Available at Coastal Culture Sports.
It was the early 2000’s and 5 pro skiers (JP Auclair, Tanner Hall, JF Cusson, Julien Regnier and Boyd Easley) and a photographer (Chris O’Connell) decided they had had enough with the ski industry they were a part of. Legacy ski companies were anchored to their alpine racing identities but there was a new generation of skier’s knocking at the door whose voices were going unheard. The 6 friends acted quickly and before they new it they had a top-level team assembled in addition of Hans Smith (co-founder), Eric Iberg (team manager) and Tyson Hall (sales) they set out to change the face of skiing forever.
Chris’s business plan was simple: “Armada. What Skiing will become.” The team move out of their basement office in Truckee, California in November 2002 and into there own building in Costa Mesa. Not exactly the first spot you’d think an emerging ski brand would move to but with Armada decided to model their business after the team-based model used in the snowboarding and skateboarding industry what better place to operate your head office and help inspire your employees than in the epicenter of the skate and surf world. Be different be bold they said.
They quickly became a force to be reckoned with, becoming the first ever athlete-owned and athlete-driven independent ski brand. With revolutionary ski shapes like the JJ or VJJ to their name Armada has cemented themselves into the snow sports word and helped shape the ski industry in what we know it as today. Today the brand has ggrid-xn into a complete package. Offering a full selection of men’s and women’s outer wear, men’s and women’s technical mid-layers, poles, packs and bags on top of a range of colourful kids ski’s Armada has proven that if you dream big and aren’t afraid to work hard anything is possible.
