Featured Image: Aaron Blatt

From ski racer to park star to backcountry ace, Michelle Parker has dominated every line she’s set her skis on. Growing up on the slopes of Squaw Valley, California, Parker has reshaped the freeskiing scene just by being a part of it. She’s had multiple starring roles in Matchstick Productions films, traveled the world in search of technical lines and she’s recovered from more than her fair share of injuries to maintain her status as one of freeskiing’s hardest charging females. As a reigning queen, Parker’s name has graced the team rosters of many top-level brands and just last week she announced her newest partnership with Darn Tough Vermont^Ⓡ.

Throughout the years, Parker has tried just about every sock on the market but has depended on Darn Tough Vermont socks—even prior to signing with them—for a handful of seasons, thanks to their supreme warmth, comfort and lifetime guarantee but also the brand’s commitment to sustainability and its mountain community. What started as a genuine interest in the quality of Darn Tough Vermont socks has now blossomed into a full-blown sponsorship. Having taken a tour of the Darn Tough Vermont factory ourselves, we’ve seen first-hand the incredible effort of this Vermont-based brand and its employees and think the partnership with Parker is a perfect fit. So we caught up with the 32-year-old to see what’s on the horizon with this new partnership, and how Parker and Darn Tough Vermont plan to collaborate moving forward.

Hey Michelle! How was your summer?

It’s been amazing, it’s been super busy actually. The last two years I worked on Originate; the first year delivered five full episodes and this year we went in with the promise of delivering four ski episodes, one climbing episode and one biking episode, so that took me well into the summer. We just wrapped filming at the Formation [all-female freeride mountain bike] event. It was quite busy, focusing on climbing for a little bit then getting into the biking scene. It was really, really fun to dabble in different areas that I’m really passionate about in the outdoors and share that with everyone.

Feeling ready for winter? What are some of your pre-season secrets to staying confident during those first few days back on skis?

Historically, if I’m coming off an injury I spend a lot of time in the gym. If I’m not injured, it’s hard for me to be inside. The last couple of months I’ve been biking a ton and that is just an easy way for me to get some cardio in. Now that it’s getting colder, it’s easier for me to go inside, so I’ll start doing some standard stuff to get the lower body ready for the season. Most of that stuff I find to be more for injury prevention.

An action-packed teaser for the second season of Originate just dropped. How did the web series first come to be?

As a female, I’m also a consumer. I love watching other ladies rip and do their things and I saw that Red Bull TV needed [more of] that. There weren’t very many shows based around female athletes and I know they have some of the best athletes in the world, so I thought I should just hit them up. Me and my production team–they actually filmed Chris Davenport’s Red Bull TV series–had been in touch for three years… developing an idea and a storyline. Red Bull, at the time, was asking for more female content, so I was like: ‘Okay, the time to strike is now.’ We put together a proposal to do a series, which was a totally new perspective on my season that I’ve ever had.

How so?

I’ve typically worked with Matchstick Productions or Warren Miller or whoever it may be, and they tell you where to go, what time to be there. You show up, you ski and it’s pretty easy, but I felt like I didn’t have as much control of my season or what I put out there, so I was kind of excited to dive into more of the production side and work a little bit harder. I didn’t really understand how much work and effort I’d put into it but I ended up basically co-producing both years and both seasons. The intention was just, for me, to provide a platform to invite other females on board to shred, it was basically female-run. That was really important to me because I don’t think there’s enough of that. Just going into the equality message, I think we need that kind of material out there to inspire everyone to do the same. Hopefully there can be a ripple effect from that.

On top of starring in your own web series you recently joined the Darn Tough Vermont team. How did the conversation with the brand start?

I work with anon over in Burlington, Vermont, so I’ve been spending a decent amount of time on the East Coast; just [from] working with them, I have a lot of really solid friends over there. I’m always trying to look for companies that I feel like I can align with their morals and how they view everything and Darn Tough Vermont is totally that brand for me. I absolutely love the story of how they started, their ethics in business and the way that they have employed around 300 people in the Northfield region to make Darn Tough Vermont local. The quality of their socks and just everything they’re about I really align with and appreciate, so it was a natural fit.

Being a veteran in the industry you’ve worked with many brands big and small. What about Darn Tough Vermont gets you excited?

They’re keeping it local, they’re adding jobs to this small town in Vermont. Everyone that works there–I went and took a tour of the factory–had the biggest smiles on their faces. I started to really understand how these socks are made—and they’re built to last. These socks, in my personal opinion, are the best socks out there. They don’t skimp out on the use of material to make them thinner; they make them really bomb-proof [with the] hope that these socks can be with you until the bitter end. For me, sustainability is really important and working for a brand that echoes that is equally as valuable. Darn Tough Vermont checks that box in many more ways than one.

They’re [also] kind of the underdog, a small local company that is growing huge right now. I absolutely love their vision, the way they treat their community and extended family in Northfield, and in Vermont. They’re locally made and very sustainable, they don’t skimp out and that’s super important to me.

What do you hope to achieve in tandem with Darn Tough Vermont?

I think, overall, collaborating with them… is a great opportunity to shed light on that sustainability factor and using your stuff until the bitter end. As a professional skier, I get so much [gear] sent to me; it’s really important to me to see the lifetime of that piece of gear. Telling that story is really important.

Why are socks such an important, albeit sometimes overlooked, piece of gear?

Well your extremities are the first things to get cold in the mountains, specifically for me, my feet. Having a highly functional sock is a critical part of my layering system and definitely not to be overlooked. I’ve learned that the hard way. Staying blister-free, dry and comfortable is the most important aspect for me and these socks are checking all of those boxes—and they last a really long time. I can have that one pair of socks that I’ve had for the last five years, there’s no holes in them and they still function really, really well, and that’s what’s important to me.

Is there a particular Darn Tough Vermont product you find yourself using over and over again for skiing?

I ski the mid-weight sock—the Snowflake Over-The-Calf Cushion—that I’ve had a long time before I started riding for Darn Tough Vermont. It just keeps me warm and, to be honest, they don’t make ski boots in my size so it helps me with that. They seem to be super dry—they dry out a lot quicker than all the other socks I’ve used. I hike a lot, it’s impossible to not sweat so having a functional, wool sock is super important for me. I’ve taken them to Denali and worn them five days in a row, taken them to the Kichatnas and [on] all my human-powered missions they were my choice socks before I even got sponsored by the brand.

Any fun plans for this season?

I’m really excited, I’m not going to do my series again. I’ve done two years of it, it was hugely successful and I’m really proud of what we did; I’m excited to release it to everyone but it was also keeping me incredibly busy. As much as I love being busy, I’m psyched to take a breather and mix it up this year. I’ll be working likely with Matchstick.