Mainstream Ski Brands

king_latifa

king_latifa

Member
I don't Really mean to sound like a hipster or whatever saying stuff like "oh I hate that because its too mainstream", but I don't like having the same brand of skis as the entire mountain, so I like getting stuff from local companies or companies that are way underrated to try and be different, ya know? Am I the only one that thinks this? I'm just curious
 
Nothing wrong with mainstream brands. Just means they have a larger customer base because their skis are proven to be great. I love my step-ups. I don't give a fuck if someone else has the same pair of skis. I usually just jokingly say nice skis to them and we laugh it off.
 
Totally agree man. Although the mainstream products are generally top quality, its always great to be different and to support your local ski companies! Rep your local brands/shops and spread the word.
 
the only way those smaller brands are gunna get bigger and make higher quality product is by the support of the skiing community. every ski sale counts because that is one more person who is going to tell there friends how much they like that ski or tell the company why they dont. i have a pair of armada skis and sure they are great but i would rather support a smaller company
 
It is good to support the little guys. A few years back I had a pair of boone skis and i loved them. They're slowly coming back now with a few lines of skis, but it was sad to see them get sold short for a while. My Boones were the liveliest skis i had ever ridden.
 
Ok, you guys saying armada, jibberish, saga, line, etc are big mainstream companies need to get out of your little park bubble and look at the big picture.

None of those companies even existed 15 years ago, and by no means are big companies in the ski world. Atomic, salomon, k2, rossignol, dynastar, elan, etc. they have been around for a long time and are much bigger players in the overall ski industry.
 
I think its great to support the little companies, but don't do it just because you dont want to have the same skis as other people. I manufacture skis at a small shop in denver and I ride those occasionally because I got to custom tailor a ski to myself, not because I just want to be different and not mainsream. I still ride my THalls all the time and a bunch of people ride those skis too because they are proven to be good skis.
 
Check out oakleys. I heard the Osamas are a bad ass park ski. They are a few seasons old though check ebay cause they are hard to find.
 
I know you meant this as a joke, but it's interesting that this is what Atomic is. Despite being the world's largest ski manufacturer, Atomic is still a local company if you live in Austria.
 
My skis are icelantic and surface and I like that they are unique but thats not why i bought them. At the same time i wear helly hansen outerwear almost exclusively.

I care more about the quality of the product than I do its percentage of the market because im not a dumbass.
 
More like, local in that our skis are handmade in a small Austrian farm town by real people who put a lot of effort in to delivering the best stuff possible.

Don't get me wrong, I love honestly what J-Lev and many others are doing but as some here have already said, don't discount a brand based on its size. Buy what you think is best and what will make you smile the most!
 
Unlike those "fake" people that make skis in their hometown? I know the heritage in AT..believe me...but discounting people because of their location? Does that make Atomic better? More "handmade"? More cool-aid please from Finland.

PS: All in good fun....I love what Atomic has done keeping AT ski production in place by lean processes and controls. It's s tough battle to keep heritage companies alive with the headwinds of cost cutting, margin improvement, and P+L pressures but the marketing swill...I can live without that.

Buy good skis and enjoy!
 
I definitely wasn't discounting anyone nor anyone's location- just clarifying where and how our skis are built, which is either unknown or not understood by a lot of people. And I'm also not saying you were one of those people. There are a lot of people that equate handmade with small brands and machine made mass production with big brands, which is not always the case. That's all I was getting at.
 
Yes, they may not be by someone's standards as "mainstream" but to a certain skier's stand point there considered "hyphy" and "trendwhorey". /claim
 
Well sure, but 'mainstream' can't be used when you are referring to just one part of the sport as a whole, no? Sure, armada might be popular in the park, but I you look at skiing as a whole, they aren't up there with the big guys.

If you are going to break it down, wouldn't everything be mainstream at some level? If a lot of people in the park at your hill have amplid skis, does that make them 'mainstream' at your hill?
 
But if you are coming from armada which are soft skis imo except for the alpha and ar7. If you are use to soft skis you are going to feel out of place. Not talking down on surface at all but damn their park skis need to have some sort of flex. The no times are as stiff as a race ski. I have been looking into live lifes.
 
Armada is still very small. Rossignol, Salomon, K2 and now Line sorta, Nordica, Technica, Lange, Elan, Fischer, Head, Dynastar, Scott, Völkl, Marker, Atomic, Blizzard...there are shitloads of very large and very financially successful companies and even mentioning Armada next to them is a compliment in my opinion. There are so many "microwbrew" ski brands now I mean take your pick dude! So many people will ask you what ski it is you are on and how awesome it is compared to their stamped out Chinese price point garbage...
 
My problem with smaller brands is I am paying twice the price for a ski that doesn't last any longer or hold up any better. I would love to support those companies because many of them make skis that are very unique, but I cannot afford them.
 
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