Would You Spend $18,600 on Skis? Hermès Thinks You Might

Snow is falling, the season is approaching, and you, like many other skiers, might be thinking about upgrading your equipment.

How about an $18,600 pair of skis?

That’s not a joke. The stylish-looking frontside carvers are being offered by the luxury brand Hermès. For the cost of about 23 reasonably priced skis, you could instead slide downhill on sticks that, according to Hermès, have an ash wood core and a “red shovel” that “easily engages into the curves.”

Admittedly, we haven’t figured out what a “red shovel” is yet. But when you’re paying the price of two used Toyota Corolla for skis, you’re not neccesarily paying for the technical specifications; you’re paying for the brand. 

And you know what? If I had more money than God, I might buy a pair of Hermès skis for the fun of it—after making sure that every avalanche center and non-profit ski area on the planet had enough funding to last beyond the heat death of the universe, of course. 

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Hermès isn’t alone in the high-fashion ski market. Fendi, with some help from ski manufacturer Blizzard, also sells a comparatively cheap luxury ski. Balenciaga and Moncler, too, are in the ski market. So is Porsche, in collaboration with the ski company Head. 

Supreme, the New York skateboarding brand turned streetwear titan, might seem like another odd participant in skiing. For its fall-winter lineup, the company is selling Völkl skis branded with its unmistakable white logo, alongside 100% goggles. 

It’s a bit less bizarre when you consider the enormous breadth of the branded products sold by Supreme. Alongside those skis, you can also grab a Supreme traffic cone, football helmet, and—get this—golf cart. 

I’m not afraid to admit that, a few years ago, I bought my brother a Supreme avalanche shovel as a gag Christmas gift that’s also practical. Last I checked, he’s still using it and, hopefully, gets a few laughs every time he pulls it out to dig a pit (for the record, the shovel itself was made by BCA—it just has Supreme branding).

Related: How to Enter the POWDER x 4FRNT Pilsner Renegade Giveaway