Gretchen Bleiler’s accomplishments in snowboarding are incredibly impressive when you take into account the current level of women’s riding: Overall Grand Prix titles, a multitude of X Games medals, two US Open victories, and 2006 Olympic silver in Torino. But if you think she’s done it all, think again—Bleiler is turning her sights towards triumph in the struggle to save our snow, and precedent hints at her inevitable success.
Collaborating with eyewear/outerwear giant Oakley, Gretchen has designed an eco-friendly line that is both fashionable and functional on and off the hill, while giving back to the one thing that has given Gretchen so much. “With all of the media exposure after the Olympics, I realized that I had an opportunity to use this to my advantage. I realized that I had a platform to make a difference and talk about important causes that I feel passionate about,” she says, so she went to Oakley with an idea for a fully eco-friendly yet still chic outerwear line. The result was En Bleiler.
“When Oakley asked me to collaborate with them on a signature collection, it was the perfect opportunity for us to go green, and to do something impactful that shows we’re committed to making a change with a long-term initiative. That’s exactly what the En Bleiler jacket and pants are—technical outerwear that is not only 100% recycled, but also 100% recyclable, which closes the loop on the process by reusing the reused materials!”
The En Bleiler line has pushed the sustainable outerwear niche to another level, while sacrificing nothing in terms of fashion and functionality. With the 2010 Olympics just around the corner, Gretchen is ready to take another shot at grabbing gold in Vancouver. When and if she does, she can rest easy knowing that she has done her part to ensure that future female freestylers are afforded that same opportunity from her outerwear initiative—keep the snow coming down, and the level of women’s snowboarding on the rise.
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