Photos: Renoun
If there’s at least one thing that seems to be universally agreed upon this election season, it’s that most people are pretty much over it. The level of dissent among voters has easily reached unprecedented levels. But it’ll all be okay. America is still a rad place to live. How can I confirm this without a shadow of a doubt? Because companies like Renoun Skis have the freedom to rip on the election process by creating a radical run of skis called the Trump vs. Clinton. The boutique company out of Vermont was brainstorming new wraps—last year they did a run of Bernie Sanders skis in honor of the Vermont native—when an intern suggested a Hillary vs. Trump run.
It was a moment of genius and Renoun seized it, commissioning renowned graphic designer Jamie Tam to create the wrap. The team collected all the hot things that have come out on the opponents–and the hot things that have come out of their mouths (thank you Donald)—and collected them for the designer to play with. From “small hands,” to tax returns to Wiki-Leaks and deleted emails, it’s mostly all there, save for some of the gnarly stuff that surfaced from the Trump sexual scandal (they had to go to print with the wrap at some point). But the touch Tam put on the skis is nearly perfect, and as down the middle as possible.
“He’s so good at this stuff,” says Renoun founder Cyrus Schenck. “The style has to be right to appeal to both democrats and republicans and his style is so on point. Most people wouldn’t be able to do that. It couldn’t have rounded corners and soft edges or it wouldn’t be serious enough and if it were too sharp it would be too angry and convey the wrong emotion. He nailed it.”
And the product description on these skis pretty much nails it, too. On the dimensions: “Once we filtered our search through Hillary’s email server, we determined them to be 121-98-115mm.” On the waist: “Narrower than any Miss America model, we assure you. 98mm underfoot.”
For Schenck’s part, Renoun had to give equal play to each candidate. “We’re a hi-tech ski builder, not a political company so we had to make it a fair fight,” he said. “Both candidates had enough material and are pretty poloraizing. We had to be careful to come at it from both directions.”
Schenck did offer up a bit of intelligent analysis on the different controversies plaguing both candidates: “Trump definitely has more tweetable moments, the amplitude (highly-emotive) comments. But Hillary has theses never-ending scandals, the emails, Benghazi, that was years ago.”
The Trump vs. Clinton skis are wrapped on a pair of Renoun’s Endurance 98 all mountain skis and even with the hefty price tag ($2,016) the skis are nearly sold out according to Schenck. He says the company is saving one last pair to raffle off.
So you see, when we live in a country where anyone can rip the hell out of the political process, and its players, and not end up in a rat-infested prison, you know we live in a fantastic place.
