J Skis
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| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Sporting goods |
| Founded 📆 | September 2013 in Burlington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Founder 👔 | Jason Levinthal |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Burlington, Vermont , United States |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Products 📟 | Skis, apparel, accessories |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | jskis |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
J Skis is an American ski manufacturer based in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 2013 by Jason Levinthal, the founder of Line Skis, and sells skis directly to consumers, mainly online, in limited production runs with artist-designed graphics.[1][2][3][4]
History
Levinthal founded Line Skis in 1995 in his parents' garage in Guilderland, New York, and is widely credited with popularizing the twin-tip ski.[1] After the cross-country ski company Karhu took a majority stake in Line, the company moved to Burlington, and in 2006 it was sold to K2 Sports. Levinthal continued to lead the Line brand from Burlington.[2][1]
Levinthal left K2 in September 2013 to start J Skis, with the aim of designing limited-edition skis and selling them directly to skiers.[5][3] The company's first release was a run of 100 pairs, shipped in December 2013.[5] In 2015, J Skis funded its first powder ski, the Friend, through a Kickstarter campaign that raised just over $42,000.[6]
In 2017, J Skis acquired 4FRNT, a ski company based in Salt Lake City that had been in financial difficulty. Levinthal planned to cut slow-selling models and move the brand to direct-to-consumer sales.[4][7] He sold 4FRNT in 2020 to focus on J Skis.[1]
In November 2022, J Skis opened its first physical store at 247 Main Street in Burlington, in a building Levinthal and his wife, Corrine, had purchased earlier that year. The store is shared with the Vermont apparel brand Ski the East, which uses it as its flagship location.[1]
Business model
J Skis sells directly to consumers rather than through ski shops and sales representatives.[6][3] Levinthal has described it as one of the first ski brands to sell exclusively direct-to-consumer, and has said the company's initial break-even target was about 2,000 pairs a year.[4] The model lets the company release products on its own schedule rather than following the multi-year development and distribution cycle of larger ski companies.[3] In 2015, the company said selling direct allowed it to price skis at about $549 to $749 a pair, below competing skis that sold for $800 or more.[6]
In 2019, J Skis had five employees and sold about 3,000 pairs of skis a year.[2] In 2022, Levinthal estimated annual sales at about 6,000 pairs of skis, with apparel and accessories sold to roughly 3,000 additional customers.[1] The company's tagline is "It's Just Skiing."[1]
Products
J Skis are manufactured at a factory in Rimouski, Quebec.[1] They are engineered with François Sylvain, a Quebec engineer who previously worked with Levinthal at Line.[2][4] Each graphic is produced in a limited run, typically 50 to 100 pairs, and is not reissued once sold out.[8][6] Levinthal signs each pair.[2][6]
Artists who have designed J Skis graphics include Adam Haynes, Conrad Godly and David Hale, and the company has collaborated with the camouflage brand Realtree.[3][8]
Models have included the Whipit, Allplay, Friend, Vacation, Metal and Slacker.[6][9] The Metal received awards from Backcountry, Freeskier, Powder and Skiing magazines in the same year,[6] and several J Skis models have won Powder's Skier's Choice awards.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Esckilsen, Erik (November 9, 2022). "Burlington-Based Online Ski Brand J Skis Takes a Run at Downtown Retail". Seven Days. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Allen, Anne Wallace (November 27, 2019). "Q&A: J Skis owner preaches gospel of lean, small business". VTDigger. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Huffman, Jesse (November 28, 2017). "Jason Levinthal". Take Magazine. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Jason Levinthal and J Skis Continue Turning the Ski Industry on its Ear". Teton Gravity Research. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "LINE Skis Founder Starts New Ski Company: "J Skis"". SnowBrains. October 16, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 "Jason Levinthal changes skiing – again". Vermont Ski + Ride. November 30, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ Kittler, Roy (June 27, 2017). "Jason Levinthal Acquires 4FRNT Ski Company". Downdays. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "J Skis: Moving at the Speed of Thought". Freeskier. November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
- ↑ "2023 J Skis The Slacker Review". Outside. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
External links
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Sporting goods |
| Founded 📆 | September 2013 in Burlington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Founder 👔 | Jason Levinthal |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Burlington, Vermont , United States |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Products 📟 | Skis, apparel, accessories |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | jskis |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
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