When his endorsement deal expired, White started experimenting with different boards to find out what matched his riding style the best. And it planted the seed of an idea that five years later became a lifestyle brand called Whitespace.

Shaun White explains the name of his new brand

To celebrate the launch of his brand, Shaun White released a limited series of signature snowboards. He modeled the new line of boards himself, the white stripe on black shining in the sun as he made his final run on Olympic ice in Beijing. Later on, the company will eventually release a line of outerwear, snowboard hard goods, and streetwear apparel. 

Talking to Forbes, the three-time Olympic champion revealed the motivation behind the brand name. He was enamored by the idea of the white stripe down the middle. And when he began taking the board to the slopes, he received comments like, “I always know it’s you dropping in because there’s that big white space.”

These ideas tied together for the snowboarder and he decided the identity of their brand would be the signature white stripe. He told Forbes, “That’s who we are. Whitespace is obviously a play on my name, but also it means opportunity, a gap in the market, a blank canvas waiting for something new and creative.”

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Though a point of pride for White, the graphic isn’t the selling point for the boards. He tied his personality and passion for the sport into the product and made it about performance. “I like the cleanness of the boards; it’s not like they need to be loud to sell, the performance of them sells it.”

Beijing Olympic run marked the end of his career

Shaun White, a snowboarding prodigy, made headlines every four years since 2006, waving the American flag on Olympic snow. His three gold medals in the halfpipe barely scratch the surface of what he’s accomplished in the sport. 

He ended his career with a marvelous last run in Beijing, though he finished off the podium in fourth place. Naturally, White wished he could have performed better. But he was proud of what he put out and enjoyed the moment to its fullest. 

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“Riding down to get to the half pipe, just watching the sun come up over the hill and the turbines and [the] beautiful, beautiful place we’re at, [I was] just trying to squeeze every little moment out of this process,” he said afterward.