Women skis

When it comes to the world of skiing, it is mainly dominated by men. Many ski brands do skis specifically for women today, but the number of skis are disgustingly smaller than for men. Faction want to fll this gap by developing their women skis product line according to what the users want, as well as for Roxy, for which Faction makes the ski design

Te purpose of this thesis was to investigate what skis that the female buyers of Roxy and Faction want to have and how Faction can develop their women line and Roxy’s line of skis in order to meet these requirements. Te starting point was the existing skis that the two brands have today and the aim was to deliver a design suggestion of the full collection of skis for both product lines.

Te approach of this project was to make an extensive user study, including interviews with both advanced professional skiers as well as average skiers, interviews with staff from ski shops and a survey regarding ski habits and preferences for skis. Other than that a major bench marking was conducted to understand how other brands design their women skis. Additionally, testing a lot of skis from both Faction and Roxy but also other brands, contributed to the study and was made together with the users.

Te result of this study showed that the female skiers prefer women specific skis. They also want more models and lengths to chose between. They are missing the high-technology skis that they fnd for men, which has resulted in that many female skiers chose to ski on men skis.

From the result of the thorough research concepts for both brands were created. Together with the company, decisions were made to make some changes in order to adapt to the existing molds in the factory

The project has shown that there is a lot of potential for women skis today, despite the small differences between men and women. Te final design enhances this and takes these small differences into consideration, which makes the skis optimized for female skiers.

By offering a wider range of skis to chose from and by including high technology materials and constructions the demand from the users are fulfilled. However, the main focus in this project have been on user studies. This approach has made it possible to create a design that fits well together with the market demands. This, in its turn, will also lead to and be beneficial for both the company and the retailers.

In conclusion, this project has produced useful guidelines that the company could definitely implement in their further development of their women skis. It resulted in a concept for the full line-up of skis for both Roxy and Faction.