Is skiing a form of design? The answer is yes. But instead of looking at the abstract, lets go straight to the visual. Skiing is more than slapping on two sticks of wood and flying down a mountain, unreasonably fast, with your life in critical danger. Skiing is an expression of individuality and currently skiing is taking on a new trend. It is following along with current fashion and in some cases even leading the future of fashion. Bright neon colors and crazy designs that make absolutely no sense are giving skiers the drive, passion and motivation to feel like they are able to achieve anything they want; including launching themselves off of 15 ft. high snow mounds into the air another 15ft, doing some extreme contorting of the body and landing back on their skis. It is truly crazy. However I am a follower. Skiing is becoming more than just a winter hobby; it is turning into a way of life. Some people dress with the attitude of new-fashioned skiers year-round. Some of my friends from the Ski Team, are intense freestyle/slopestyle skiers. They spend 50+ days a season in the Park (this is not an exaggeration). They live, eat, breath the latest gear that will make them look they way they perform, extreme. Check out Armada Skis … if you don’t know about them – you should. They are one of the latest companies to spring up selling ‘steezy’ (a word for the new trend of ‘style’ with ‘ease’ – commonly used in the ski & snowboard world) ski gear.
“Armada is a family of athletes, artists, designers, and engineers that didn’t just push the envelope—we blew it wide open. And the industry is scrambling to catch up. We are Armada. We are what skiing will become.”
Armada isn’t your average ski company; they were started by a group of extreme skiers. Professionals actually, including Tanner Hall, JP Auclair, JF Cusson, Julien Regnier and Boyd Easley. They are the first rider-owned, rider-operated manufacturer. They have high-profile sponsored pros, making their company ‘more legit’ (or cool). Armada is also associated with the Winter X-Games. Armada is working toward shift the perception of skiers from old, sweater-wearing, uptight people to a younger, more dynamic crowd of kids that loves skiing for the more extreme aspects of the sport.
The graphics they incorporate onto their skis, jackets, and other gear are more than just some random graphics someone came up with. They incorporate actual artists’ work directly onto the skies themselves. The apparel follows the latest fashion trends, this year along with some of their wild designs they are also doing color blocked jackets (jackets that have different sections of solid colors). You can see this type of color-blocking fashion on many high-fashion dresses these days. However, instead of going with neutral colors I believe Armada has found that bright neon-colors makes the rider not only stand out from the white snow and natural scenery, but also gives a natural energy boost of confidence. The designs of Armada are not just for the pros, they are available to the masses. Giving all skiers a little piece of design that may give them the confidence to land that Kangaroo Flip or DJ Flip (two very difficult tricks).
[Photos Thanks to Aaron Sanders Facebook, Ingmar Prokop Facebook, http://www.proctorjones.com/pjonline/assets/product_images/ar62010.jpg, Armada Skis Facebook Page, and ArmadaSkis.com]
Video Courtesy of YouTube
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