Sports

Snow Business: The Skida Bandana ... It's Like Your Favorite Pair of PJs

There's also a charitable element to the Vermont company.

A cold Vermont morning at Okemo earlier this month provided the perfect setting to test out a pretty cool product from Skida. 

Make that a pretty warm product. 

The temperature read 1 degree. Yes, one. There was minimal wind, but cruising down the trails called for some sort of face protection. The Skida Burke Plaid Bandana provided just that. 

It's kind of a cross between the Shaun White look and that old comfy pair of pajamas but with the performance of modern fabric — fleece on the inside, flannel on the outside, and a velcro strip to fasten it easily around the face and under the goggles and helmet. 

Yeah, and it looks good. And oh, was it warm. And not once did it feel like it was in the way. The velcro strip made tying the perfect knot an afterthought, whether you're in the lodge getting prepared or at the summit making a snap decision to add another face layer. 

The bandana retails for $24 on the Skida shopping site:  

http://shopskida.com/products/burke-plaid-bandana 

Vermont-based Skida's entire collection is made in the Green Mountain state — and some of the products are even sewn from home by residents. 

And the products have an interesting back-story. In the winter of 2007, Vermont skier Corinne Prevot picked up some fabric and started making hats for her Burke Mountain Academy teammates and friends.  

The stuff took off and as the demand for the colorful hats grew, so did the variety of prints. While in school, Prevot struggled to keep up with the business, so she called in a "secret weapon" in the person of Margie, her mom. Together, they grew the business and connected with local seamstresses to help with the sewing. 

Custom ordering is also available: 

http://shopskida.com/pages/custom-ordering

The company also reaches out to cancer patients. Through the Skida [+1] program, hats are donated to patients who are undergoing chemotherapy on behalf of online customers. For every order that is submitted with a Skida [+1] promotional code, Skida will donate one hat to that corresponding cancer center.

More information on Plus-One ordering can be obtained via: 

http://shopskida.com/pages/skida-plus-one 

Chris Dehnel is the editor of Vernon Patch. He has been writing about skiing and snowboarding for about a dozen years and is the a past president of the Eastern Ski Writers Association. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here