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Unsolicited Venting

Mary Brosnan

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hi everyone,

Just want to say how much I love this community and maybe some of you can relate to what I want to talk about. Last year I bought a pair of Renoun Z-90s because of all the love they get on this site. They turned out to be great skis and I have been thrilled with my purchase. Well last night I received a shiny new Renoun catalog in the mail and when I start flipping through the pages guess what I see? Many beautiful photos but only one of a woman actually skiing. Most of the photos of women show them standing around holding skis or sitting next to pair while wearing a tank top in a pick up truck?!?!

When I went to the Renoun website and looked at their athlete page I saw only one woman in a sea of male faces. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the amount sexism and under-representation of us in the outdoor industry (check out several great Outside articles on this topic). I sent an email to the owner of the company last night but have yet to get a response.

I have hope that if we continue to raise our voices and speak out on this issue we will push these companies to do better. That is all and thank for all the wonderful woman that make this site so great!

Mary
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I love Renoun Skis, and while I haven't seen their catalog, I encourage you to send your email. We have to speak up about stuff like this; otherwise, it may never change. Cyrus Schenck, the owner of Renoun, is a great guy, and I'm sure your input would be welcome. Be sure to tell him you're a Ski Diva, too, since he knows the opinions of the members of this site matter.
 

skibum4ever

Angel Diva
I have those same Renouns, and I am looking forward to loving them this season. I actually got them too late last winter to spend a lot of time on them.

Your analysis of their website is disappointing. I hope they change their evil ways.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I did hear back. It was a brief response from one of the female employees basically saying "We hear you and we're actively working on it." Time will tell I guess.

Good. I'm hoping they take your comment seriously and actually do something about it. For that matter, I hope the entire outdoor industry does more to represent women as the athletes we are instead of afterthoughts or sexual objects. I do think it's better than it used to be -- Title Nine, Blizzard Skis, and Coalition Skis are lessons in how it should be done -- but we still have a long way to go.

Thanks for speaking up. It matters.
 

Mary Brosnan

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good. I'm hoping they take your comment seriously and actually do something about it. For that matter, I hope the entire outdoor industry does more to represent women as the athletes we are instead of afterthoughts or sexual objects. I do think it's better than it used to be -- Title Nine, Blizzard Skis, and Coalition Skis are lessons in how it should be done -- but we still have a long way to go.

Thanks for speaking up. It matters.
AMEN SISTER!
 

kiki

Angel Diva
I love my renoun z90s
I love that they make a good unisex ski in shorter lengths for us shorter people
But i noticed their new citadel doesn't come shorter than 178 which is very disappointing.
I "needed" a powder ski wider than my z90s and would have gone with the citadel but instead went elsewhere where they did carry wide and shorter skis.
Given how much women are loving the z90s why not make the citadel also in lengths for smaller women???
 

vickie

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I did hear back. It was a brief response from one of the female employees basically saying "We hear you and we're actively working on it." Time will tell I guess.
Glad they're working on it, but ... the company was founded in 2011, not exactly the Dark Ages in terms of women engaging in outdoor activities.

They say that 1600 skis came before them, few fundamentally different, and they won't be 1601. Maybe Cyrus should apply that same thinking across the company instead of just being the n+1 company to marginalize the female customer base.
 

Mary Brosnan

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Glad they're working on it, but ... the company was founded in 2011, not exactly the Dark Ages in terms of women engaging in outdoor activities.

They say that 1600 skis came before them, few fundamentally different, and they won't be 1601. Maybe Cyrus should apply that same thinking across the company instead of just being the n+1 company to marginalize the female customer base.
I agree completely. And to be honest if Cyrus took the issue seriously I wish he would have emailed me directly instead of having someone else in the company respond.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Well, ladies, it looks like you're being taken quite seriously. Cyrus Schenk, the founder of Renoun Skis, has asked if he can respond to this thread, so I'm granting him access to this thread for a few days. This is a first. I've never let a guy on here before, but I'm doing this because I think it's an important conversation to have. So here's your chance; if you want to talk to him about this, have at it.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Well, ladies, it looks like you're being taken quite seriously. Cyrus Schenk, the founder of Renoun Skis, has asked if he can respond to this thread, so I'm granting him access to this thread for a few days. This is a first. I've never let a guy on here before, but I'm doing this because I think it's an important conversation to have. So here's your chance; if you want to talk to him about this, have at it.

Very interesting, looking forward to seeing the conversation ahead!
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
Mr. Schenk,

What would be great is if the ski industry would take a page from the marketing of Title Nine sports and Athleta. Both of those brands feature real women engaged in various sporting activities. Athleta’s inclusivity is refreshing and I appreciate that women of color, and a wide range of body types are included.

I don’t ski like Lindsey Vonn or Lindsey Dyer. I’m not going to huck myself off cliffs, or heli-ski remote mountain peaks (at least, not any time soon...). But I am going to ski all winter with my friends who happen to look a lot like the gals in the Athleta catalogue. I’m not as fit as the ladies in the Title Nine catalogue, but damn, those T9 women look like they are having fun actually participating in sports. My friends and I laugh a lot when we ski, too.

We women are athletes. We come in lots of shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. We want quality gear that fits, pushes us to be our best, and inspires us. One of the things that inspires us is seeing other women just like us doing things that we aspire to do.

Thanks for being willing to listen.
 

SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Mr. Schenk,
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us. It is refreshing to have somebody pursue us instead of having to fight to be heard. I thank you for that.
If I had my druthers, I would love to see women portrayed as what we really are - real people, enjoying the sports we love. When I see an ad where the woman seems to be there for adornment (not doing anything related to the sport/activity, just standing there posing with an item), it makes me think that the company doesn't take women seriously. And if they don't take women seriously, then they probably won't take product development for women seriously either. I worry that behind the scenes is just the old "shrink it, pink it, make it lighter" routine.
It seems that you have some fantastic skis for women, based on the love your skis get on this forum and in other reviews. Why not make your ads reflect this? Show the women shredding on your skis, having a blast! Show them geared up, beaming, ready to hit the lift! Portray all the fun that we have and the absolute joy it is when you find the perfect ski! Give us a few more pages in the ads, instead of the afterthought 1-2 photos out of 10. Point out the development that went into this ski to make it women-specific.
Skiing is one of those sports that you have to really love to keep doing it. It's cold, falling can hurt, it takes a while to progress, and it is a big financial investment. Women who ski and want to buy their own gear take their love for the sport seriously, and we love when we see companies that take us seriously as well. You will earn the respect of your current female market while appealing to those just getting into the sport if you portray a diverse blend of women in a way that shows us actually doing what we love.

Thank you for listening. This is exactly what we want more of. To have our voices heard and marketing to show us what we REALLY want to see.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Hey Cyrus!

I think we probably said hi to each other a couple of times at FreshTracks Peak Pitch over the years. I used to work for the breakfast sponsor, Gravel & Shea. Still in touch with the FreshTracks guys, probably won’t make it this year because I relocated out of state and I’ve been ditching work to shred too much already.

Gonna be really honest here... I spend a metric $hit ton on gear and travel and am afraid to look at my cash outflows for this season cuz I would not be surprised to be well in excess of the 5 figure mark. All personal spending. I’m not representing people in the ski industry at the moment.

Between my husband and me, we own 4 pairs of J Skis. ALL of them were purchased by me. Yes their marketing is dude heavy, but I’m pretty sure my buying decision was tipped because Jason & crew featured women in their giveaways and instagram pages. Not equal numbers, but *something*. I rep J Skis hard - on this site, in lift lines and gondolas (even when I’m on my snowboard), with my fellow skiing lawyers. Fun fact - the last time I ran into Jason at the Boston Ski Expo, he actually told me *not* to buy anymore of his skis.

Not once have I considered buying Renouns for myself because y’all never seemed to have anything for me. You might have skis in the appropriate length...but you’ve never seemed interested in selling to me!

I know you have an amazing product and I’m always psyched to see outdoor brands from Vermont become wildly successful, so I hope you’ll apply your creativity and innovation to growing your market share among the ladies! Best of luck!!
 

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