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Concept cars are a well known phenomenon in the automotive industry. In fact, they often get more attention than actual production cars.

For some reason, other industries just don't have concepts in the same way. You never really see concept bikes or canoes, do you? Unlike auto shows, the show floor of the Outdoor Retailer isn't decorated with any wild, conceptual prototypes; it has products and maybe a prototype or two on its way to production, but no concepts designed just to prove it can be done. The closest we tend to get is sketches or models built by independent designers - stuff like this.

Well, California outfit Signal Snowboards has developed a concept infrastructure within the snowboarding world. For the past year and a half, the company has produced a monthly video series called "Every Third Thursday." Every month, they come up with some kind of wild concept board that is highly unlikely to ever see the market. And they actually build it out, giving viewers a fun look at the research and development process in the industry while creating some truly unique boards.

I just found the series earlier this year and was really impressed by the hybrid surf-snowboard they built in January. You can check out the archives and follow new releases at signalsnowboards.com/every-third-thursday

• snowboarding
• concepts
• Signal
• videos