Tony McWilliam, founder Faction Skis (Bonus Episode #19)

In this Ski Podcast Special, we meet Tony McWilliam, founder of one of the world's leading snowsports brands - Faction Skis. We find out what inspired him to start the company and how it took it to become one of the most famous freestyle ski brands in the world. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. SHOW NOTES Tony designed my first brochure for my first business, Natives.co.uk You can listen to our Ski Podcast Special with Pat Sharples here Faction skis started in 2003 BoardX took place in Battersea for several years You can listen to our Ski Podcast with Jim Adlington here Other key contacts for Tony in the early years were Phil Martin, Gordy Hughes and Matt Reardon He worked closely with Peter Bauer, founder of Amplid The first range of Faction skis had a waist of 80-110mm Initially the skis were made in Annecy before production moved to Austria Skis like the Seth Pistol were an inspiration Jamie Strachan's designs for Volkl were another influence The first run of Faction skis was just 44 pairs - they now sell 35,000 pairs every year globally Sam Smoothy is a NZ freeride skier Ski Service in Verbier was the first store to stock Faction Skis Tony first met Candide Thovex as a 16-year-old rider in Les Arcs Check out Candide in China here (he took 27 pairs of skis with him for that shoot!) Tony launched an eco-friendly outerwear brand, GHOSTS, on Kickstarter in 2019 He also worked with Eric Pollard - ex-Line Skis - on the launch of the new ski and snowboard range Season Eqpt Find out about Candide's outerwear brand