The Floral Print Phenomenon: How Skida Traveled From Vermont to Everywhere

Corinne Prevot remembers tossing the handmade fleece hat she’d been wearing to the side of the trail mid-way through one of her first high school Nordic races. Prevot, who has always been crafty, had been knitting and sewing fleece hats for the frigid Vermont winters at Burke Mountain Academy. The latest fleece creation proved to be a little too warm for the aerobic output of a cross-country race, but she planned to come back for it. However, when she came back after the race, it was gone.

Fast-forward roughly eighteen years, and Prevot’s nabbed hat has turned into an empire in the form of floral print accessories, permeating far beyond Nordic skiing. Lovers of Skida will know the brand’s origin story well: Prevot started by making what became the Nordic Lightweight Running Hat for her teammates, and it grew from there. It was only recently that she remembered the stolen hat and the confidence it gave her.

After continuing to make hats throughout high school and college, Prevot moved herself and Skida to Burlington, Vermont, in 2013. As her business grew, so did its reach, and it wasn’t long before Skida had infiltrated the mountain town aesthetics of places like Jackson, Sun Valley, and Crested Butte.

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It wasn’t just the need for a breathable hat that brought Skida to life. The brand’s mission is to “bring joy in any conditions, on any adventure” through beautiful, bright, and functional pieces. Prevot noted, as we chatted on a video call, that the idea of joy, even in inclement conditions or the mundane parts of life, was something she’d thought a lot about. 

“Ultimately, the goal is to be able to bring joy on any adventure, and that can be climbing up a peak and paragliding down, or it can be going to the grocery store and doing the mundane stuff,” she said. “But I think really giving people an opportunity to bring joy into all those aspects in life is sort of where we kind of come off the hill.”

Like many outdoor brands, the pandemic also proved to be a turning point for Skida. The outdoor industry, and specifically backcountry skiing, grew massively as people flocked from cities to small towns, looking for new ways to connect with their friends and the natural world, and to find joy in such an uncertain time.

In December, Prevot attended a running trade show and noticed just how much the trail running space had blown up, similarly to skiing during the pandemic. To her, it felt like brands had started to lean into the dynamic, unrefined aesthetic of trail running, and that it had begun to appeal to more people as a simple way to escape the noise of our over-connected everyday lives. “I think people are just finding more ways to experience the outdoors, and think sometimes we look at these sports or industries in a way that’s so siloed and with a core theme,” Prevot said.

“But I think it’s all very much connected and rooted in how people spend their time, and everyone has to wear clothes,” she continued, laughing. “I mean, we’ve sort of made it that way.”

Far before some of the other flagship pieces of the Gorpcore movement, Skida had already begun to carve out a space for technical, functional items for everyday use. To Prevot’s earlier point, the Alpine and Nordic Lightweight Running hats, which were created for a very technical, outdoor use scenario, work just as well to keep one’s ears warm on a quick trip to the grocery store. True to the spirit of Gorpcore, Skida’s products of course, function beautifully in the everyday and mundane. However, where Prevot hit the nail on the head is in pieces that transition just as easily from the mundane to the adventurous, not to mention from season to season. 

If Prevot were any less business-savvy than she is, it might seem like a serendipitous accident that the creation of several of Skida’s most versatile pieces came from a crossover between sustainability and functionality. One example is the Snap Vest, which was born in part from fuzzy fabric leftover from the high-pile hat. Another is the Viska Pant, dreamt up by Prevot’s mom, who found a use for excess sidecuts of UV-printed fabric. Although these pieces came later, they’re representative of the space Skida occupies in the outdoor and fashion world.

However, the true phenomenon is not about the versatility or sustainability of Skida’s products. It’s that, seemingly, no matter where in the world you are, the sight of one of their printed accessories can make it feel like home.

Today, you can walk through just about any mountain town or ski area, and the odds are nearly surefire you’ll see at least one person sporting a Skida hat, neckwarmer, or any number of other whimsical and delightfully functional pieces in the brand’s line. And while Skida is far from the only brand of printed winter headwear on the market, they’ve carved out their own niche in the world of skiing.

Beyond that, Skida has become universally appealing, not just to skiers or women, but to other outdoor sports, to people of all genders and tastes, and even to our four-legged friends (they make dog bandanas that also fit large cats).

Prevot’s intention with Skida was to create something that allowed people to express themselves, even when bundled in outerwear or uniforms for their work on the mountain. However, as much as each item, print, or texture offers its own expression of individuality and aesthetic, as a whole, they’ve become a bat-symbol of sorts for those who share an ideology of joy in every adventure, supporting women-owned businesses, caring for the land we inhabit, and more often than not, loving to play outside. 

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