The Halfdays x GORE-TEX® Brand: A New First for Women on the Mountain

This fall, Halfdays, the Colorado-based, women-founded performance brand, launches its first-ever GORE-TEX® Brand skiwear collection.

Kiley McKinnon, a former Olympic freestyle aerial skier, was deeply passionate about creating skiwear designed with women truly at the forefront. Together with co-founder Ariana Ferwerda, they brought Halfdays to life in 2020 to do just that. This fall, after four years of development, Halfdays is introducing its most technical collection yet in partnership with the GORE-TEX® Brand.

We spoke to Ariana and Kiley about this latest collection that proves high-performance outerwear and women-first design don't have to be a compromise.

Built Because Women Deserve Better

“Women shouldn’t have to choose between serious performance and a product that still feels distinctly designed for them.” - Ariana Ferwerda

Halfdays was born out of a common frustration. Kiley McKinnon, a professional freestyle aerial skier who competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics for the U.S. Ski Team, found herself wearing skiwear designed for men, even on the world stage. Together with co-founder Ariana Ferwerda, she set out to build something different: technical ski gear that put women first, without asking them to choose between performance and style.

Since launching, Halfdays has grown from a direct-to-consumer brand into a full collection, with a flagship store in Denver. The GORE-TEX® Brand collection represents the next chapter.

"We set out to create technical skiwear that truly puts women first, and today we're the first women's-only ski brand to work with GORE-TEX®. It feels like a full-circle moment." - Kiley McKinnon

"When we first approached GORE-TEX® in 2022, Halfdays was still very much in its infancy. We had the ambition, but we still had a lot to prove. This collection represents how much we've grown since then." - Ariana Ferwerda

Four Years in the Making

Developing a GORE-TEX® Gear collection isn’t a quick process. Every product carrying the GORE-TEX® Brand Logo goes through rigorous testing and development to meet the performance standards we’re known for. For Halfdays, that process pushed them further than any previous season.

"The level of rigor that comes with developing GORE-TEX® Products pushed us to elevate every part of our process. From development and testing to the factories and materials we worked with, there's an incredible amount of care that goes into creating a GORE-TEX® Product." - Ariana Ferwerda

For Kiley, the shell kit had been on the vision board since day one.

"One style we had always wanted to develop at Halfdays was a shell kit, but we wanted to wait until we had the opportunity to do it with the GORE-TEX® Brand. Working with the brand allowed us to finally bring that vision to life." - Kiley McKinnon

The Collection

The collection includes almost everything women need for a full day on the mountain, from gloves and mittens to technical shell layers for variable conditions and insulated pieces for colder days.

GORE-TEX® Mittens and Gloves

GORE-TEX® Mittens and gloves keep hands dry and comfortable through changing mountain conditions.

The Betty 3 Layer Shell Jacket and Bib

This is Halfdays' first-ever shell kit, a piece co-founder Kiley McKinnon describes as something they always wanted to build, but were saving for the right partner. The Betty’s three layer GORE-TEX® Fabric construction delivers maximum weather protection with next-to-no bulk, engineered for high output days and demanding conditions.
 

The Genevieve Insulated Jacket and Pant

The Genevieve insulated GORE-TEX® Jacket and pant combines durably waterproof, windproof warmth with the Halfdays signature fit, color and silhouette.

Built to perform at the highest level while remaining distinctly wearable, the Halfdays ski pant is cut specifically for women's frames.
 

The Genevieve: Honoring a Pioneer

Every Halfdays silhouette is named after an inspirational woman in the outdoors or performance world. For the women’s insulated GORE-TEX® Jacket and pant, there was only one choice.

The Genevieve is named after Genevieve "Vieve" Gore who co-founded W.L. Gore & Associates with her husband Bill on their 23rd wedding anniversary, January 1st, 1958, in the basement of their home in Newark, Delaware. 

Both in their mid-forties with five children and two in college, they left the security of Bill's salary as a senior research chemist to pursue an idea. Vieve was a full and equal partner from the start, first ensuring the business stayed solvent in its earliest years, then growing with it as it became a global company with thousands of products.

For Kiley and Ariana, naming a piece after Vieve held a genuine connection.

"From day one of Halfdays, we've named every single silhouette after an inspirational woman in the outdoors or performance world. It only felt fitting to integrate Genevieve's story into the collection. This partnership is such an important milestone for Halfdays, so naming the Genevieve felt like a subtle way to honor the history behind Gore while also celebrating the role women have played in building both brands." - Ariana Ferwerda

"Genevieve's story really resonated with us as female founders. She took a risk to build something from the ground up and challenged the way things had always been done. That spirit feels very connected to our own journey with Halfdays." - Kiley McKinnon

All Systems Go

Watch All Systems Go, the campaign film for the Halfdays x GORE-TEX® Gear collection launch.

The campaign film for the collection, shot partly at the Gore plant in Delaware, takes its name from a phrase that means more than launch readiness.

"All Systems Go is really a nod to the fact that the industry has been trying to get women's ski apparel right for a long time: the fit, the technicality, the style, the brand. But women have still had to compromise somewhere. With this collection, it feels like all of those pieces are finally working together." - Ariana Ferwerda

"To me, All Systems Go represents Halfdays stepping into a new level of technical performance. Launching our first GORE-TEX® Brand collection feels like a moment where everything we've been building toward comes together: trusted performance, thoughtful design, and our women-first approach." - Kiley McKinnon

What Comes Next

For Halfdays, this is the start, not the summit.

"I'm most excited to keep pushing what technical performance can look and feel like for women. This first GORE-TEX® Brand collection feels like an important step for Halfdays, and there's so much opportunity to continue building on it, expanding our offering and creating even more technical styles designed with women at the center."  - Kiley McKinnon

Explore the Halfdays GORE-TEX® Brand Collection

The Halfdays GORE-TEX® Gear collection is available starting October 8, 2026. 

Visit Halfdays to explore the full range, including the Genevieve insulated jacket and pant, the Betty 3L shell kit, and GORE-TEX® Gloves and mittens.