The Surprising History of Custom Skiing and Clothing

Looking forward to skiing this year? We delved into the history of skiing, fun facts, and exotic locations. And whilst we’re at it, we’re giving you inspiration to create your own skiing clothing.

Some say skiing was invented in Norway

Just by looking at the old Norwegian word skíð (meaning a piece of wood) could make you think that Norway has a trademark on skiing. And then there are those 6,000 year old wood carvings that were found in Norway that further manifest the origins of skinning there. About 200 years ago, it was also a Norwegian guy who invented the Telemark (name of the town) bindings that made skis more mobile. Skiers were able to turn more easily and even jump around without losing their skis. Let’s celebrate Norway’s skiing tradition with this custom sweatshirt.

Others say it was Russia

They may not have invented the sport as such, but pieces of wood bearing a striking resemblance with skis were found in Sindor in Russia – and they are about 8,000 years old! These prehistoric skis surely came in handy when taking the high routes in the mountains between China and Russia through a mountainous area that’s called Kazakhstan today. Until today, the Uyghurs in the northwest of China still use similar skis, which are made of split spruce timber. They wrap the dried skin of… uhum… horses around them to make them smoother in the snow. Here’s a custom hoodie to mark this tradition.  

And what about the snowboard

A guy from Michigan invented the first snowboard in 1965, carving the slopes for generations of snow surfers to come. Wait a minute, snow surfers? That’s exactly what the snowboard was called in the beginning, and fans soon called the board a snurfer. But the snurfer boards had no bindings and were manoeuvred with a rope that the snurfers held in their hands. In the mid 1970s that changed for the better, and today’s snowboard was born. This custom hoodie is perfect for you if you’re the single-board type.

It’s a pretty diverse sport

Different types of skiing and ski-jumping have long become what we all associate with winter sports – also at the Olympics. Here’s a brief collection of the most popular disciplines:

• Alpine skiing – also called downhill skiing – still holds the mountain top of popularity. It’s a lot of fun to slide down the slopes when they’re covered with freshly fallen snow. As long as you don’t lose a binding, that is!
• Snowboarding has become the second most popular winter sport. Thank you, guy from Michigan.
• Heard of snow scooting? Some say it’s a perfect combo of a snow scooter and – you guessed it – a snowboard.
• While a snow scooter costs a wad of cash, bigfoot skis are cheap and fun as well. Folks don’t love them for their speed (they’re shorter and slower), but value their awesome mobility when it comes to taking fast turns.

Skiing in North Korea

Fun fact – over eighty counties have ski resorts of sorts, and so does North Korea! They may be that little remote and hard to get to – we’d guess getting through customs would be the first hurdle – but once you get to the N. Korea’s fabled Masik Pass, we imagine you’d be blessed with snow and solitude galore. More assailable destinations probably include Mount Hermon (Israel) and an indoor skiing mountain (of about sixty metres) in Dubai.