Skip to main content

Vintage Winter Style

Vintage winter sports items will always be in-style. No matter how advanced the technology and materials become to make snowboards and skis lighter and more aerodynamic; no matter how much ski destinations start to resemble amusement parks, there is something appealing about an old pair of solid, wood skis, or a warm, rustic lodge.

The founders of Vintage Winter, Nick Thomas and Jeff Hume, certainly feel that way. The two met in Colorado in 2003 and quickly bonded over their shared love of winter sports. The friends then traveled to antique shows in some of the finest ski towns in America gathering pieces that they admired. After weathering the difficulties of the recession and other life changes, Jeff and Nick launched their retail website Vintage Winter earlier this year. Their pieces have been sourced by Ralph Lauren and used by J. Crew for a catalog cover shoot.

Recommended Videos

Both Thomas and Hume worked with wood their entire lives—Thomas as a child ripping slabs of maple that were later used on high-end violins and violas, and Hume with his mother’s antique business in Minnesota. They create each of their products in one of their three workshops, either from sourced antiques in the U.S. and Europe or from recycled wood taken from barns that they have personally dismantled. That includes each of the items in their Vintage Winter Original Collection, which are all on sale now.

Two standout pieces from the Original Collection are the Ski Chairlift bench and Eagle Head Albany Cutter Sleigh table. The bench is constructed from an aged ash wood seat and a curved metal back. Thomas explains that the item was inspired by the “old riblet center pole chair lift” on Mt. Ashland in Oregon, where his love of antique outdoor gear started. He scraped flakes of red paint off the lift, had the paint matched and used it on their own creation to make it as authentic as possible.

The original Sleigh table was made from deconstructed 19th century sleighs that were then joined by one hundred year old recycled barn wood. Since, as Thomas says, “antique sleights from the 19th century are not easy to find,” he and Hume have been hand-making subsequent pieces using steam-bent runners, hand forged iron and quality hardwoods.

Technology may move forward, but many of us, like Thomas and Hume, use the winter and winter sports as a way to look back.

Topics
Matt Domino
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Domino is a writer living in Brooklyn. His fiction has appeared in Slice and The Montreal Review, while his non-fiction…
Industry season 4: Everything we know so far
One key cast member is unlikely to return for the fourth season.
Myha'la in 'Industry'

After three seasons on HBO and Max, Industry has proven itself to be one of the most thrilling, unexpected success stories of the past few years. The show, which follows a group of young employees as they work their way up the rungs of an investment bank, has focused on the kinds of wild personalities required to sacrifice every scruple you have in the name of making money.

The show's third season ended with a major twist, as Pierpoint, the bank at the show's center, went under. Given that major twist, many are wondering what the show's fourth season might entail. Here's what we know about the show's fourth season so far:

Read more
Thunderbolts* first reactions praise Florence Pugh, suggest a dark, character-based movie
The reactions are a good sign for a struggling MCU.
The cast of Thunderbolts

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not as dominant as it once was, in part because the movies they've put out lately have not been received all that warmly by critics or audiences. The first reactions to Thunderbolts* suggest that it might be a step in the right direction. The reactions are overwhelmingly positive, and praised both the movie's darker tone and star Florence Pugh, in particular. Here's a rundown of what people are saying:

Film writer Emily Murray calls the movie one of the "best" MCU movies in some time. She added that it “has so much spark, charisma, and tells a genuinely emotional story you connect with. A tear was shed. Florence Pugh in particular superb, just walks away with it.”

Read more
Bill Hader will co-write a new HBO series about the Jonestown massacre
The story of Jonestown has been infamous for almost 50 years.
Bill Hader in Barry.

If you watched Barry all the way through to its conclusion, you're likely aware that Bill Hader is a kind of dark guy. He's always talking about his fascination with serial killers and murderers, and now he's channeling that fascination into a project for HBO. Variety is reporting that Hader will co-write and potentially star in a new HBO series about the infamous Jonestown massacre.

Hader is co-writing the series with Daniel Zelman, and while it's still in development, the show could potentially be Hader's next star vehicle with HBO, where he also worked on Barry.

Read more