Tony
McWilliam

ORIGINALLY FROM MELBOURNE, I’VE SPENT THE LAST 20 YEARS LIVING AND WORKING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF AUSTRALIA, NORTH AMERICA, FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND WHERE I LIVE WITH MY WIFE AND TWO DAUGHTERS.

15 years after starting Faction Skis, having a blast designing and building some of the best freestyle and freeride skis in the world for athletes such as Candide Thovex, Johnny Collinson, Sam Anthamatten and X Games Slopestyle gold winner Alex Hall, I realised that a bigger challenge was facing us—and that is climate change.

I left Faction with the sole purpose of creating the world’s most environmentally-friendly high performance technical outerwear. I want to give passionate skiers and snowboarders the opportunity to choose products that suit their performance requirements whilst answering their demands for reduced environmental impact and greater social responsibility. To do it, I had to build a global network of designers, developers and fabric specialists. Luckily, those people are my friends.

I think most of us feel disempowered by what is happening in politics and big business and in the action sports industry. We feel our voice isn’t being heard and that the topic of environmental and social sustainability is being ignored by the brands who live off of those who love the mountains and the outdoors.

Ghosts is both a reaction to that, and a statement that we, the people, can instigate and inspire change by making decisions in the the right direction that over time add up to big steps.

Yep – that’s me skiing in the image above. I hope you’ll join me on my journey.

Verbier, Switzerland
March 2019

IN JAPANESE FOLKLORE, A YUREI IS A GHOST THAT IS UNABLE TO PASS ON TO THE AFTERLIFE UNTIL ITS PURPOSE FOR EXISTING IS FULFILLED. OUR PURPOSE IS TO TRANSFORM AN INDUSTRY.

The name ‘Ghosts’ first came to me on a beach near my home of Melbourne, Australia. It resonated with me because it reflected how I felt having been part of the snowsports industry for so long. All the concerns about what was happening with our climate that me, my family and friends talked about daily just weren’t being addressed by the major players in the industry. Everyone talked about ‘getting back to nature’ and ‘exploring the outdoors’ but no-one talked about changing their practices or supply chains to actually do something about the challenge we face as a species.

It felt like our voices were falling on deaf ears. Like we didn’t even exist. Like we were ghosts.

I’ve also been fascinated with japanese culture and mythology since I was a child, and the idea of being trapped in this world until our purpose was fulfilled haunted me – no pun intended.

If we don’t take the steps to act now and create more sustainable products then there won’t be anything for our children to enjoy as we do. I know that we have a massive challenge ahead of us, but the technology is there, the supply chain is there, the movement has started – as designers and brands we now have to take responsibility and make the change we want to see, no matter what the cost.