Somewhere on a wooden wall in Crested Butte, Colorado, USA, there is a space Elsa Grace had been planning to fill since before she could legally take the wheel. This wall belongs to Butte & Co., the ski shop her mother still runs, and this season it carries the last of three years of her Prodigy Capsule skis. “Over 30 years of being fully surrounded by beautiful skis and jackets left no question in my mind that one day my designs would fill Mom’s shop wall too,” she says. “It will forever feel surreal but oh so natural at the same time.”
Her parents bought Butte & Co. in 1995, and Elsa grew up, developing a deep interest on the shop floor, surrounded by racks of outerwear and the kids of her parents’ college friends, who were raised almost as siblings. By 16 she was the lead outerwear buyer for the family’s shops. Ask her for the first piece of gear she fell for and she’ll admit to her jacket hoarding problem, but one stands out amongst the rest: a purple Oakley Gretchen Bleiler Signature Series jacket from around 2010. “The fur hood, the chain across the pocket, the asym zip, the embossed print hit on one sleeve. I thought it was the pinnacle of ‘cool girl’ design. And looking back, Gretchen’s whole series really was.”
At 11, skis swiftly slid into the picture. Elsa fell for her first twin tips, the 2007 K2 MissDemeanors. “Between the metal studs on the tips to a lady hitting the cancan in a Saloon, my 11 year old self felt sooo badass.” Her first career plan was more specific still. She wanted to be a Lange Girl. “Not many kindergarteners can say they dream of being a Lange Girl one day but I guess that’s just in the territory of Montessori in a tune shop,” she says. “Now many years later, that dream has faded but my dream of designing my ultimate ski quiver is alive and well bebe! I have a feeling my future grandkids would be much more hyped on a garage full of my skis than seeing their Nanna in nothing but ski boots. But no fear, kids, you will be inheriting my whole Lange Girl collection too.”
The dream that replaced it took her through Colorado State University and boldly out into the industry. Spyder recruited her out of Boulder, and she helped launch its freeski collection. Meanwhile at home, she was building something of her own. Slut Strand Society began in her tiny ski town as a way to champion women in freeskiing, and it grew into a global community named for the two loose strands of hair that escape a helmet or beanie.
As fall drew in late 2024, many threads were pulling together. We approached Elsa with the first Prodigy Capsule residency the year prior, and this work was soon to ship: three skis built from her memories of the US East Coast, the Rockies and the Southwest. Within weeks came SSS for Spyder, a capsule of hand-painted prints and custom silhouettes sold through several outlets, but naturally, Butte & Co. The outerwear print was a watercolour of Swedish Fish and forget-me-nots, and the fleece was designed for the long December drive home on I-70. A second volume has since followed, built from studded velour and hand-painted embossed florals.
Soon after, a new landmark project started to make a lot of sense that Elsa took the reins. Eileen Gu, now a global sensation, was heading into a new season, overdue a fresh run of her globally popular signature skis. Elsa promptly got to work on this design that would almost certainly head to a lengthy list of podiums and big media moments. The first, for the Year of the Wood Dragon, put Elsa’s artwork on Gu’s Prodigy 1 and Studio 0 Pro models, and Newschoolers called it a ski that looked fire and would sell fast. And, boy, did it.
Skis and jackets are two canvases for one artist, and she finds her own way to keep them mostly in step. “A sneaky fact: I always coordinate my skis to my season of outerwear so my personal kit will always match.” The two disciplines are still apples and oranges, she says, even when they serve the same rider. “Though my target market is typically the same thus guiding the creative decisions, I will take designing a topsheet all day. When designing a ski I can get truly lost in the art. When designing a jacket, that art is there in the initial conception phase while I craft all of my hand drawn prints and trims, but once I am 5 hours deep creating a tech-pack making sure everything is dialed to the single stitch… I feel like more of an architect than an artist.”
Twelve months later, the Chinese zodiac had turned and Elsa completed her second design for the Olympic champion. For the Year of the Snake, she created a monochrome serpent for Eileen Gu’s Studio 0 Gu and Prodigy 1 Gu, an ancient symbol of wisdom, elegance and transformation.
At the peak of the 2026 winter season, Gu stomped for halfpipe gold at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics with a best score of 94.75, after two silvers in slopestyle and big air. Elsa and the rest of the Faction team simply watched on in awe as six Olympic medals made her the most decorated freestyle skier in the history of the Winter Games, punctuated with Elsa’s silver serpent that rode along for all of it.
“We can’t forget about the actual highlight of my career.”
There he was. The one and only Snoop Dogg on-screen, with a Faction Studio 0 Gu in his hand. During last winter’s Games, he took the spotlight as “Coach Snoop” and Ambassador of Happiness, heading up NBC’s “Young, Wild and Ski” feature to offer his full-throated support of Team USA.
By then she was deep into the third year of the Capsule. The first year was organised by place, and by year three the focus had narrowed to antique tilework, botanicals and natural emblems. Elsa says the thread never changed. “At the heart of each year, the theme across all of my work will always remain the same: it is the scrapbook of the people and places that feel like home. Each year builds on my collection of memories and whether I am designing a backpack, a jacket, or a campaign, I want people to have an inside view to all the little bits that make up me.” Every detail has a person, or memory behind it. “Blue Herons for my dad, a monoblock chair for Shaffer, limoncello for my Verbier crew. It may look eclectic and random but every little detail from year 1 to 3 has a sweet face and place behind it.”
The limoncello belongs to a particular day. In Spring 2025, Elsa spent time across the ocean with our office crew in Verbier, Faction’s home town, and the memory that made it onto the final collection came out of that trip. “One of the sweetest days was our spring ski that day in April eating rosti and drinking limoncello through tiny spritz bottles (which blew my American mind) under the most ridiculous backdrops of mountains I’ve ever seen. It easily made my top 5 favorite days on the hill and I plan on bringing the limoncello spritz bottles over to my side of the globe.” That day became the Prodigy 3 Capsule, the ski that’s finished with a limoncello digestif at the end of the wildly popular freeride ski.
Last winter was a hard season for North America, and the long lift rides gave her time to look down at what was growing where the snow should have been. “After last winter’s notoriously dry and tropical winter I guess you would say I was inspired by the swaying grass and botanics under the lifts. It was humbling to say the least so it was easy for my brain to drift to summer days in the garden to avoid the tears.”
By the time the skis were finished, each one had a personality, and she’s happy to hand out the roles. The 2, she says, leans more high-fashion. “That deep green is begging for its runway moment.” Put all three at a summer dinner party and the seating plan writes itself. “The Prodigy 2’s are yapping up a storm. Our little Orange Lady is definitely a touch zesty driving the conversation. The 3’s naturally brought the spritzers & bottles of Limoncello and some jello to finish. She is the Martha Stewart of the group and the ultimate summer soiree hostess. The 1’s are antsy to get out of there but held back by the lure of the spritz.” The stage for the 1’s, she says, was already set ahead of this winter, pointing to creative director and tastemaker Terrence O’Connor confirming in August on a whim that “bugs are gunna have a moment”.
“My residency opened up a whole new side of the world for me. SSS started in my tiny little ski town and now it is so unbelievable to meet women all over the world with strands out, riding my skis. Both have the power to make surreal connections and feel as though we are all linked in our beautiful world of snow.”
And that’s something that she will take with her as she forges ahead. “I will always take with me the gift that it is to make cool sh*t with your friends. My best work will always shine through when you can tell that there is a deep emotional connection with the people and the brands I work with. It is that genuine authenticity, friendship, and passion I aim to never lose sight of.”
Next season, the Capsule residency passes to another artist, and Elsa leaves some kind wisdom as this new artist–yet to be named–takes up the reins: “Soak up every last second of it. There is nothing more special than seeing your art on a moving canvas like skis. From podiums to the highest peaks, seeing people ride on your skis will never get old. And finally, dive deep into all of the friendships Faction will bring you. They have become some of my favorite humans on this dang Earth and I don don’t doubt you will experience the same. Give them a big squeeze for me.”
As for her own plans, they involve the same people. “It may be my final year, but the Faction crew is well aware that they are stuck hanging out with me for life.”
Discover the full Prodigy Capsule, designed by Elsa Grace, here.
