Fashion on the slopes: Skiers look to fun apparel as a way of reigniting ski culture’s roots 

From its earliest days, ski culture has been marked by the free-wielding, adventurous spirit of those who want to push against the grind. 

That can be embodied in the apparel a skier or boarder wears, with their fashion as much of a statement as their technique. Yet in a time when consumers are constantly hit with messages about buying the newest and greatest gear from big name brands, is the culture losing its edge? 

In recent years, some skiers say being more intentional with their clothing choice has helped them better display their personality — and reignited their passion for the sport within themselves and others. 

“I was always into fashion as a kid, but I never found that outdoor apparel related to my fashion sense,” said Anna “Teddy” Tedstrom, who grew up near Vail and now owns her own ski fashion line. “I never felt that ski fashion embodied the way that I felt or made me feel confident in the things that I was finding.”

That began to change when Tedstrom, a competitive skier from ages 8 to 18, moved to New York City to attend design school. During a trip back to Colorado over winter break, she joined a group of friends for a ski outing, with everyone donning a pair of their parents’ ski onesies from the 1980s. 

With her friends all at different experience levels, skiing was more of a challenge for some. She said the onesies were a way of making the trip more fun. 

“The outfits made us feel more confident and distracted from feeling scared,” she said, making even the gentlest of bunny hills a memorable experience. 

Enamored with their apparel, the group went shopping for vintage skiwear afterwards and she would put her design skills to use by sewing, patching, and customizing what they found. Soon, onlookers were noticing their clothes on the slopes and asking where they got their outfits. 

That’s when Tedstrom had the idea of designing her own ski apparel, which eventually morphed into her online and pop-up shop business, Hoohah. Inspired by the fashion trends of the 1960s and ’70s, as well as Dolly Parton and rockabilly styles, Tedstrom’s line includes flower prints, flared pants and embroidery. 

“A lot of people will say that it’s happy, which is great because I’m trying to make them feel happy in the outdoors and excited to be out there,” she said. 

Her clothes debuted in 2022 during a Denver fashion show in which she won a people’s choice award for best emerging designer. She would go on to show her line during a ski fashion show in Carbondale in 2023. 

Tedstrom said it’s important that her clothes, beyond being fun, are weather resistant, with materials that are double insulated, waterproof, and technical enough for the average skier or boarder. She said it’s a reminder that you don’t have to sacrifice fashion for function. 

“You don’t have to choose between looking cute and being warm,” she said. 

For others, though, choosing look over practicality is part of the point. 

U.S. professional skier and three-time Olympic medalist Nick Goepper has made competing in blue jeans a staple of his image as an athlete. It’s a choice he said has helped him reconnect with a sport that in some ways has drifted further and further from its roots. 

Raised in southeastern Indiana, he said skiing in jeans is “something that is very, very common in the Midwest, especially among less affluent communities.” 

Goepper, who ended a successful slope-style career following the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, re-entered the competition world a year-and-a-half later. He now competes in the freeski halfpipe — and has been wearing his blue jeans ever since. 

“I had sort of a blank slate to work with that allowed me to find some confidence that I never really had,” he said. “The jeans make skiing fun. What I love about skiing is there is a very deep rooted culture. It’s a lifestyle. It’s about living outdoors, sharing the mountain with friends, sleeping in the parking lot … because that’s how I was raised.”

He will be the first to admit that jeans — lacking any insulation or flexibility — are among the least comfortable clothes to ski in. But wearing jeans is less about the clothing itself and more about the message behind it. 

His look is an ode to blue-collar communities and the early days of ski culture before it became a multibillion-dollar industry that has placed barriers to entry for those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. 

“Nobody skis in jeans because they want to; they ski in jeans because they have to,” said Goepper, who only wears jeans when competing because “when the lights and the camera are pointed at me — that’s when it’s most important to bring that message.”

And while skiing in jeans has become associated with being novice or inexperienced — called a “jerry” in ski circles — Goepper said it’s important to make the sport accessible to anyone. 

“On one hand, it’s a funny stereotype; on the other hand, these people I appreciate greatly,” he said. “(The) more groups of people from different walks of life involved, the culture just gets deeper and more fun to be a part of.”

Over the past decade, “I’ve witnessed my sport and the spirit of going against the status quo conform into little league baseball with the rules and the regulations,” Goepper said. “And it kind of almost is becoming what the spirit of the sport tried to get away from 25, 30 years ago.”

He said style is a part of bringing that spirit back. 

“The spirit is to make skiing fun and approachable again,” Goepper said. “Skiing, as much as it is about the athletic experience, it’s a social experience. And the fact that you need a lot of material on your body to do this sport presents a lot of opportunities to customize and express yourself to your friends and random onlookers.”

Tedstrom, the clothes designer, said she feels more and more people have embraced their personality on the slopes. Fun, quirky and even fashionable outfits are no longer confined to just special events but are becoming more and more a normal element of a skier’s wardrobe. 

“When you wear a really cool outfit down the street, you feel at the top of your game,” she said. “I think it’s the same way on the slopes.”