sales manager for Avalanche’s ski divi- sion. “If you want to stay in line, you must be proactive and listen to what people want.” More often, she says, customers are insisting that sustainability is built into uniforms. “Whether in our factories or in the materials used, we try to maintain a constant sustainable conscience.” Utility Product Ski Area Supplies, a wholesaler based in Boulder, Colo., crafts ski resort uniforms using domestic materials. “The resort consolidation has definitely impacted our sales over the years,” says owner Mardee Kayser. “We used to get con- tracts to supply certain departments at major resorts, but department managers are no longer able to purchase outside of the uniform contracts negotiated with major apparel manufacturers.” Smaller resorts nationwide still turn to Ski Area Supplies for its flexibility around custom sizing, features, and branding. While sales have ebbed in uniforms, the company has leaned into its best-sell- ing Deluxe Maintenance Vest, a utility vest that holds communications gear, tools, and supplies, or rescue gear—and that the company customizes with colors, reflective tape, and embroidery. You’ll see the technicolored vests at Big Sky, Strat- ton, and even on Colorado’s Department of Transportation plow workers. Small But Mighty While the resort conglomerates are leaning into big buys with dominant players like Helly Hansen and Mam- mut, some independent resorts prefer the uniform-only brands. For the last eight years, Bogus Basin, Idaho, has been buying Mountain Uniforms for most departments, and then tapping different vendors for terrain park, ski patrol, and lift maintenance. The numbers are small; buys range from 75 to 300 uniform piec- es every three years or so. It’s important to Bogus Basin that its uniform partner can deliver consis- tency over time. “I believe in going with a brand that specializes in uniforms. The uniform companies retain fabric colors for an extended period of time and allow for re-orders and special sizing because this is their core business,” says Brad Wilson, Bogus Basin general manager.
“Mountain Uniforms has been great about keeping our colors and allowing us to re-order to fill in quantities. Oth- erwise, we’d have a hodgepodge of uni- form looks, and uniforms are supposed to be … uniform.” Special Cases Meanwhile, Bogus Basin’s terrain park crew has a more grassroots partnership for uniforms. The park’s 16 diggers and two snowcat operators wear Airblast- er uniforms and ThirtyTwo snowboard boots. “I’ve chosen to partner with brands that have continued to support snowboarding and terrain parks,” says terrain park director Corey McDonald. “I firmly believe in building relationships with brands that align with what you have going at your resort.” Burton takes a similar outlook to partnering with Powdr resorts. Staffers at Powdr resorts wear Mammut across most departments, except for Burton’s deal with Woodward Parks at Boreal and Soda Springs, Calif., and Woodward Park City, Utah. “Woodward has played a piv- otal role in driving positive change in action sports for over 50 years, and we partner with them to drive snowboard- ing forward and inspire future genera- tions to participate,” says Nate Benson, Burton senior director, marketing and consumer direct – Americas. Other outerwear makers are still in the uniform game with partnerships on a smaller scale. Denver-based Flylow sup- plies patrol kits for resorts like Monarch Mountain, Colo., and Mt. Hood Skibowl, Ore., and works with heli-ski operations like Chugach Powder Guides, youth teams like the Loveland Freeride Club, and the education staff of the New Zealand Snow- sports Instructors Alliance (NZSIA). “It’s worth it for us to have guides and freeride coaches and teams in our gear,” says Fly- low co-founder Dan Abrams. “They’re the best skiers on the mountain. Lifties are not. Ski schoolers are not.” Flylow is one of the suppliers used by Saddleback, which reopened in 2020. But the Maine resort doesn’t use a dedi- cated uniform brand across departments. “We’ve used several suppliers, including Stio, Flylow, Helly Hansen, and L.L. Bean, to name a few,” says PJ McSparran, the resort’s chief revenue officer.
glers’ Notch, Vt., Diamond Peak, Nev., and Winterplace Resort, W.Va. The brand even supplies uniforms to the ice rink at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. “Our sales model is different than ven- dors. We guarantee to offer the same style in the same color year after year for true uniformity,” says managing director Kim Stearns, who founded Mountain Uniforms in 1996. The brand also offers customiza- tion, from zipper pulls to embroidery. While the resort sector is staying steady for the brand, Mountain Uniforms has garnered growth by offering uni- forms to fire departments, law enforce- ment, and search and rescue. The evolution to those new sectors stemmed from word of mouth. “We had a volunteer ski patroller who knew the brand, and he was also the captain at his local Idaho State Police,” Stearns says. “We used to be 80 percent ski and 20 per- cent public safety. Now we’re more like 50-50,” she says. Avalanche Skiwear has been focus- ing on uniforms for ski resort staffs since 1986. The brand tailors its products to the pros with features like full-zip pants, abrasion-resistant fabrics, name tags, and radio pockets. Today, Avalanche supplies uniforms to 400 ski resort staffs and clubs across North America and Europe, from Colorado’s Steamboat to France’s Meribel Alpina. Ski resort uniforms are the DNA of the brand, but Avalanche has also expanded into industry-specif- ic uniforms for search-and-rescue teams and firefighters. “The ski uniform market is in con- stant motion,” says Stéphanie Lavoie, Wholesaler Ski Area Supplies has leaned into sales of its best-selling utility vest.
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator