Beanies as Mountain Gear

When I was fully absorbed in snowboarding and skiing, spending many days of the year on the mountains, I was hungry and always covered in snow. Riding stretched to the end of every day and became a ridiculous obsession.
I found that the manufactured, one-size-fits-all beanies often flew off my head with the goggles, and got wet, and the goggles fogged up, and the world became invisible. They didn’t last long; they weren’t durable. Why can’t I find a good toque? If the thing you want isn’t for sale, why not create it? The LADE Beanie was born in 2002, when I started hand knitting them in a basement in North Vancouver.

Theory and practice: LADE’s virtuous cycle of snowy mountains and workshops.

After testing the Beanie on the mountain, re-making it, and refining it, again and again, through trial and error it became more comfortable and more durable. During that experimental phase I also enjoyed playing with various designs, colours and patterns, to complement goggles and other gear.

It was important to continue throwing the Beanie at the sewing machine with fresh ideas, to take into account the trivial things we experience on a snowy day as well as the epiphanies, and that is a central aspect of the LADE Beanie. I made it on the mountain, tested it, and made it again, and this hands-on trial-and-error refinement process continues to this day. A LADE Beanie is built to be rugged gear, refined year after year, based on the feedback of riders and many other users. As of 2020, I still finish each Beanie with my own hands in a workshop in the countryside of Tohoku, where the snow is deep.

LADE custom order Beanie
Handcrafted in Japan by LADE clothing

Founder
Yoshifumi Aida