Julius_SteezerOne thing which I was always curious about was that you’ve been a guy who’s super passionate about supporting freeski companies (I can’t remember where but I’m pretty sure I read something you wrote on it a few years ago).
Obviously volkl and UA aren’t companies that most people would associate as core freeski companies, was there a particular reason for staying with them over the years when you presumably could get the hookup with another brand? Not calling you out or anything, just genuinely interested if there’s a side to these brands which the public don’t really see
Well, heres the thing man. I will always talk about how we should support core companies in freeskiing, this will help us to build a stronger base for ourselves so that our ski world will not be able to fail. Skateboarding has done this beautifully and this is why they can continue to have skateboarders with careers based solely off of putting together segments. In skiing we are starting to lost that ability because its mostly controlled by companies that do not truly have a basis to Freeskiing, instead are owned by parent companies that bottom line is profit.
With that being said, Volkl is owned by a parent company. However, Volkl has been producing twin tip skis since the beginning of twin tip skis. They were nearly one of the first rounded up tails that i seen on the shelfs as Freeskiing was being birthed. They have continuously supported competitions, Movies, Events, and different skiers both on the competitive side and the film side. Volkl is truly a great company with Freeskiing very much in their interests and they continue to prove it by innovating a large line of newly designed skis using the athletes input, I cant say many other companies are at this level of support
Under Armour is a different story, simply put, Everybody has got to eat. There arent many clothing companies in the Ski industry and even less that can give you money to eat. I was honestly very skeptical to get onto under armour in the beginning but they helped me do many things in skiing and life i never wouldve had the opportunity to do otherwise. In the end, in true big business form, they hired in a new guy to run the finances of the ski side, A true piece of shit, who did not like what my skiing represented. He came from the Matchstick side of things an dhated the fact i used no poles and kept the jacket unzipped. This asshole who had worked there for 5 months was able to keep me from being resigned after i had been skiing with underarmour for 6 years. No love
