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With snow about to blanket the state, a new Colorado brand is ready to to outfit skiers and snowboarders — from the top-down.

Earlier this month, Courtney and Steve Eaton officially launched. The sibling pair is hoping the sleek, retro look of their four distinct models — all hand-made in Italy — will carve out a niche in a crowded market.

“I think there is a big trend for the younger generation really going back to this classic style,” said Courtney Eaton, a resident of Carbondale, where the company is based out of. While Courtney is the artistic genius behind the concept, Steve, based in New York City after a previous stint in the Denver area, brings more of a business background to the operation.

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“We’re just starting to move into the colder weather, people are really starting to think about their winter season coming up, gear-wise and everything else,” he said. “Couldn’t be more psyched about it.”

Italian inspired, family focused

Steve and Courtney Eaton grew up with two other brothers in a family of entrepreneurs on the East Coast. Their dad introduced them to skiing at a young age with trips to Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut or Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

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“Dad tied a rope between his waist and ours and we’ve been lifelong skiers ever since,” Steve Eaton reminisced. Courtney Eaton fondly remembered the popular styles found on the slopes back in the ’70s, as well as the old, patchwork ski jackets she grabbed from the ‘free box’ in Telluride — where she followed her dad after college graduation. She drew on both when designing LowDown’s signature aesthetic. The main inspiration, however, was a recent family trip to Italy for her parents’ birthday.

“We saw these cool Italians cruising around in these awesome moto-retro style helmets,” Steve said. “We’re lifelong skiers — we want to bring these to the slopes. That was the kernel of the idea.”

Shortly after, a friend of their father — who had recently sold an equestrian helmet brand — joined a family Zoom call.

“We started talking to him and that kind of led the way for us and made it possible,” Courtney said.

“There hasn’t been a lot of evolution in ski helmets, stylistically — obviously a lot of modern technology updates and everything else, and we have a lot of that built into ours,” Steve Eaton said. “But the thought of taking that retro look — hearkening back to our youth, the cool trip to Italy — and bringing that to skiers and snowboarders … we were passionate about it.”

Company representative Eric Henderson believes LowDown is part of an emerging class of companies that survived the pandemic’s fertile idea stage and come to fruition now.

“We’re seeing a birth of Colorado brands four years after COVID,” he said. “Generally speaking, things are flat in the industry, but we’re seeing a lot of Colorado brands specifically popping right now because it took a year to build a concept, a year to build a business plan, a year to find a distribution and manufacturing and a year to bring it to market. And that’s a trend I think these guys are right on the brink of.”

The Eatons admitted there were moments where they proverbially pinched one another regarding the whole venture.

“We definitely had conversations about it like, ‘is this real? Could we really be doing this?'” Steve Eaton said. “And we’re like, we can. We stand by the product. We think this is a really cool thing. Yes, there’s a lot to figure out, but we’re starting to put these things into place.”

Their relationship helped them persevere to bring the product to the finish line.

“We both bring different things to the table and couldn’t have done it without each other,” Courtney Eaton stated.

“Courtney and I collaborated on every aspect of getting it here,” her brother added. “I think it’s a great working dynamic where we both push each other and really support each other and believe in each other and believe in this.”

Most of the sales will be direct-to-consumer this winter, the Eatons said.

“It’s certainly a goal to get some shelf space in a couple select stores, this season if possible, and then ramp it up in future years,” Courtney Eaton stated.

LowDown Helmets promise to shake up fashion paradigms. Akin to an Air Jordan shoe, which forces the wearer to design the rest of their ensemble from the bottom up, this product demands a top-down plan.

“You’re taking the style of the helmet and building your kit accordingly,” Henderson said. “I think it’s a different way of looking at it that retailers and the younger generation will appreciate.”

More than that, Courtney Eaton believes hearkening back to their roots is something the younger generation is also craving.

“I think there’s a big trend right now of people wanting to get back to origins and slow it down and enjoy the process,” she said. “Enjoy skiing.”

Steve Eaton was riding up the chairlift with his daughter last year and spotted a woman wearing a vintage one-piece.

“And then (she had) just sort of a dull, black, sad helmet,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got a helmet for you.'”

But the brand promises not to cater to closing day costumes exclusively, Henderson said before adding clarification:

“This is a helmet for all days.”