The International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism points out that there are currently 150 million skiers worldwide, a figure that Wahnert notes has reached a historical peak. During the 2023–24 ski season, global ski resort visits reached 366 million.
This remarkable growth in the number of participants has naturally brought a boost to the ski equipment category. According to data, the global market for personal snow and ice equipment has reached $14.6 billion, attracting numerous outdoor brands to enter the field. For instance, the professional outdoor brand ARC’TERYX officially launched its Snow Line Equipment Series in 2025, offering systematic upgrades tailored to three major scenarios: freeride skiing, ski mountaineering, and on-piste skiing.
The global spread of skiing has fueled the prosperity of top ski equipment brands such as Burton, Oakley, and Atomic, whose products have long become a part of skiers’ daily routines on the slopes.
However, it is little known that behind these high-end ski brands lie numerous Chinese manufacturers. Burton’s ski boot factory is located in Chenzhou, Hunan; some of its snowboard factories are in Kunshan, Jiangsu; its binding factory is in Shenzhen, Guangdong; while Oakley’s manufacturing partner is based in Dongguan, known as China’s largest hub for OEM production.
Other categories such as high-end ski jackets and snow boots are also predominantly produced in China. The substantial market shares of these overseas brands are all supported by Chinese supply chains.
Today, this support has translated into a surging wave of orders. Recently, several ski equipment factories have reported that their order books are full, with production schedules extending even into next year. Currently, the biggest challenge they face is a shortage of workers.
In Wenling, Zhejiang, Yuanjing Sports recently completed a concentrated shipment for the “fifth batch of the European season,” with over 50,000 pairs of ski goggles featuring magnetic lens swapping and anti-fog coating loaded in one container. This marks the largest single batch of ski goggle export orders from China this year. The company’s current order backlog stretches to April next year.
Yuanjing Sports’ products, including ski goggles, snowboards, and sports helmets, are exported to more than 30 countries and regions. Wang Jialu, the company’s foreign trade director, stated that snow sports equipment has become a new growth driver for the enterprise. It is estimated that orders for ski goggles will increase by 61.8% year-on-year by 2026, while orders for ski helmets will grow by 14%.
In Kunshan, Jiangsu, a local self-owned brand snowboard factory exported ¥37 million worth of products from January to October, with an annual production of 110,000 snowboards, 99% of which are supplied to Europe. Its production schedule is already booked until July next year.
Snowboards exported from Kunshan now account for 17% of the national total, meaning that one out of every six exported snowboards is made in Kunshan, setting a new record for the share of Chinese-made snowboards in global production capacity.
In Jiaxiang, Shandong, more than 300 glove companies exported ski gloves worth over ¥500 million this year, a year-on-year increase of 5%, accounting for nearly 80% of China’s total glove exports. Leading company Jianhua Zhongxing has received an OEM order of 2 million pairs from a Nordic sporting goods chain, with delivery scheduled until March 2026.
Data from China’s General Administration of Customs shows that the export growth rate of ski equipment has surged to double digits. Ski masks, heated gloves, and ski goggles—the three essential items—have seen explosive sales simultaneously on TikTok Shop and Amazon, with single products reaching a sales volume of millions of dollars within just 7 to 30 days.
Skiing has not only boosted the demand for traditional gear like gloves and helmets but has also turned panoramic cameras paired with invisible selfie sticks into a “social currency” within the ski community. With exponential sales growth, recognition in official white papers, and billions of social media engagements, traditional equipment has never sparked such viral content appeal.
Thanks to the hit product—the invisible selfie stick—Insta360 has surged ahead in the skiing scene, setting a benchmark in the market and even attracting major players like DJI to enter the competition. At the same time, emerging imaging brands such as HOVERair are also seizing opportunities, intensifying the competition in smart hardware within the ski community.
It’s still fresh in memory: on April 22 this year, at the Insta360 X5 pop-up event in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the scene was nothing short of spectacular. As early as 3 AM, people had already started lining up, and by 5 AM, the area outside the station was packed with users eager to be among the first to experience the product.
