The Ski Podcast16 Aug 2021

Tony McWilliam, founder Faction Skis (Bonus Episode #19)

In this Ski Podcast Special, we meet Tony McWilliam, founder of one of the world's leading snowsports brands - Faction Skis.

We find out what inspired him to start the company and how it took it to become one of the most famous freestyle ski brands in the world.

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SHOW NOTES

Tony designed my first brochure for my first business, Natives.co.uk
You can listen to our Ski Podcast Special with Pat Sharples here
Faction skis started in 2003
BoardX took place in Battersea for several years
You can listen to our Ski Podcast with Jim Adlington here
Other key contacts for Tony in the early years were Phil Martin, Gordy Hughes and Matt Reardon
He worked closely with Peter Bauer, founder of Amplid
The first range of Faction skis had a waist of 80-110mm
Initially the skis were made in Annecy before production moved to Austria
Skis like the Seth Pistol were an inspiration
Jamie Strachan's designs for Volkl were another influence
The first run of Faction skis was just 44 pairs - they now sell 35,000 pairs every year globally
Sam Smoothy is a NZ freeride skier
Ski Service in Verbier was the first store to stock Faction Skis
Tony first met Candide Thovex as a 16-year-old rider in Les Arcs
Check out Candide in China here (he took 27 pairs of skis with him for that shoot!)
Tony launched an eco-friendly outerwear brand, GHOSTS, on Kickstarter in 2019
He also worked with Eric Pollard - ex-Line Skis - on the launch of the new ski and snowboard range Season Eqpt
Find out about Candide's outerwear brand

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