Entering the world of women's skiing; ON3P presents the Jessie

Almost a year ago I was brought onto a team comprised of badass lady skiers with the goal of designing a women’s ski that we would want to ski everyday. Rachel Delacour, Alexandra Pallas and I spent the next few months conducting market research, logging long days on-hill and giving ourselves a crash-course in ski design. Eventually, we offered our suggestions to the company. They were completely stoked with our work and to our amazement the end product turned out almost exactly as we recommended; they were actually designing a ski for hard-charging women.

Throughout our collaboration, an overlying theme was present. We wanted a ski that performed as well as any men’s ski, but was something of our own. Pulled from the actual design collaboration document, Rachel comments on her ideal ski. “I have a lot of opinions on a lighter core. I would agree that a majority of recreational female skiers enjoy a ski that requires less force and power to turn. On the other hand, I also know there exists a segment of the female ski market that doesn’t agree with this. I have talked to a lot of women of different demographics that have been overpowering the average women’s ski for years. I think one of the reasons ON3P sells well is the consistent, damp flex in many of its more aggressive skis. They plow. I don’t think that is something we want to take away from women, at least not in the more aggressive women’s skis.”

Each of the three skis in the Jessie line cater to a different type of skier. The true twin Jessie 86 reigns supreme in the park—jibby enough to hop and pop all over. The Jessie 100 provides a stable ride all over the mountain, allowing its user to ride switch and hit backcountry booters, too. Big storms require the Jessie 112, with a tip and tail rocker and a wider waist to plow through the deep snow. All of the skis were based off already existing models in ON3P’s men’s line, but were given minor tweaks to accommodate what the ladies wanted.

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I sat down with founder and owner of ON3P Skis, Scott Andrus for an in-depth look at the brand’s journey into the land of ladies skis.

What was the motivating factor to add a women’s ski to ON3P’s line?

The motivating factor was to offer skis for women that are built with our finish, materials, and attention to detail that the hard-charging women out there deserve. There are a lot of women’s skis available, but it seems like many aren’t built for women who rip, and don’t maintain the same performance and build quality as their male counterparts. We believed there was a void at the top of the women’s ski world, and we hope our introduction to that market gives solid female skiers the option they didn’t have before.

How did you come up with the concept for the Jessie?

We decided to start tweaking the skis that were already part of our lineup and have been developed over many years. We figured that starting with those tested platforms, and then tailoring the designs to better fit women would be the best way to enter the market. Our jib line is the bestselling part of our ski line, so it was chosen as the foundation for the initial women’s series. We talked to women we knew and researched what else was out there, then got to work prototyping.

What was the design process like?

Visually, you need to talk with our creative director, Trevor Woods, and the artist for the Jessie line, Katy Pierce. By the time things got to my desk, they were already so solid and well-developed that the visual process was mostly tweaks and refinement for me.

From a technical perspective, we sought design and test feedback from five women. We laid out our design process, told them what we wanted for the women’s line, asked them what skis they wanted, and started to mold the line into where it is now. Feedback was definitely varied, so it took a lot of discussion to finalize the line we ended up with. That variation is the reason we expect to release at least an additional two women’s models in 2016-17.

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Were there any hang ups in manufacturing because the contributors and testers were not in house?

The feedback loop is slightly slower, because we have to ship the skis out and can’t just run them up to Hood and ski them ourselves, but overall it was a pretty similar process to our normal ski development.

Did it seem kind of foreign, making a women’s ski, or just doing what you normally do?

It was not all that foreign because we are always designing skis that might not suit everyone at ON3P’s specific personal preference. Our men’s line was already diverse, so we’ve been down a similar path before. The biggest difference was having to rely on feedback from outside ON3P more so than in the past.

The ski made its debut at the SIA Snow Show. How was the general feedback, on and off snow?

Feedback has been great so far. A lot of shop buyers told us they had been waiting for an ON3P women’s line for years, so there was a lot of excitement there. Their on-snow feedback matched their tradeshow excitement, so we expect the Jessie line to perform well in its retail introduction.

How did demos go? Did any of the feedback you received change the design?

Demo days went really well. The biggest feedback we had was interest in a longer size, so we decided to add a 176 cm length after talking to women at demo days. Otherwise, everyone felt the line was dialed. It’s been thumbs up all around, so it’s been validating to hear the good reviews.

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Have any of the boys taken the Jessies out for a spin?

Yep! Actually, a bunch of the guys took them out at demo days when similar skis were not available, and feedback was all positive. The changes in the design are subtle, so if you like the men’s variant of the ski, you will likely enjoy the women’s.

Where do you go from now?

In regards to the women’s line, we are already considering two or three additional models for release in 2016-17. The feedback has been so positive that we want to further invest in our women’s line with a few different options. The Jessie line is already in large-scale production, as it represents a good portion of our 2015-16 retail preseason orders.

Will we see any more new things coming from ON3P in the future?

We’re always working on tweaking and improving our line. We can’t say too much at this time, but we are hard at work on our 2016-17 line and there are some bigger changes on their way.