With the winter recreation market continuing to grow year after year, mainstream consumer acceptance of the sportswear and leisurewear found on the mountains does as well. This leaves brands and retailers with a great opportunity to turn this thriving trend into a business success.
Take the bold colors found on the mountains of Aspen, intermix it with winter layers and accessories, a few vintage pieces here and there, and you have an idea of what Fashion Director Tommy Fazio titles “Pop Ski”. Join us as we take a look at the future of ski and snow wear through some current and upcoming trends below.
Who's Doing Skiwear Right?
Moncler
Taking the idea of “pop ski” the extreme, Italian luxury brand Moncler is fully embracing highly functional clothing you’d wear on the mountain and around town. Taking a look at their latest collection, they utilize colorfully retro textiles and bold texts that would often be found on the likes of streetwear brands. Not only is the brand manufacturing clothes with cutting edge technology like location detection radars, but they are also paying close attention to designing innovative, runway-ready pieces that bridge the gap between fashion and the highest level of usable performance snow wear. With origins as a brand worn in the most extreme of conditions, from snowsports to adventurers scaling some of the tallest mountains in the world, it makes sense that the brand stays true to their roots by designing merchandise built to endure and impress.
Canada Goose
Collaborations between high-end fashion and outdoor brands can often hint at consumer desirability and accessibility of the parties involved. Canada Goose is known for making the “ warmest parka in the world”, making a point to create pieces that leave no detail unturned in order to ensure their merchandise can endure the most extreme climates in the world. Their strong red and white logo has been featured in collaboration with luxury brands like Vetements, Opening Ceremony, Marc Jacobs and October’s Very Own (Drake’s OVO), fully illustrating how their clothing appeals to individuals who might be wearing it for fashion as much as they would be for functional purposes.
ASOS
Online retailer ASOS has also jumped in on the trend by offering a wide variety of retro meets casual snow wear targeted towards a younger audience. Featuring overalls (or better known as “bibs” in the snowsport world), bright neon colorways, and shiny fabrics, the retailer’s assorted collection is as ready for the snowy mountains as it is a post on Instagram.
Burton
For a few years now, the snowboard focused brand Burton has fully embraced the retro color-blocked fashion of decades past into their designs and continues to create pieces that continue to blur the line between streetwear and the best of active snow wear. 2020 has seen the brand bring back color-blocked and snow-ready pieces that are as poppy as they are functional. Their Analog and [ak457] lines are some great examples of pieces designed to “create a full system for outdoor protection out-perform in both the backcountry and the city”.
Conclusion
The brands and retailers mentioned above provide some examples of the styles and functions that customers are looking for today. These customers care not only about the performance of their snow wear but also their look on and off the mountain, be at the resort or in the city. If you’re a brand or retailer in this market, take a look at what they’re doing right and where you might be able to implement what’s working into your own business.
