Vail athletes featured in J. Crew’s first collection with U.S. Ski and Snowboard ahead of 2026 Olympics

You know what they say: look good, feel good, ski good.

A pair of Vail-area athletes — who have already been skiing pretty well so far this season —  also looked sharp in Friday’s release of the retro après-ski collection ‘U.S. Ski and Snowboard by J.Crew.’

Current mogul crystal globe leader Tess Johnson and GS star River Radamus were featured alongside other elite American athletes in the brand’s inaugural collection with U.S. Ski and Snowboard, a campaign tied to its new three-year partnership with the national governing body. The collaboration includes exclusive product collections and campaigns that will run through the 2026 Winter Olympics. The social media launch came on Monday, “unveiling a dedicated ski capsule that merges high-performance technical gear with refined après-ski style,” according to a release. On Jan. 8, the broader collection became available for purchase.

“J.Crew is an American institution,” River Radamus said in a provided statement to the Vail Daily. “We want to represent our country with pride and distinction on the slopes. It’s only right that we dress with timeless class off the slopes.” 

The 26-piece offering “spans refined knitwear, elevated loungewear and essential cold-weather accessories for women, men and kids and features exclusive vintage-inspired patches,” a press release noted. “Expanding into performance, the partnership also includes a ski capsule with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s official on-mountain partner, Kappa, featuring technical jackets for women and men that blend high-performance design with refined mountainside style for athletes and enthusiasts alike.”

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Ralph Lauren will still provide official Team USA uniforms in Milano Cortina this February, but the J.Crew collection, inspired by the childhood ski memories menswear creative director Brendon Babenzien, certainly captures the American alpine style often observed in Winter Olympic opening ceremonies.

“I remember [pro skiers] like Billy Kidd and CB Vaughan, and remembering when ski was less technical than it is today,” Babenzien told GQ. “The gear today and the equipment and everything is so high-tech. I think we just wanted [the collection] to look really ‘American’ and to look historical.”

Radamus told GQ that almost half of his wardrobe is already J.Crew.

“The outfits are sort of the idealized version of what I love about ski racing and ski culture. I love the aesthetic of all of it. I feel like it all sort of calls back to what I think of as ‘the golden age’ of skiing back in the ’70s,” he said, adding that he draws fashion inspiration from the Robert Redford film “Downhill Racer.”

“The way that those guys were dressed is just so timeless to me and effortlessly cool,” Radamus continued. “And, you know, I think that’s where I try to base some of my style with, and a lot of the J.Crew stuff fits right into that.”

Radamus reeled off a string of top-7 finishes to end 2025 — including a thrilling sixth-place result at the Birds of Prey World Cup on Dec. 7. The 27-year-old is currently ninth in the GS standings and hungry to improve upon his fourth-place at the 2022 Olympics. Meanwhile, Johnson is poised to make her second Olympic team after qualifying in 2018 and narrowly missing the squad in 2022. The former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete won a world championship dual moguls silver medal last winter and captured her third-career World Cup victory — and second in the calendar year — on Dec. 7 in Ruka, Finland.

Along with Radamus and Johnson, the J.Crew campaign enlisted fellow snow stars Colby Stevenson, Hailey Langland, Rell Harwood and Silverthorne para snowboarder Zach Miller. The Alps Rollneck sweater in wool is priced at $198 while the U.S. Ski and Snowboard graphic t-shirt is $65. To shop the full collection, visit http://www.jcrew.com.