Snow, Cameras, Action

The winter season is winding down. It's beginning to feel like spring in the Eastern states and the conditions are great. It's this time of year when companies, magazines, resorts, and retailers often do their photo shoots. The light is great, there's still lots of snow, and it's nice to be out on the hill. KJUS conducted its annual photo shoot and movie last week in Norway and many of our retailers have requested samples of next year's line for their own shoots.

Here are a couple of shots with sneak previews of next seasons line from a recent shoot by Vail Resorts. He's wearing next year's Formula in grenadine and she has on the New Ways in peat with grenadine.

Jack Affleck/ Vail Resorts

Jack Affleck/ Vail Resorts

Wish we were there!

MEN'S FORMULA featured in Outside Buyer's Guide

Today we picked up the annual Outside Buyer's Guide. Held by many as the holy grail of gear reviews, the Buyer's Guide is filled with latest and best outdoor tools and toys for the coming season. Doug Schnitzspahn reviewed all the men's outerwear for the magazine including the KJUS FORMULA Jacket (page 36).

If any of you ever wonder if these jackets are actually tested, wonder no longer. Doug visited over a dozen resorts and numerous days in the backcountry for the review and actually posted some videos from some review days on YouTube. As you can see in the video Doug was out on a few warm days. He told us afterwards that he was a little nervouse wearing the Formula on one warm day, but was really surprised and impressed at how well the FORMULA breathed. This is thanks to its Dermizax EV waterproof breathable membrane- learn more here.

Here is what Doug had to say in the Buyer's Guide:

The Formula is the Porsche of this test- damned pricey, just as flashy, but worth every cent. KJUS's designers tossed in everything from an integrated balaclava to a dedicated cell-phone pocket with a keeper leash. So plentiful are the hidden accessories that the goggle wipe features a graphic to help you find them all. Most important, though, the jacket performed along with the best in class. Stretchy Thinsulate insulation (enough for cold lift rides) and soft, four-way stretch fabric allowed free movement, while the waterproof-breathable membrane rivaled that of any hard shell we tested. Just maybe find a job that pays in euros to save some cheese.

Minimums...

Stumbled upon a post today on Patagonia's blog, The Cleanest Line about how supply and demand effect size runs available in the apparel industry.

When it comes time to build our clothing, factories are more inclined to work with the larger companies who offer far more lucrative contracts. To make working with a smaller company like Patagonia worth their while, factories impose minimums--thus ensuring that the costs of building our unique, labor-intensive products are covered. Because of our smaller financial punch, we often don't have the demand to meet the minimums required by the factory. This is especially true with less-popular larger and smaller sizes.

We are a much, much smaller than Patagonia, but the points made apply to us as well. Our skiwear is very technical and labor-intensive. It takes about 500-700 minutes to build one of our ski jackets. Unfortunately, these ingredients sometimes culminate in not only fewer sizes on either end of the spectrum, but also some styles and color ways that were initially part of the collection not brought to market. This season some of our warm olive and nightshade styles were victims of this.

No need to fret however, there are plenty of other exciting designs and colors coming this fall. For example the ladies Formula Jacket- available in sizes 4-16:

Do you read before you buy?

According to SIA you do. Yesterday SIA released news on the impact consumer generated product reviews have on purchasing decisions, especially on "expensive snow sports equipment and apparel." According to its study more than 88% of those surveyed seek out reviews for these purchases and 7 out of 10 have decided not to make a purchase based on a review.

So, we decided to see what kind of feedback consumers were leaving about KJUS products. It was actually a harder task than we had originally thought. The majority of our retailers' websites are not set up for posting reviews the way Amazon and Backcountry.com are. That said, Sturtevant's in Bellevue, WA does. Here is what some of their customers had to say about KJUS:

Kjus: Women's Formula Pant - 2008-01-28
Love 'em! Fabulous fit, perfect in all weather, from blizzard to sunshine and I constantly get complimented on how GREAT they look! I'll definitely be buying more of this label!

Kjus: Formula Pant - Andrew Cherner - 2007-11-23
These pants are the best! I bought them in one color and loved them so now I am getting them in Black also! Stretchy, comfortable and great looking - THE BEST!

Kjus: Women's Royale Shirt - 2008-04-21
Kjus Royale Shirt I love my Kjus Royale Shirt. It fits perfect and I love the brand Kjus. I highly recommend all of Kjus products.

Hopefully in the future more of our dealers' websites will have the functionality for consumers to leave reviews. But nice to see that everyone who left feedback were happy customers.

We also come across this gem in our research:

Direct Collection on Amazon

KJUS Welcomes Sara Orrensjö to Freeride Team

Today, we announced that Sara Orrensjö, one of the world's top female freeride skiers, has joined the KJUS team of riders. You can learn more about her on her website, or if your Swedish isn't what it should be, try here.

These shots of Sara also give a sneak peek of next year's KJUS line. In the top photo she's wearing the 08/09 ladies Fomula in Java, and in the bottom photo she is wearing the ladies Val jacket, which is part of the new Spirit Collection we are introducing next fall.