US outdoor brand Halfdays expands global footprint with launch in Australia and New Zealand

A US-born outdoor brand on a mission to make the outdoors more fun, inclusive and approachable for women has officially launched in Australia and New Zealand this week. 

Halfdays was founded in Denver, Colorado, by Ariana Ferwerda and former Olympic skier Kiley McKinnon in 2020.

The brand’s “performance-driven” skiwear and outdoor clothing for women will be available to Australian shoppers exclusively from its e-commerce store, with wholesale to become a key focus for the brand in the ANZ market in 2024.

In North America, Halfdays is stocked in 10 bricks-and-mortar retail stores, including Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s outlets.

Co-founder and CEO Ferwerda said the brand’s expansion marks a significant milestone as it continues to grow its global presence beyond the US and Canada, and establish itself as a leading and fashionable player in the snow sports industry. 

“We launched Halfdays in the US in 2020 to bring more women to the mountains. Three years later … we’re excited to take our fashion-forward and technical approach to Australia and New Zealand, where we believe a similar market gap exists, and a similar need for women is prevalent,” she said.

“Women want to look and feel good while participating in technical outdoor sports, and we’re excited about the opportunity to provide better-fitting and fashion-forward gear to women around the world.

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“Australia and New Zealand have been on our roadmap from the very beginning. Since our launch in the US in 2020, we’ve increasingly had inquiries from potential customers in Australia and New Zealand asking when we’ll begin to ship to their markets.”

After competing at the 2018 Olympics in men’s ski wear, McKinnon knew the male-dominated outdoor industry needed to change. So she teamed up with Ferwerda to disrupt the global outdoor market and initially set out to create a direct-to-consumer (DTC) skiwear brand designed by women, for women.

McKinnon said expanding the brand to Australia would be a smooth transition for Halfdays. 

“I’ve competed alongside Australian athletes and spent some time in beautiful Australia myself – I knew expanding our brand to a place so immersed in the outdoors would be a seamless transition for Halfdays,” she said.

“We’ve been thrilled with the response from our community while filling the gap in the US market, but we want more women to have access to technical gear that is made specifically for them. Our Australia and New Zealand expansion is just the beginning, and we hope that one day we can help women everywhere feel more welcome and included in an industry where they were once ignored.

“After seeing the excitement in the US and Canada, the hope is that our new customers will also share the same enthusiasm to have access to a women-focused brand in the outdoor space. The goal is for women everywhere to feel included and excited to get out on the mountain!”

Ferwerda said the brand wanted to build a “significant physical presence” in Australia, which it plans to do through retail partnerships, activations and community events. 

“Community and creator marketing are integral to the relationship we have from brand to customer, and we plan to bring this same strategy to Australia,” she said.

“While we’re launching exclusively online for our first winter season in-market, we’re excited to expand into wholesale in the Australia and New Zealand markets over the next few years.”