Hello Toggsers, Hadley here checking in from Andorra where I’ll be commentating for the first ever FIS Freeride World Champs. I’m excited to see how the next few days unfold as athletes from all over the world come to compete head to head in one run to determine the first World Champ in ski and snowboarding. Unlike the World Tour where the events are cumulative, this event should be wild because it’s just one shot in one moment—a chance for the athletes to really go for it without thinking of overall rankings. It’ll live stream this week whenever the weather goes blue!
On to today’s letter…
One of the things we picked up on during our reader survey was your interest in sustainability. It’s been part of the conversation between Kellyn and I since the beginning. As I’ve been researching and testing winter gear, I’ve realized how particularly challenging it is for all of us to keep the pillars of sustainability in mind while also enjoying all the fun winter products available and bringing in variety year to year. We also know that so many of you live in cities or away from the mountains and you’re just taking one or two ski trips a year, which makes justifying the price of a ski kit that sits in a closet difficult.
Enter, skiwear rentals. Just like using Rent the Runway for wedding attire or business trips, skiwear rentals are seeing an uptick across sites.
Last year, according to Vogue Business, “Skiwear rentals on Pickle are tracking to be at least fivefold that of last year, according to the company. Listings for skiwear are up 303 per cent year-on-year. On By Rotation, skiwear tends to make up over 50 per cent of the platform’s Trending Edit during ski season.”
“This growth aligns with broader trends in sustainable travel and fashion, as more people choose to rent seasonal items like ski gear rather than buying pieces they’ll only wear once or twice a year,” says [founder of By Rotation] Eshita Kabra-Davies.
And it’s not just fashion rental sites, but companies that are founded solely on ski and snow-wear rentals. Which brings me to today’s guest, skier, toggser, and cofounder of the skiwear rental company Cirkel Supply—Anna Smoothy.
*edited for length and clarity
Tell me about how you got into skiing.
I grew up in Wanaka with family and parents who are still sending it on skis in the mountains, climbing and all that kind of jazz. So for me, getting into the mountains wasn't a conscious choice at all.
At some point, I came over to the Alps for a season when my brother (Sam Smoothy) was competing. I went to a competition with him and I was like, oh, this is fun. And then I guess a year or so later, I was just doing exactly the same thing. I did the qualifying tour in earnest, probably four years and and had a wonderful time traveled around and had really, really enjoyed the aspect of competition from building all the skills as a free rider to scoping your line and, all that kind of mental memory stuff. But I ended up being the bubble girl in 2016 and 2018, being second overall when the only took the top place onto the Freeride World Tour and at the same time I got quite a cool job offer. So I decided to hang up my boots, never making it to the tour.
It’s one of those things you look at and you're like I had so much fun and if I had gone on the tour at that point then my life would have taken a different trajectory.
And what has been your life like since?
I did my masters. I got to do the commentary for the Freeride World Tour and I've worked in a marketing capacity for outdoor brands like Mons Royale and Faction skis. They’re both, I would say, quite engaged with their environmental footprint, and power to them for that.
But I also saw how hard it is to make a sustainable product. There's all these like trade-offs. I remember prototyping a low-impact ski and really struggling through durability challenges to eventually find a good balance. And at the end of the day my job in marketing was to sell more products while I was doing a masters with a focus on sustainability in the outdoors. That paradox led me to really discover circularity and also discovered the market for it.
Tell me more!
Every year we have more skiers, but the skier visits have stayed static. The skier populations have continued to grow but they are skiing less days over the season.
And is that what got you into the idea of rentals? If they are going less, they are wearing less…
Exactly. I dug into both the environmental and commercial sustainability of ski clothing rental.
My business partner and I started with a life cycle assessment, which is usually quite stuck within the product sphere—not really like how people consume or sell goods. So we did an extension of it called a business model life cycle assessment where you can compare two different business models and their impact by pairing the profit levels. So to make the same amount of money you should sell 200 jackets or do 1108 rental transactions. And of course, it's important to launder in between every rental you have to send it the client and they have to send it back, whereas with retail there is less laundry and shipping.
We built in all of those impacts from not just how the product is made and distributed but it's whole life bouncing back and forth and that estimated that even though we have more delivery and laundry that by serving more people with less product we emit 76% less co2.
The environmental impact extends even further. With rental, you really need high quality products that are designed to be repaired and designed to withstand laundering. So it really does push you in a direction of quality. Where if you’re buying, it’s easier to search out the cheaper product, because ski clothing is so expensive.
Have there been any pain points in growing the business?
At first, we just wanted to convince people that it was a reliable, clean product. Most guests have been surprised at the quality of the product, but also that it's in good shape.
We want people to have a good experience so that they see this is a viable alternative to buying clothing that they only use once a year. So we've really just tried to make sure the quality is top and that's very much appreciated.
What has been the most surprising part?
When we launched Halfdays this November, it just immediately became a bestseller. Like, I've got that collection behind me now and I can see an XL ski suit hanging and a large and medium jacket and that's it. Everything else is rented out.
Yeah it’s a brand that’s really speaking to a population that I think the core outdoor hasn’t been talking to as much. I love it.
Definitely, and we've also seen fast fashion giants like Zara entering the skiwear space which is an environmental disaster. But for Cirkel, it’s also a huge opportunity to convince the skier who would buy a cheap Zara ski suit (that won't last), and get them to spend those dollars on renting a much higher quality outfit that won't sit in their wardrobe for 51 weeks a year.
What else is next for you and Cirkel?
We want to meet people where they are skiing. Right now we are in Switzerland, and expanding to France. But our customer feedback is that the clients are really switching up where they go year after year, and we want to be there for them in as many of those places as we can from Verbier to Aspen to Jackson.
That’s awesome. It seems like just in the way people are renting for special occasions, now those rental companies are including ski wear which makes a lot of sense and cool to see Cirkel providing the quality products that will last and make their experience outside that much better. I can’t wait to see how it grows! Thanks Anna.
Toggser, have any of you out there done a skiwear rental or interested in it? I’m curious how this could extend to ski trips where you want to lean into the local clothing vibes or switch up your daily driver kit…let us know!
And now, if you read North’s Tuesday letter and Kellyn’s Packing Letter, you know that we’ll sometimes be including a little collection of recent screenshots that we’ve collected throughout the week. Here’s what’s been catching my eye: tweeds and purples and surprise graphics. Gosh winter really is the best time to get dressed!
Sending endless love to absolutely everyone right now.
-Hadley
MORE RENTALS!!! I would love this because I love my central kit, but sometimes I would love to have a whole other ski personality that has a more fun jacket or something that I wouldn’t have to buy