The Bluehouse Ski Company has seen a popular surge in Utah the past few years. Spend a day at Snowbird, and you’ll see mostly young dudes sporting their Maestro, Maven or District skis. Bluehouse is a local company based in Salt Lake City, and was founded in 2007. Their success can be traced to their commitment to being local boutique ski makers. Well now they’re getting even more local as they’ve announced that beginning in February, 2011, they’ll move most of their ski production to Utah.
Bluehouse will move production and distribution of most of their skis to a 5,000 square-foot facility in Salt Lake City. The company has been so successful with their factory direct business model that they need a more accessible place to build their skis. In addition, the new facility will have a heated ski press system, so they can churn out around 10,000 skis a year to try and keep up with demand.
Although not all Bluehouse skis will be made in Utah (the rest will be born overseas) the one that are built here will have the priveledge of being research and developed here in the Wasatch. That way ski testers can experiment with different materials and designs on Utah’s limitless powder.
“It’s not always feasible for ski companies to bring their production to North America, but we’ve worked hard to bring our factory closer to home,” said Dan Nebeker, co-founder of Bluehouse. “We want to support the local and US economy as much as possible, and a Utah factory was an important decision for us if we wanted to stay true to our vision. Utah is the perfect state to operate Bluehouse from. The snow is the best in the country, the terrain is rugged for ski testing and we’re so close to a major airport.”
According to a press release, Bluehouse Ski Company launched in 2007 by then 26-year-old Dan Nebeker, 27-year-old Adam Hepworth and 26-year-old Jared Richards in the middle of the country’s recession. Bluehouse’s online factory-direct method brought skis to the market in a way that no other manufacturer could. Skiers looking for bargain prices on new skis without compromising on quality could bypass retailers and purchase Bluehouse skis at factory prices online.
I’ve been interested in small, local ski companies like Bluehouse for a while now, and almost pulled the trigger on getting myself a pair. Maybe the knowledge that their skis will now be made right here in Salt Lake can give people (and myself) even more incentive to buy local and keep our money in Utah’s economy.
For more information on Bluehouse Skis, visit www.BluehouseSkis.com, or visit www.FactoryDirectSkis.com for the online store.
1 thought on “Bluehouse Skis to be produced locally in Utah”