J.Crew, which has long captured the ski scene in its catalogues, storytelling and lifestyle merchandising, is advancing the approach with a three-year partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard, WWD has learned.
J.Crew executives told WWD that the partnership is the brand’s largest ever, in terms of duration and anticipated sales volume gains.
“We’re celebrating the intersection of sports, style and community at a scale that is really unprecedented for the J.Crew brand,” said Libby Wadle, chief executive officer, J.Crew Group, which includes the J.Crew and Madewell brands.
Added J.Crew Group chairman of the board Kevin Ulrich: “It took us a while to get to a place where we felt comfortable and U.S. Ski & Snowboard felt comfortable with a collaboration of this magnitude, because it’s been four or five years now where we’ve slowly built up J.Crew’s quality, fit, cut and especially the branding.” Ulrich called the partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard “a significant milestone for J.Crew showcasing our strength and commitment to building a lasting presence in sports and with the great outdoors.”
He said that last year, J.Crew partnered with USA Swimming for the Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Paris. “They felt great about the partnership and the fact that we used their athletes as models and worked with them in the other ways. It came through in a very positive way, which helped us get the U.S. Ski & Snowboard partnership.” Ulrich is also chairman of Anchorage Capital, the majority owner of J.Crew Group.
A ski-themed J.Crew storyboard for design inspiration.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the nonprofit Olympic and Paralympic National Governing body for skiing and snowboarding. The organization oversees 10 national teams and represents nearly 250 elite skiers and snowboarders competing on 10 teams, for alpine, cross-country, freestyle moguls, freestyle aerials, snowboard, free-ski, nordic combined, ski jumping, Para alpine and Para snowboard. USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the U.S., is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition, including the Olympics.
J.Crew’s partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard kicks off March 25 at the Stifel Sun Valley Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, with a J.Crew “warm-up” station for hot cocoa, refreshments and J.Crew/U.S. Ski & Snowboard gifts.
J.Crew will have a larger presence at the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, known as Milano Cortina 2026. The competitions commence Feb. 4, 2026, with the opening ceremony two days later, and the closing ceremony on Feb. 26.
But over the next three years, before and after the Winter Olympics, J.Crew will have a presence at other alpine, cross country, freeskiing, snowboarding, para Alpine and para snowboarding events. There will be campaigns featuring top athletes, and of course, exclusive J.Crew products designed with an après-ski feeling. Signature J.Crew categories in men’s, women’s and kids, including cashmere, merino and Fairisle sweaters that can be worn under parkas, as well as loungewear and cold weather accessories, will be offered. The bulk of the product will be available toward the end of this year. Performance apparel is not part of the program.
With the partnership, “What J.Crew is doing is really making our heritage feel modern and right and relevant again,” Wadle explained. She said J.Crew’s design teams, led by Olympia Gayot on the women’s side and Brendan Babenzien on the men’s side, have worked closely with U.S. Ski and Snowboard teams, and poured through their archives, drewing inspiration from vintage ski logos and archival Olympic graphics to reimagine the signature J.Crew pieces.
“They have an incredible archive, and so we kicked off the product design with that to make sure it was very authentic to the ski team, and to our J.Crew designers,” said Wadle. J.Crew designers also perused many J.Crew catalogues of the past. “J.Crew is often going into the archives, taking looks that people loved, and bringing them back and making them a bit newer,” said Wadle.
J.Crew catalogue cover from 2012.
Courtesy of J.Crew
Heading into the Winter Olympics, J.Crew will unveil a big campaign, said Wadle. “There’s a lot involved, beyond the Olympic moments, which is really why we went after a longer-term partnership,” Wadle said. “We’ll do a lot of business because we have great product. But it’s not just about the product collaboration. It’s really about elevating the athletes, telling their stories. We’re hoping to put the sport on a platform and make it more accessible to more people. We did that with the swim partnership.
“Right now, we’re starting to meet these athletes, form relationships, and learn their stories, because the partnership goes beyond modeling.”
Ulrich and Wadle worked together forming the partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and what it entails. “We’re trying to do things maybe a little bit differently,” Ulrich said.
“What Kevin has brought is a way to think differently about ourselves, and really how important it is to get J.Crew back in the center of culture as a brand. I run the business day-to-day, but Kevin’s an incredible thought partner on the brand and our vision.”
Skiing, she added, is “a growing sport in the U.S. which a lot of our customers take part in. It’s a great family sport for all the generations. So this partnership just feels natural for us.” Wadle happens to be a skier herself, while Kevin is a snowboarder.
Asked what she considers the second largest J.Crew partnership, Wadle said, “In the last four years, we’ve broken the mold on the types of partnerships we’ve done. These Olympic USA team partnerships are really the biggest partnerships that we’ve done.” J.Crew’s partnerships last year with recent Oscar-nominated actors, Demi Moore and Adrien Brody, were also big. “They both have J.Crew stories, and it really made a lot of sense,” Wadle said. Also last year, J.Crew revived its catalogue.
“J.Crew’s ability to blend timeless fashion with a modern edge makes them a perfect fit to help bring the culture of competitive skiing and snowboarding to life in new and exciting ways,” Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, said in a statement. “J.Crew has long been synonymous with classic American style and we know that they will help us to expand the reach of our sports and athletes beyond the slopes. As we look ahead to the Olympics, we’re thrilled to work with J.Crew to showcase the passion, lifestyle and heritage that make our sports so special.”
J.Crew x U.S. Ski patches.
Courtesy of J.Crew
