Bye Bye Boys Club, Meet Halfdays Women’s Skiwear
Our latest skiwear brand needs no introduction. Since launching on Cirkel Supply in November 2025, Halfdays has quickly skyrocketed to become one of our rental platform’s top-performing women’s skiwear brands.
While it appears that our faithful rental audience is already deeply familiar with the Colorado-based brand, Halfdays has such a compelling founding story, that we wanted to share this interview with you.
Read on to hear from Kiley McKinnon, co-founder of Halfdays, as she shares how her Olympic journey helped inspire the launch of the brand alongside co-founder and CEO Ariana Ferwerda — challenging a traditionally male-dominated industry and encouraging more women to feel confident getting outside and owning the mountain.
A notion that we can get behind!
Halfdays founders, Ariana Ferwerda and Kiley McKinnon
Kiley, tell us about yourself and your co-founder, Ariana
Ariana and I came from very different sides of the ski world, but we had the same realization: women deserved better gear and a more welcoming outdoor experience. I’ve been obsessed with skiing since I was a kid, and it ended up becoming my career — I even competed in freestyle aerials at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Ariana brought a totally different perspective, with a background in retail strategy and analytics, working with Fortune 100 retailers and using data to identify a major gap in the women’s outdoor market. Now, I’m the Brand Director and Ariana is the CEO, and together we’re able to take our different strengths and use them to build a brand that actually makes women excited to get outside.
We’re interested to hear about your Olympic experience and how it shaped the launch of Halfdays
Competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics was obviously an incredible experience and something I worked toward for most of my life, but it was also surprisingly eye-opening in ways I didn’t expect. I spent years training, and when I got there, I realized that “unisex” ski wear was really just built for men, which highlighted both the lack of functional gear for women and how unapproachable the outdoor industry could feel.
That shared frustration became the foundation for Halfdays. We wanted to create technical apparel that actually fits women’s bodies, performs on the mountain, and feels approachable and fun rather than intimidating.
What do you see as the key differentiator of Halfdays in comparison to other skiwear brands?
What really differentiates Halfdays is that we don’t believe women should have to choose between style, performance, or inclusivity. Our ethos is what we call “mountain-ready performance fashion,” meaning the product performs at a high technical level but still feels joyful, expressive, and wearable beyond the slopes.
Everything is designed specifically for women’s bodies using recycled technical materials, and we think just as much about confidence and community as we do about waterproof ratings or insulation.
In Cirkel Supply’s skiwear rental collection, we offer the Aston Jacket, the Isabel Bib Pant, and the Murphy Suit. Can you provide some styling tips and commentary on the design stories behind these silhouettes?
What many people don’t realize is that we name our products after trailblazing women in the outdoor space. The Aston Jacket was inspired by Felicity Aston, a fearless explorer and the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica and our Murphy Ski Suit is an ode to the iconic globetrotter Dervla Murphy, who traveled all over the Middle East by bicycle and devoted years of volunteer time with Tibetan refugees. Both pieces are made with Primaloft insulation for warmth and have a belt, which creates such a fun and flattering silhouette.
If I were to convince you to bring any Halfdays item on your next ski trip, it would be the Isabel Bib. It is one of my favorite bottoms to pack for trips because it transitions so effortlessly from skiing to après. I usually layer a fun sweater underneath or our Pieper fleece, then finish the look with a cute pair of sunnies.
What advice do you have for Cirkel skiers planning their winter girls’ trip?
My biggest tip for a winter girls’ trip is to use ShipSki! I tried it earlier this year, and it made traveling with skis and boots so much easier. Not having to drag all your gear around and having it ready when you check in made the whole trip way less stressful — more time to just enjoy the mountain and your friends.
