Kiley McKinnon, Karelle Golda, Ariana Ferwerda
How did you all meet and what brought the three of you together to create Halfdays?
Ariana- About two years ago I moved to Denver and I was super frustrated with the lack of women’s ski wear on the market and I became really frustrated in the shopping process. I wondered why there was nothing that was a cool consumer company for this modern female consumer that is both fashion-forward, but also functional for ski wear. I ended up settling on something I wasn’t super excited about. A few months later I met Kiley who is an Olympic skier and we both agreed on the fact that we’ve never found a brand that we loved; from a brand affinity perspective but also the actual product itself (e.g. fashion and function). If I, a recreational skier, and Kiley, a professional skier, both feel this way, there have to be a lot of other people that want a product that’s both fashion-forward and functional and has this brand around it that connects with the female modern consumer. A few months after we got started with the brand, we were introduced to Karelle through one of our first investors in San Francisco. Karelle was working for Serena Williams at the time and she was actually drumming up this idea in her spare time of starting a skiwear brand, really similar to Halfdays. We were introduced to her and we were chatting and realizing if we were both going to start a brand that’s really similar, lets just join forces and take this on together.
Are there any upcoming plans you’re particularly excited about for the next year?
Karelle- Halfdays for us is about creating a community of people that are excited to get out on the mountain. One thing we really want to do is take the intimidation out of outdoor athletics and invite people to the mountain, regardless of their level or experience. So, what we’re most excited about is launching some how-to videos and doing some in-person ski events that will be coming up in the next few months.
What is the inspiration behind the color palette of the collection?
Kiley- We weren’t able to find a skiwear brand that we connected with and a lot of that had to do with the colors that came along with the current ski wear that was on the market. For us, we really wanted to come out with something that represented our personal styles and we felt like we couldn’t find that. We are focused on that street style vibe, something that you would find in your own closet. We took a look at what we would wear on a daily basis and what we wanted to wear while we were skiing on the mountain; to feel comfortable in ourselves when we are on or off the mountain. I looked at my closet and asked myself what do I wear the most often and it’s black, tan, white, olive green, and of course, we do have that pop of color, yellow. Yellow is a happy color and we wanted to bring that into our line as well, but we really wanted to have that minimalist look with the monochrome tonal vibe and that’s really how the line came about.
What colors should we look forward to seeing the base layers in?
“Kiley – This season, we’ve launched active layers in yellow, olive, tan, and black. You can either wear a full tonal vibe, matching your base layer and outerwear, or you can totally mix and match. I love that all of our colors work together and that the unique color combinations are such an expression of people’s personal style.
Do you prefer skiing the first half of the day or the last half of the day?
Kiley- I prefer the middle of the day, not early or late. I like to ski a few hours from 10-11 to 2-3, depending on how feel. I do enjoy sleeping in, so I have no reason to rush to the mountain. But, I also like to have those hours in the afternoon when you can sit at the Lodge with your friends and hangout. It’s all about causal skiing, having fun, and getting out there whenever you want, and doing whatever works best for you.
Ariana- I would choose first half of the day. I like to spend the afternoon hanging out with friends at the Lodge. It’s such a huge part of our brand because we want to promote taking a half-day and not taking it too seriously; you don’t have to get out on the mountain all day long and be so hardcore.
Karelle- I am definitely the early riser out of everyone, especially when there’s powder, I love to be on the mountain early. I feel half-days are my way too and I love the fact that we’re surrounding ourselves with people that don’t make you feel bad if you’re done at lunch and that no one’s making you ski any longer than you have to. I think this sport gets a bad reputation where people feel if they don’t get a full-day in, they’re not getting anything in. But I love that we’re for skiing as much or as little as you want.
What has been your favorite place you’ve skied and why?
Kiley- If I had to say my favorite skiing experience ever, it would be the Olympics. When I’m doing my sport of freestyle aerials, I’m not skiing per se. I’m not going down the mountain and taking many runs, I’m going off huge jumps and doing flips and twists, so it’s a different type of skiing. For me, nothing will ever top competing at the Olympics, but I would also say skiing in Vermont with my family. I grew up skiing when I was three years old, every single weekend in Vermont. You also can’t top skiing in places like Colorado and Utah because the mountains are amazing. Right now I’d say my favorite mountain is Snowbird in Utah, but it’s always changing every time I ski somewhere new.
Ariana- I would have to say Keystone in Colorado. It’s my favorite place because it’s where I skied so much when I first moved to Colorado. We would go with big groups of friends and ski three days in a row every single weekend and go during the week randomly to ski a half-day. It’s a really fun place and I know the mountain so well now and it’s where my friends and I hangout a lot.
Karelle- I would say, Aspen, just because of the après. Also, the skiing. It’s been amazing to come here and to be able to ski with my cofounders and experience the aprés at Dante Snow Lodge.
Where do you want to bring Halfdays to next?
Karelle- Park City and Jackson Hole. I think both of those cities are completely unique and have their own vibe and Halfdays certainly vibes with both of them. Park City is such an incredible après town, it has its own unique perspective on skiing and is definitely one of the best mountains in the world. Jackson Hole because it’s so unique and is a really beautiful mountain.
Kiley- Definitely Park City because I used to live there for 8 or 9 years. That’s where I used to train. I definitely would love to have a popup in Park City, I know a lot of people there and it would be cool to get a whole different experience of now not being an athlete anymore, but showing people what I’m doing instead.
