The Best UK Indy Snow Brands
Mountain sports is an industry that’s ripe for innovation. From headwear brands to those that are hand shaping snowboards, we just love to see what’s going on across the sector. Despite having to travel to the mountains, the UK is home to some incredible companies geared around mountain pursuits. Here, we share our top picks…
Pure Freeride Design
Using carbon neutral and responsibly sourced bamboo, PFD have been creating handmade skis and snowboards since 2012. With freeriding at the heart of the brand, Rupert Gammond has taken a passion and turned it into a glorious and mindful hardware brand that is guided by collaboration with guides, and pro skiiers. The result is a brand that simply will not compromise on quality.
NIX Snowsports
The nerve centre of NIX is in quite an unassuming place. Nestled in a basement near London's Kings Cross, NIX specialise in making the finest quality skis and snowboards built from the highest quality materials available. The guys behind NIX are using some of the most cutting-edge manufacturing technologies, which results in custom, high performance skis and snowboards that allow their owners to dominate the mountain.
Transform
If you’re looking for solid, stylish gloves and mittens that perform, then Transform is your go-to. With years under the belt producing the very best gloves out there in our opinion, Transform also produce neck warmers, headwear and apparel. Essential gear if you ask us, whether it’s keeping your head dry, or your hands warm.
Lonely Mountain Skis
This micro-company based in Perthshire, Scotland create some of the most beautiful freeride skis we have ever seen. Blending traditional and modern materials, Lonely Mountain Skis have three shapes in their collection, each meticulously built by hand.
Head Ski Maker, Jamie Kunka studied product design at Dundee University when he chanced across a Ray Mears TV episode where a Swedish Ski Maker created skis from dead standing pine. This inspired Jamie to create a set of skis from redwood pine and coated in pine tar. Since then Jamie and Lonely Mountain Skis have gone on to garner a cult following, check them out.
White Dot Skis
Another serious player in the ski manufacturing game, White Dot Skis are a Leeds based company that produce some of the most refined freeride specific skis in the world. From their cutting edge asymmetrical ski outlines, to their Ragnarok 118 carbonlites, this is where you come to get advanced equipment for serious powder riding.
Douk
This company have carved a unique name for themselves hand shaping custom snowboards. While there are some powerful outlines and shapes available off the rack, Douk really come alive with the bespoke custom orders.
This is where an experienced shredder can come and get the board fine tuned for personal preferences and conditions, even for a favourite line. The split boards are insane, and we love the fact that you can book on to build your own skis or snowboard under the expert guidance of the Duok team, allowing you to put the hand into handmade.
Fergie Miller
Author
Fergie, the founder of FLŌA, founded and spent ten years at Base Camp training over 2,000 ski & snowboard instructors before spending 8 years working in tech startups, including at over 5 accelerators covering Seed to Series A, before returning to action sports base layers and creating the FLŌA brand.