We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane Boyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I cannot take credit for the idea of Skea, as My parents, Georges and Jocelyn Boyer were the founders. They began Skea, by being the first importers of chic one-piece ski suits from Paris. My father, Georges, was born in Paris and my mother was born in Montreal. They met in the U.S. but frequently visited France. As avid skiers who had an exceptional eye for style, Jocelyn and Georges were captivated by the one-piece ski suits French women donned to traverse the moguls of Val d’Isere in the early 1970s. Jocelyn, of course, was the first to bring the ski suit look to her home mountain in Stratton, VT in 1972. From that moment, my parents knew they had a business venture, and enlisted me to join, while I was still in college at Dartmouth!
Diane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
SKEA, a women’s outdoor clothing brand that specialized in ski wear, and Activewear for women has celebrated five decades. It is designed by women who ski for women who ski, Skea has served our retail partners – locally and nationally – through snow droughts and powder days, through economic ups and downs, and we pride ourselves on personalized service for all! We are a small team of 3 – including myself, everything is done in-house at Skea from shipping/receiving, customer service, marketing, and sales/ operations by our team! We have a direct phone number, and when a customer calls asking about their ski fit, we make sure that they end the phone call feeling inspired and confident to go out and follow their passion.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In the late 1990’s Skea faced several challenges. The cost of polyester- used for insulation – skyrocketed. The cost of labor also increased. And then consumers set hard limits on what they would pay for high quality ski apparel manufactured in the United States- and it wasn’t enough to cover Skea’s increased costs. As profit margins steadily dropped, Skea very reluctantly closed its factory and moved its manufacturing to China. Diane developed expertise in creating tech packs (the manufacture of each piece of clothing requires a very detailed tech pack specifying the pattern measurements, the fabrics, the zippers, the closures, the thread types and colors, the stitch type, length and tension, the insulation type and density, etc.) Today, Diane works with a contracted expert to translate her sketches into computerized sketches to accompany the tech packs she still creates!
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Our loyal customers! Word of Mouth, and just seeing Skea on the slopes makes our hearts happy, and encourages other women to follow their passion in Skea! While we do have an active presence on social media, and are continuously seeking to grow our online market, we can’t thank our current customer base enough for sharing Skea with their friends and family for the past 50 YEARS!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.skealimited.com
- Instagram: skealtd
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skealimited
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skea-limited/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQuzil6klLs7u1J_bveu_g
- Other: Tik Tok: @skealtd Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/skealimited/