Denver, CO – Colorado-based Spyder Active Sports, whose racing suits have played a key role in the historical success of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team and at the Olympics in Vancouver, has been named as the official outwear provider of the Team through 2016. Thursday’s announcement at the SnowSports Industries America Snow Show in Denver extends a 21-year partnership between Spyder and the U.S. Ski Team.nSpyder has outfitted the U.S. Alpine Ski Team in performance race suits since 1989. It will continue to supply the U.S. Team with high performance competition suits, training outerwear, layering garments and lifestyle active wear. Spyder is emblazoned on the U.S. Ski Team uniforms that appear in over 80 Audi FIS World Cup races every year, as well as in the Olympic Winter Games and World Championships. Over 20 million global television viewers watch the Audi World Cup each weekend.
“Spyder’s performance wear makes a difference for our athletes in a sport where small margins of just hundredths of a second separate winners and losers,” said U.S. Ski Team Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Andrew Judelson. “A key element of our multi-year renewal with Spyder is based on continuing its legacy of working closely with us on product design. Spyder is a best in the world high performance company and has shown its commitment to driving innovation for the future.”
“Working with the U.S. Ski Team challenges us to push our technology even further,” said Spyder Vice President Sales and Global Marketing Russ Rowan. “Winning is everything. That pushes us to outperform. Second best is not an option. There are no boundaries, no limitations with this partnership.”
The collaboration will take the Team through the next Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Using the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup as its annual proving ground, Spyder and the Team will collaborate on race suit and protective padding research and design efforts, incorporating wind tunnel and on-snow testing into suit construction and design. The extensive R&D is all designed to find hundredths of a second for the U.S. athletes.
“We go as far as to write a ‘Hundies Matter’ mantra on our race garments,” Rowan said.
“Spyder gives me a level of confidence. When I’m standing in the starting gate, I know I have the goods to win,” said three-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso. “And I love working with Spyder because it’s fashionable, as well, which is important to me personally.”
“Spyder is strategic in translating its high performance partnership with the U.S. Ski Team to consumer recognition,” said Judelson. “The visibility of its brand on our U.S. Ski Team uniforms provides Spyder with the opportunity to reach tens of millions of skiers worldwide and offer new cross-platform promotions with the Team and our partners.”
Since the original date of the partnership in 1989 U.S. Ski Team athletes have won 19 Olympic medals and collected 28 World Championship medals.
“Spyder wants to win just as badly as we do,” said World Cup downhill winner Steven Nyman. “It’s great to be intimately involved in the development of Spyder products – not just on looks, but performance and durability, too. Spyder is super responsive to our feedback.”