Burlington, Vermont — In honor of Pride Month, one of the up-and-coming ski brands has launched a collaboration with a popular Instagram influencer.
Yesterday, J Skis released the Friends of Dorothy Allplay Ski. This colorful variation of J Ski’s signature AllPlay model was created in collaboration with Matty Benedetto, who runs the account Unnecessary Inventions. Before that, he created Ec Headwear, which was popular with the Newschoolers crowd, as Tom Wallisch was one of its ambassadors.
The people drawn on the ski give homage to the people in Matty’s life. In terms of the back of the ski is based on a sticker that Matty gave to Jason, which said, “I am a Gay Skier”. This is an ode to Line Ski’s iconic “I am a skier” t-shirt, which Jason Leventhal helped make at Line Skis before creating J Skis. They’re selling only 200 of these skis and a small number of “I am a Gay skier” t-shirts, both of which are still available as of early Friday afternoon.
For more information about the collaboration, check out the video from J Skis below.
Product Description via J Skis: Who’s Matty B, you ask?
Matty is a badass skier who helped pioneer the newschool movement, a business dude who launched one of freeskiing’s earliest rebel clothing brands while still in high school, a vocal leader of the LGBTQ+ ski community, and the most relentless, creative, and hilarious entrepreneur I know!
The base graphic came from a sticker that Matty printed and gave me a few years ago, which I’ve kept on my desk ever since. It simply said, ‘I am a gay skier’ and was a genius play on the original ‘I am a skier’ shirt that I made for Line back in the day. He’s a creative wizard, always making things his own, so it was fitting to put the words from the sticker loud and proud across the base of his ski.
Matty explains his inspiration for the topsheet graphic: ‘Winter Rendezvous Gay Ski Week at Stowe is always one of my favorite events of the year! I love the feeling of the community, everyone showing up exactly how they want to show up, how they want to be represented. This graphic is the embodiment of all of those different personalities within the LGBT and ski communities. If you look closely, you’ll see me with my best straight ally Joe Tyson, my partner Randy, and tons of other people and memories from the event over the years.‘
We’re only making 200 pairs of this Limited Edition ski and just a few dozen ‘I am a Gay Skier’ tees to go along with it. I hand-signed and numbered each pair, so you’ll be rocking a ski like no one else on the hill! Remember that Matty isn’t the only gay skier on the mountain, so if you want to ride a pair, make sure you order ASAP before they’re gone! In support of Pride and this collaboration with Matty, we’re donating $5,000 regardless of sales of this product to ‘Outright VT’ who’s mission is building a Vermont where all LGBTQ+ youth have hope, equity, and power. Watch this video to hear more from Matty about his experience creating his legendary ‘EC Headwear’ brand at 13 years old, sponsoring Tom Wallisch while in college, his motivations for coming out, and his unique view of the world that keeps him loving life. Matty and I had such a fun time creating this ski, and our conversation in the video goes deeper into the process. Follow @mattbenedettoto get the inside scoop on his personal life.
To see his current evil genius entrepreneurial project, follow @unecessaryinventions [If Matty sold the ski pole mirrors below he’d be a billionaire within a year].”
Image/Video Credits: J Skis, Unnecessary Inventions
