2019 Best Bits

We hope you’ve had a rad year and we wish you all the best for the next. ✌️ For Planks Clothing as a brand and the ski industry as a whole this year has been a blast. As we shut the door on 2019 and welcome 2020, let’s wind it back...

Back in February our boy James ‘Woodsy’ Woods became the World Slopestyle Champion in Park City, Utah. Conditions weren't the best, athletes struggling with speed and visibility. Although nothing was stopping Woodsy as he put down a flawless run that took him to the top spot. Woodsy also released his new signature series this year and the promotional video for it is a must-watch.

It’s no secret that women’s freeskiing has been going off over the past couple of years, with women’s progression quickly on the tail of men’s freeskiing. However, this season was a big milestone in women's ski history. This year JYOSEI was released, the first all women powder and urban ski movie, featuring one of the latest additions to the Planks team, Stefanie Mössler. The Faction Collective released what was arguably one of the best all women ski edits of all time. Then finally, our very own Kirsty Muir officially joined Team GB and will be representing Great Britain at her first Youth Olympics this winter. We’re stoked to see what 2020 brings for women’s freeskiing.

For the third year running, we hosted our Planks Grassroots Photo Competition, Video Competition and Tour. However, this year we went international for the first time. We held the first stop of the tour at Copenhill - a dry-slope on top of a zero waste-to-energy plant - in Copenhagen on their official opening weekend.

This year marks the second decade of Level 1 ski movies and their final movie ever, Romance... For the past 20 years, Level 1 has been at the forefront of the go-to movies for skiers around the globe. It is certainly sad that this will be their final movie, but they went out with a bang. Romance features a range of freeski legends and the new kids on the block, with a mix of mind-bending skiing throughout. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to check it out.

We were super excited to announce that we will be kitting out some of the UK’s best winter sports athletes following a partnership with GB Snowsport. As part of the new deal with GB Snowsport, athletes and coaches from a number of the national squads – including Park+Pipe, Ski+Snowboard Cross, Para Snowboard and Para Nordic – will have the opportunity to be kitted out in Planks.

We launched our first true unisex collection, which in February was awarded The Slide Award at the outdoor trade show Slide. "We introduced The People's Series to celebrate us as equals, no his or no hers, just great products that suit the style and fit the needs of both the sexes. It's time to shred together!" - Jim Adlington, Planks Founder

At the start of this year we had heaps of good snow, and later on in the season we even saw some spring powder days in some parts of Europe. Then moving into this season the snow gods blessed us with more of the white stuff across the Northern Hemisphere, getting the winter season off to a deep start. Check out our Top 5 Tips to Get into the Backcountry Shred Thread, written by ambassador Joss Baldwin, so you can dive into 2020 and get snorkel deep.

Back in October, we had the best time at London’s Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Festival. We had an epic finale for Planks Grassroots, we had our infamous dance-offs on our stand (so crazy that people got naked) and a super loose after party. Although most importantly, our stand was full with people trying and buying our new product ready for the upcoming winter season.

This year we upgraded to a new HQ office in the heart of Manchester, UK. We’ve now got plenty more space for a growing team, a meeting/show room, sofa chill out area, a dartboard, ping pong, a good view of Manchester, a kitchen and a breakfast bar. If you're in town slide by an say hi, to talk about skiing, drink a cup of tea or play game of 180.