Staying Alive: Independant ski manufacturers hang tough

April 1, 20101 min read

According to SnowSports Industries America, ski manufacturers last season sold about 8 percent fewer skis in the U.S. than the previous year. It was a significant drop "” 59,000 fewer skis, for a total of 675,000 "” but given the way the economy swan dived into a snowbank leading up to the season, it wasn"™t totally surprising.

What was surprising is how the industry"™s independent manufacturers managed to avoid the fate that befell some of the bigger brands "” and continue to do so.

Fat-ypus, a small Colorado company that introduced the first superfat (140mm underfoot) ski five years ago, has doubled its annual sales since 2007, going from 400 pairs to 800. Reno-based Moment Skis sold only five pairs of skis in its debut year of 2002-"™03, but last winter the company sold "several thousand."

"I can"™t even keep up with production this year," said Moment VP/engineer Luke Jacobson. "We"™ve just been producing, producing, producing. We actually hired a bunch of new guys to start producing double the skis on a daily basis."