Peak Performance turns 40, and brings back its boldest ski jacket

My father worked as a ski instructor in his younger years. When I was four, he taught me to ski in a bright orange Peak Performance jacket that he still wears to this day. Some of my most cherished memories since have been spent in a Peak Performance jacket: a new year toasted on top of a snow-covered mountain, a bumpy bus ride on a school ski trip, my best friends and I in the back seat.

This year, the brand turns 40. When two skiers founded it in Åre in the 1980s, neon one-piece suits were, according to Peak Performance's VP of design, Sofia Gromark, about the only skiwear you could find. "Peak Performance was never created to follow a formula," she said. "It came from people who genuinely loved skiing and wanted to make something better, something they couldn't find anywhere else at the time."

I can't claim the founders' purity of purpose. I ski for two reasons: the sun-kissed cabin halfway down the slope, where a glass of glühwein waits, and looking good on the way there. When I was younger, the second reason usually won, and I would happily freeze in a knitted pullover and slim-fit trousers, two strands of hair pulled from under my helmet. These days I'm more performance-minded. I suppose that's because there is very little need to choose between fashion and function any more.

Gromark sees the same shift from the other side of the design process. "What excites me is that we no longer have to choose between performance and style," she said. "The most interesting design happens when the two become inseparable."

In my own family, not everyone waited for that to happen. My mother, the ultimate cool girl and naturally a snowboarder, wore a parka in around 1993. She has always been an early adopter. Around the same time, Peak Performance introduced the R&D Long, a modular three-in-one system with a parka-style cut that went against the tight fits of 1980s and 1990s skiwear. Gromark names it as the brand's signature piece. "It challenged the traditional idea of what a ski jacket should look like," she said. "The silhouette was unexpected, the attitude was bold, and there was a real sense of creative freedom behind it."

It's an attitude she is determined to keep. "The moment you stop being curious, or resisting change, you risk becoming irrelevant."

Which is why the R&D's return, as the 40Y R&D GORE-TEX Jacket and Pants at the centre of a limited-edition anniversary capsule, is no straight reissue. Gromark is wary of nostalgia ("I love looking into our archives, but I'm much more interested in reinterpretation than reproduction," she said), and most of what has changed sits beneath the surface.

The modular principle stays, but the shell is now a custom three-layer Gore-Tex C-Knit Stretch, softer, quieter, and easier to move in than its predecessor. Polartec Alpha replaces the original fleece liner and adapts to how hard you're working, keeping you comfortable whether you are pushing down a descent, or sitting still on a lift. Solarcore, an insulation process utilising NASA-developed aerogel technology, is applied to the phone pocket, knees, and seat, and a Recco reflector and recycled polyamide liner round it off.

That invisibility of the innovation is how Gromark likes it. "The most exciting innovation is when you don't necessarily see the technology, but you can feel the difference."

The rest of the capsule gives the archive the same treatment, with the colour-blocked Alpine Jacket and Pants, the Anima and Maroon sets, the Reversible Frost Jacket, the Helium Down Jacket, and the Vertical Ski Backpack, alongside hoodies, tees, and accessories.

As for what comes next, Gromark sees the silhouette growing more expressive and considered, playing volume against precision, and bringing a new elegance to technical outerwear. "It's about moving forward, not dressing up the past," she says.

Sign up for early access to the 40th anniversary collection on peakperformance.com