A Crooked Trail or Two

Here in the northern hemisphere, these late-autumn days are getting shorter and shorter. It can be hard to summon the motivation to pull oneself out of a comfy warm bed to get out on the trail… especially (in my case) with a big snuggly pittie pinning you to the mattress.

But I’ve got a secret weapon. This will sound silly, but the colorful, cozy warm hats & neck gaiters I wear throughout the winter help to brighten my morning as they keep me warm on the run.

They’re made by a little company in Vermont called Skida, and I want to tell you a bit about them, because Skida may be a company you’ll want to support as you equip yourself for your own outdoor adventures… and as the winter shopping season draws near, you might also consider sharing their products with your friends and family.

*In addition to hats, Skida makes headbands, neck gaiters and “tours,” bands of fabric you can adapt into neck gaiters, hats or headbands.*

I first learned about Skida from Middlebury Magazine, as the company’s founder, Corinne Prevot, is also a Middlebury alumna. In the article, Prevot described learning to sew as a child as she was growing up in Vermont, excitedly sewing her own curtains for her room and designing wallets as presents for family and friends.

After initially training to be an alpine ski racer, she shifted in high school to nordic competitions, and found a new level of performance. But she also discovered just how hard it was to dress appropriately for nordic training and racing. Like trail running, nordic skiing is a sport where you start out cold, but quickly get hot and sweaty… and then you can get really cold again when you stop.

Prevot had a fleece hat that she liked, but she lost it and had a hard time finding another like it. So one rainy Christmas break, Prevot went to the craft store in Lyndonville, bought some stretchy Lycra fabric, and sewed some hats for herself, her teammates, and her coach. Those were the first Skida hats to go out into the world. But they were far from the last!

*Skida makes accessories for women, men & kids too.*

The stretchy, moisture-wicking (and beautiful!) hats Prevot made for her teammates attracted the attention of just about every other nordic skier on the interscholastic circuit in the Northeast. By the time she left for college, Prevot was receiving custom orders for ski teams and contracting with a team of sewing experts in northern Vermont.

While studying at Middlebury, Prevot continued to expand Skida. During her freshman-year winter term, she took a class about entrepreneurship, and while juggling classes and skiing, she continued to work with retailers, keep up with the brand’s social media, design fabric patterns, and order fabrics. She and her roommate would host parties that consisted of drinking wine and stringing hang tags on the merchandise.

After graduation, with Skida continuing to thrive and grow, Prevot signed a lease for office space in Burlington, in a former cereal factory on Pine Street. After a couple of years, needing additional space, the company moved again, to its current home in Burlington’s South End. All the while, much of the sewing is done by people working from home, in Vermont’s northeast kingdom. The cut lines are arrayed strategically on the custom-designed fabric to minimize waste, and the fleece used in Skida hats is made from 87% recycled materials.

*A tiny selection of the vast array of patterned fabrics that Skida turns into warm breathable accessories.*

*Nurses at Burlington Health & Rehab Center wearing “helper headbands.”*

When the pandemic started, Skida’s designers jumped into action to make face masks out of its beautiful fabrics. And then, Skida learned via its longstanding program that donates hats to cancer centers across the country that healthcare professionals were getting chafed behind the ears from wearing masks all day long. So they designed the “helper headband,” basically Skida’s nordic headband, but with buttons added, so that the buttons — not the backs of healthcare workers’ ears — bore the friction of the mask straps.

*NICU nurses at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, wearing “helper headbands.”*

In addition to supporting a responsible company, it’s a genuine pleasure to have equipment that functions so well. The “nordic” (fabric-lined) hats are perfect for late summer evenings, or sunny winter days… times when you just need a touch of extra warmth. The “alpine” (fleece-lined) hats and neck warmers are for those cold days when you’re thinking: Am I really going out in this?! But knowing you’ll be well protected, you can answer yourself: Hell yeah! Here we go!

And in these pandemic days, when it’s important to cover your face as you pass another person on the trail, Skida has a range of neckwear items in a variety of thicknesses, so that whatever the weather, you can be a responsible guardian of public health while you’re walking, running or biking.

And as a side note, don’t be surprised when people stop you on the trail, or on the sidewalk, to ask where you got that beautiful hat!

So if this is a time when you’re seeking gifts for people you love, and/or gearing up for your own cold-weather workouts, check out Skida’s online store. You will love what you find there, and feel good about supporting this company.

Take care, everyone, & see you on the trail!

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