Look good, Shred hard with Team Event

Team Event Apparel Photo: MANICPROJECT.

Team Event’s luxury performance ski apparel for women is totally tubular

PARK CITY, Utah — Men’s skiwear move aside, the 80s are making a comeback. “When I learned to ski in the late 70s and early 80s, it was really exciting, and a little crazy,” says Marion Zaniello, founder and creative director of Team Event, a super cool, 80s-inspired, women’s skiwear brand. “It was all about showing off, looking good, and having fun,” she says. “It was also a time when ski culture was pushing traditional boundaries. Snowboarding became commercial, and ‘hot-doggers’ transformed into official freestyle athletes competing in moguls, aerials, and ski ballet events.”

Nostalgia for those glory days inspired Zaniello to found Team Event in 2021. “I wanted to bring back style and a 1980s playfulness to women’s skiwear, but with a modern sensibility,” she says. “I also wanted to design a suit that lets women look good and stay warm while skiing for more than just an hour. I enjoy a lodge break, and really love aprés-ski, but mostly I want to spend my ski day out on the slopes.” 

Like, totally dude.

Zaniello’s secret fantasy of designing skiwear took root when she and her family moved from her hometown of Seattle to Park City in 2018. She had been working as a women’s fashion designer since the 1990s, primarily in New York’s Fashion District, but later for Nordstrom’s private label group in Seattle. “It was only after a couple of years living in a ski-town that I had my ‘when-in-Rome’ awakening,” she says. “If ever I was going to design a women’s ski collection, this was the time and place to do it.”

Team Event is known for its svelte lines and a smart, three-piece ensemble that can be sold together or separately. When paired, the jacket hits exactly at the waistline of the jumpsuit so that it looks like a bodacious 80s one-piece.  “It’s nice and toasty without giving up mobility,” Zaniello says. She also upgraded the 80s fanny pack to a more feminine “peplum” belt for holding your valuables in a far more fashionable way. 

Radical.

Along with fashion, the winter sport industry continues to change, and insiders have become acutely aware of the fragile winter climate. “One of the biggest challenges the industry faces today is that of maintaining a climate that still produces snow in the winter,” says Zaniello. “One way to help the issue has been for fabric mills, designers, and manufacturers to practice more responsible, climate-friendly operations.” The Team Event ski collection uses highly technical, bluesign®-approved fabrics from Switzerland and partners with experienced, ethical manufacturers, mainly from British Columbia and New York.

For future seasons, Team Event is looking to produce its technical ski apparel exclusively in the U.S.A. No small feat given the lack of specialty machinery and skills needed to manufacture skiwear in our country. “It’s important to me to manufacture as close to home as possible,” says Zaniello. I like checking in on my production first-hand and not feeling so separated from the manufacturing process. There are many players involved in creating a garment, especially a technical one.  Collaboration, along with fair pay, is important to me.  I’ve never made my peace with producing overseas. It’s not really an option as a small business, anyway.”  

If you want to look like a smoke-show on the slopes, support a local business, and know your money is ethically spent, then this season’s winter-wear is a no-brainer.