Gaining a foothold

Upstart Colorado ski and snowboard brands carve niche amid international giants

Brian Metzler, Special to the News

Published December 2, 2006 at midnight

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If you look around at the skis and snowboards in lift lines this winter, you'll probably spot a few unfamiliar brand names.

Large European companies such as Rossignol, Atomic, Salomon and Volkl still dominate the ski market, along with U.S.-based K2, while big American brands Burton, Quiksilver, Ride, Forum and Sims are among the most popular names in snowboarding.

But a new entrepreneurial undercurrent is beginning to sway the tide in the industry. Small homegrown brands such as Colorado-based High Society (Aspen), Fat-ypus (Breckenridge), ScottyBob (Breckenridge/Silverton), Liberty (Edwards) and Wagner Custom (Telluride) are among the dozens of new ski and snowboard brands earning small, but reputable, followings from retailers, pro athletes and weekend warriors.

Some of the brands are offering distinctly different designs, shapes or sizes aimed at improving performance in specific conditions, while others are offering custom, made-to-order skis and snowboards.

"I think you need some differentiation in the market," said David Mazzarella, co-founder and CEO of Breckenridge-based ScottyBob Skis. "Any time you're left with a handful of companies that are very large doing more or less the same thing, there's an opportunity for the little guy to do something different. I think the market is big enough that it needs choice."

That's the underlying premise behind most of the upstart brands, along with the notion that none is focused on high-volume production like their big-name competitors. Those who know the industry say that attention to detail often is reflected in the quality craftsmanship of the final product.

"The thing that is appealing is, when a company is only producing about 500 skis, as opposed to one that makes 7,000, is that their manufacturing and quality control is going to be second to none," said Austin Offutt, owner of Recycle Ski and Sport in Frisco. "When it comes down to it, it's the owner of the company that's sitting in the factory watching the skis come off the press."

The only problem, a lot of the entrepreneurs say, is that running a business has kept them from the slopes more than they'd like.

"I used to ski and snowboard every single day," said Reggie Charles, CEO of High Society Freeride Co. in Aspen. "Back then, I didn't have insurance, I didn't have this or that. I still get out three or four days a week, but I don't get out every day anymore. But every day I wake up and feel lucky to be doing what I'm doing."

High Society Freeride Co., Aspen

Charles and fellow Aspenites Jason Flynn, Jeremy Rungi and Jay Morin, all in their early 20s, started High Society Freeride Co. in 2003 with only a couple of hundred bucks between them. Through a lot of trial and error and do-it-yourself perseverance, they started designing skis and snowboards based on their aggressive riding styles and learned a thing or two about laminate constructions, flex patterns and durability.

Each new model was put through at least 100 days of rigorous testing before going into production. The group partnered with a factory in Huntington Beach, Calif., and soon it had its first models ready to deliver to retailers.

Sophisticated marketing campaigns and advertising in glossy magazines were out of the question, so they took the grassroots approach, cold calling one shop at a time and meeting other retailers at industry demos.

One of those shops was Recycle Ski and Sport, which sold out of the 15 pairs it had on its ski wall this fall.

"We only bring in the brands that we think are good," Offutt said. "When we go out to dealer demo events, we ski stuff hard and try to break it. And compared to all of those other small companies, High Society is much more evolved. Their skis skied well and we couldn't break them, and that's why we like them."

For this winter, High Society has two ski models - the widebody, big-mountain Freeride ($600) and the terrain park-oriented Classic ($500) - and three snowboards - the big-mountain Empire ($460), the Twilight freeride model ($400) and the women-specific Scarlet ($370). All of the products are engineered with durable constructions and stiff flex patterns intended for aggressive, high-energy use. The Classic ski is one of the only models in the industry with an eco-friendly bamboo core.

As it enters its fourth season, High Society is producing about 1,000 skis and snowboards and selling through its 35 U.S. retail outlets and dozens more in nearly 20 other countries.

"Every time the phone rings and someone wants to buy a pair of skis or a snowboard, it's still an awesome feeling for me, just like it felt the first time," said Charles, 26. "It's just really exciting to have people try what you're making. But I really don't think we have really even scratched the surface of where we want to be."

ScottyBob, Breckenridge/Silverton

During a nine-year stint as ski instructor at Arapahoe Basin, Scotty Carlson developed some pretty good ideas about how alpine and telemark skis work - and how they might work better. Five years ago, he and Mazzarella, a longtime ski buddy from Denver, decided to build a company around those ideas.

At first glance, you can tell ScottyBob skis are like none you've ever seen. Each ski has an asymmetrical swallowtail design that shortens the running length of the outside edge. It's based on the notion that, in traditional skis models, the uphill ski doesn't carve turns as well because the skier is applying less pressure to the uphill ski than the downhill ski.

Carlson believed a shorter outside edge on each ski would allow the uphill ski to perform better, thus creating smoother and easier turns, especially telemark turns.

"It was kind of an epiphany," Carlson said. "It was a problem I put to myself for a while and I kept thinking about it, and that's what I came up with."

ScottyBob has three models of alpine skis ($750) and three models of telemark skis ($500) in a variety of widths and lengths, but it also can make custom models to match a customer's specs. Each ski has a book-matched swirled wood veneer top sheet over a wood core construction.

Carlson personally produces a few hundred pair of skis every winter out of the company's small Silverton factory. Each pair is handcrafted in a process that takes about two weeks from start to finish.

Soon, though, the brand will have some of its skis made in China, just like some of its big-name competitors, with the hopes of expanding its retail sales base. ScottyBob skis are sold in 10 Colorado shops this winter.

"We believed ScottyBob's ideas was a better concept from the get-go, and that's why we founded the company," Mazzarella said. "Otherwise, there's no way we would have gone into the ski manufacturing business. It's not like we're a ski company looking for a gimmick."

Wagner Custom, Placerville

Pete Wagner, who formerly worked for Carlson, is another skier with some innovative ideas.

He has seen what a benefit custom-designed golf clubs have been to the golf industry. Now, he's banking on similar principles to develop custom skis and snowboards specifically engineered for a particular person's height, weight, strength, level of aggressiveness, riding style and favorite terrain.

His company's proprietary fitting system uses computer-aided design techniques that easily can interchange and manipulate maple and ash core components, synthetic base materials and the shape, length, width and weight of a ski or snowboard.

"We take all of that data and come up with an optimized design, length, weight and sidecut and create a completely personalized product," said Wagner, who officially opened for business this fall. "We really get to know the person we're making skis for and involve them in the design process. Understanding what is important to the customer is the key to building the ideal product for them."

It's an expensive process, though. Wagner Custom skis and snowboards carry a $1,500 price tag.

Wagner's company is based in a converted gas station in Placerville. It's also working on a system where customers could order a pair of skis or a snowboard from a kiosk in a ski resort village or within a ski and snowboard shop.

"Top pro skiers like Bode Miller have staff that can develop skis exactly for their needs that allow them to ski at their highest level," Wagner said. "We're making custom skis and snowboarders accessible to everyone."

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