unhealthy, but I think that that's what you have to do,” Karpinski said. “There's an insane drive that's pushing me to do this.”

To learn more about Spiral Wax, click here.