Aspen Origins
The Mountain Lid is a heritage knitwear brand from Aspen, CO. Founded by enterprising and crafty ski bums in 1971, the brand began as a side hustle but grew into a major player in the ski industry, known for producing hand-knit wool hats that were equally fashionable and functional.
The company, which at it's height occupied four warehouses in the Aspen Airport Business Center, was shipping globally and innovating on numerous fronts. It was a ski first, work later operation—and neither powder days or delivery deadlines were missed.
Marketing consisted of outfitting the Ski Patrol who were the best skiers on the mountain and coolest guys at the bar. Whether they were securing the slopes or holding court in Beer Gulch outside of Little Annie's, Patrollers were repping The Mountain Lid. Effectively deploying Influencer Marketing before that was a thing.
Defining Style
Mountain Lids were statement pieces, defining the style of a generation of skiers. Knit from brightly colored wool and boasting stripes or mountain motifs and large poms, they were designed to stand out from the muted, single color hats that dominated the day. Tightly knit from and double layered at the ears, Lids were also highly functional thanks to the use of 100% wool, as opposed to cheaper acrylic materials in use by competitors. The Mountain Lid incorporated a number of bright, colorful patterns and were designed to compliment the outerwear of the season.