Sure, it’s mostly mittens and baby onesies at this point, but guess what? We’ve got some exciting news about kids’ outerwear on the way.
It was 11 years ago and my close friend, Nina, was about to have her first son. I wanted a baby gift that felt specifically unique to her family, a Colorado-dwelling, snow-loving crew. So, I asked Dan—my husband and the cofounder of Flylow—if he’d make a baby onesie with a fun, ski-centric saying on the front. I figured it’d be a one-off item. Certainly a tough ski brand like Flylow wouldn’t want to sell cotton baby outfits?
We came up with the saying after a quick banter: “Two inches of powder is knee deep to me.” Perfect for a tiny newcomer in a mountain-loving family. Dan ordered up a custom onesie and Nina’s son, Gavin, was the newborn recipient of Flylow’s first-ever children’s item. Turns out, though, Gavin wasn’t the only baby born to skiers. The Flylow Baby Onesie has been a perennial favorite accessory and top-selling gift item on Flylow’s site for the past 11 years. (Thanks to Gavin for the inspiration. He’s now in sixth grade.)
Flylow has added a few additional kids’ items since then, too. We realized our leather work gloves were so useful, that kids could benefit from a durable, waterproof work mitten. So, we introduced the popular Mighty Unicorn Mitt (modeled after the adult version, the Unicorn Mitt ) and the Mighty Mitten .
There’s a tassled beanie, the Kids Revival Pom and the classic rooster Kids Fleece Hat in the always stylish check pattern. The talented Jen Mitchell of Visual Theory designed the original artwork of a skiing gummy bear that we put on the kids’ Berry Tee , which comes in a wide range of sizes.
The bottom line: If you need a gift item for a young person in your life, we have a few ideas for you. Check out our full kids’ collection here .
Here’s where things get exciting. After years of discussing the matter (and through many years of Flylow’s staff having kids of their own), Flylow is finally going to make kids’ outerwear. We’ll have to wait until fall 2024 for the official debut (sorry for the wait—good gear takes a while to dial in). Coming in fall 2024: A kids’ size bib and a lightly insulated jacket, modeled after the durable, storm-ready gear we’ve built for adults in a range of kid-approved colors and sizes.
“Living by the Flylow ethos, we make gear to use it,” says Flylow’s senior director of product Chris Blum. “Our kids need ski gear that doesn’t fall apart and will last for a few hand-me-downs.”
The idea is to give kids all the features they need: pockets big enough to store a snack, a hood that can fit over a helmet, enough insulation to keep them warm (but not so much that they overheat), and gaskets and adjustments that are functional and easy to use.
Blum will be overseeing testing and design of the kids’ gear this winter and next. Will he actually get solid feedback from kid testers? “It might be more the parents’ experiences of getting the kid dressed, and a long-term observation of what’s wearing in and what’s not,” Blum says. “But maybe one of our kids will have something great to tell us, like ‘Move this pocket over here,’ or ‘This is too hot.’ You never know.”