August 15, 2025

Flashback: Tony McWilliam, Founder of Faction Skis

37 minutes

In this special ‘Flashback’ episode, Iain speaks with Tony McWilliam - founder of one of the world's leading snowsports brands - Faction Skis.

We find out what inspired Tony to start Faction, how he smuggled his first batch of 44 skis across the Swiss border to Verbier, meeting freeski legend Candide Thovex when he was just 16 years old and how he grew Faction to become one of the most famous ski brands in the world.

Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code
If you want to help The Ski Podcast and save yourself some money this winter…just use the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book your ski hire at intersportrent.com.

That applies to any ski hire booked in their massive network across France, Austria and Switzerland. You’ll get a guaranteed additional discount, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied.

SHOW NOTES

Tony designed my first brochure for my first business, Natives.co.uk

You can listen to our Ski Podcast Special with Pat Sharples here

Faction skis started in 2003

BoardX took place in Battersea for several years

You can listen to our Ski Podcast with Jim Adlington here

Other key contacts for Tony in the early years were Phil Martin, Gordy Hughes and Matt Reardon

He worked closely with Peter Bauer, founder of Amplid

The first range of Faction skis had a waist of 80-110mm

Initially the skis were made in Annecy before production moved to Austria

Skis like the Seth Pistol were an inspiration

Jamie Strachan’s designs for Volkl were another influence

The first run of Faction skis was just 44 pairs – they now sell 35,000 pairs every year globally

Sam Smoothy is a NZ freeride skier

Ski Service in Verbier was the first store to stock Faction Skis

Tony first met Candide Thovex as a 16-year-old rider in Les Arcs

Check out Candide in China here (he took 27 pairs of skis with him for that shoot!)

Tony launched an eco-friendly outerwear brand, GHOSTS, on Kickstarter in 2019

He also worked with Eric Pollard – ex-Line Skis – on the launch of the new ski and snowboard range Season Eqpt

Find out about Candide’s outerwear brand

Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code
You can help The Ski Podcast and save yourself some money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com. Alternatively, simply take the link in the Show Notes and your discount will automatically be applied.

If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help:

1) Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify – helps listeners find us
2) Subscribe –it every episode will automatically be downloaded for you, so you can catch up at your leisure
3) Book your ski hire with Intersport Rent using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ or take this link

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