Name: Tony McWilliam... my nickname is staying a secret...
DOB: sheez – older than I look... About ten years older than I look
Position at Faction: - owner/founder/designer
Hometown: - melbourne, australia... Did my first seasons at Falls Creek, then Hotham... Did the obligatory season in canada before moving to France at the end of 1999 to avoid the certain apocolyptic end of the world on midnight dec 31... It didn’t happen but im still in europe – I get back to melbourne for a few months ever year.
Current Location: Verbier, Switzerland.... A great mix of Aussies, Swedes, Finns, English, Yanks and a few Canucks in there.... I think there might be some Swiss hiding around here somewhere...
Favorite Artist: www.preshaa.com .. That and anyone contributing to the amazingly diverse street art that’s around melbourne at the moment.. Oh man and old school 2000 AD.. Mike Mcmahon, Cam Kennedy
Dream Date: a combo of Scarlett Johanson, Mila Jovovich and Ingrid Backstrom
Favorite flavor: jagermeister... Surfers on acid!
Switch, fakie, or faux? Faux everytime bro
Favorite Power Ranger: Can I have a muppet? Animal
Why don't you do yoga?
Ha ha I think id have to break my back to touch my toes... Actually theres a scary amount of guys here taking up yoga – maybe its the new.
Would you look good in pink?
I look better in brown
Could you beat up Axle Rose?
I think hes doing well at doing that himself – Chinese Democracy’s coming out when?.. Yeah right..
Slash?
Man, anyone who’s had to be revived from near death by an adrenaline shot to the heart beats me anyday
Stats: 36 24 36 please
Tats? I have a rare disorder that would make me scar like a mother.. So sadly no
Cats? Dogs – we’ve got a border collie/labrador cross named Morticia after the adams family

So Tony, tell us all how Faction came about?

Faction started because I was sick of looking for the perfect ski (which as we know is pretty damn hard to find) and wasn’t really happy with how they looked as well - so first up I started painting a few pairs one winter, as well as some boards for some friends. Then I received a random bulk email from a company in China who made skis looking to get more customers. My background is in product design, and my dad kind of instilled in me this idea that the best way to get what you want is to make it yourself. So I did.

How does an independent like yourself stand a chance competing against the multinational ski corporations?

The other issue I had while I was looking for my perfect ski was seeing all these big companies cutting production costs to next to nothing by going to caps and foam cores (you know how much a Pocket Rocket costs to make? 15 euros. No shit.) but not passing that saving on to the customer. Also as soon as your company becomes publicly owned by shareholders, instantly your priority has to be to increase profit every year to cater for shareholder demands and their expectations. And honestly, how many skiers do you know who hold shares? This company aims to cater purely for core skiers, and is driven by me, the people I ski with and the kids I receive emails from every day. We’re small and I think at this stage in time people are sick of the mass advertising and branding that happens to our sport. Skiings about freedom, independence and individual expression and Sally et Al don’t represent that for me. We design the skis, the graphics and they’re built in a small ski town with good people. We talk directly to our customers – try getting a response from a large company. We’re also setting up internet sales straight from us - to go through traditional distributor/retailer channels would increase the cost incredibly. There are new ways of doing things and we’re in a great position to take advantage of them.

Does being a smaller company allow you to experiment more with construction, shape, and sizes of your skis?

Definitely – another thing that I was unsatisfied with was the way big brands release thirty different models which are actually physically practically identical – the only reason they are there is so salespeople can more easily sell a product. Top of the range skis at the moment are so good they’re a lot more versatile than they used to be. We only make three skis because and we’ve chosen the widths, flexes and dimensions so that the core skiers out there who can only afford one pair (ie most people) can have a ski that will take them into the pow, into the trees, carve a deep one on-piste and be versatile enough to session a box, rail or table-top in the park. And whether you’re an expert or aspiring intermediate the skis will work with you.

One thing I’d like to mention is that how you mount your skis is crucial as well. A lot of skis are marked with “traditional” and “progressive” mounting points but a lot of people don’t know why or have experienced the same ski mounted in both places. It completely changes the character of the ski. Our skis are marked with both, so that for example, an expert male might buy the Wednesday and mount if forward if they were going to spend most of their time in the park, or an aggressive female or shorter male might buy the same ski but mount it back and use it predominantly as a big mountain ski.

What is the fascination with fat twins?

Think I thought of the slogan ‘nothing but fat twins’ hanging round watching porn at a friends place... Man searching for images to use on the stickers that first year was an.. interesting experience... Hilarious though... We’ve got that slogan on our tshirts this year and it always gets a laugh.

You're from Australia. How come you're in Europe shredding deep lines, instead of surfing on the gold coast and going to Rugby Tri Nations games?

Good question - growing up in melbourne there are a lot of small amazing surf beaches just around the corner that you kind of take it for granted. Skiing was/still is a mainly rich-persons sport in australia, and at school I was one of the few who couldn’t afford to go.... Think jealousy of watching everyone else go up gave me a bit of a hunger and after uni the first job I found was as a liftie at falls creek. That first season opened my eyes up to a whole new world and ten years later I think I’ve been back to a surf beach about twice. Actually I had my first summer holiday in years about a month ago in Queensland after back to back winters... And it rained for ten days straight... Just my luck

Your skis are being tested in Verbier, Switzerland. How does skiing one of the steepest, rockiest resorts in the world help for making a better twintip?

There’s skiing here? Im just here for the drinking ha ha.... seriously verbier has an incredible combination of inbound steeps and coulies as well as some of the gnarliest out of bounds off-piste you can imagine, as well as some of the most progressive comps around like the Verbier RIDE, the Verbier Extreme which has just introduced skiing into its predominantly boarding comp (Ian McIntosh’s first run down two years ago was one of the most kick-ass, fluid runs Ive ever seen.) Add to that the summer glacier park meccas of Saas-Fee and Les Diablerets within an hour’s drive, and locals like Phil Meier, The Falquet brothers, legendary photographers like Marco Shapiro, Myraim Lang-Willar and Jancsi Hadik, as well as a whole heap of up and comers and you’ve got a place that for me is ideal. Although I tell you what – Poland and Spain are coming up in the world of skiing, mark my words..

Looking at your skis, it isn't hard to believe that your background is in graphic design. Where did the ideas for the cool graphics come about?

Cheers – my ideas were heavily influenced by the amazing street art around Melbourne – but also wanting a ski that had a whole little story in itself. The names are also part of that. The 165s are called the ‘Dillingers’ which is the name of a fictional band, which explains the shots of musicians on their topsheets. The 176cm ‘wednesdays; are kinda a reflection of street life... And you know what – girls like the skis just as much as guys. The 185cm ‘3.zeros’ have a bit more of a story – the topsheets are a scene with silhouettes of wildlife and birds, and in the distance you can see helicopters approaching. Flip over to the bases and you’ve got the troops rappelling out of the helis – taking over. I’m not too impressed with the whole military aspect towards a lot of graphics out there at the moment. The whole issue of war and peace at the moment is a pretty volatile issue.

What is next as far as cosmetics and style of skis?

For me art and design have always been about independent thought and self expression – as well as a reflection of whats going on in society’s heads – politically and personally. It’s great to see other brands getting away from the horrible graphics they had in the 80s and 90s and being more creative, but we’ve taken a long time to catch up to snowboarding in graphical terms. My inspiration will always be from the streets though – that to me is where you really see what’s going on.

What is going to be the next big thing in composition and shape of skis?

What’s really important to me in the whole process of manufacturing is using good renewable materials, factories in areas that support local industry and skiers – and refining the techniques of construction, shape and composition to a point where the skis are the toughest, strongest, most durable things they can be, whilst also having the finesse and feel and flex you need to get the most from your skiing. We’ve reached a point in manufacturing where we can get great lightweight laminate woodcore skis that have fantastic flexes and sidecuts with great feel. Wood is more consistent in flex than foam, laminate cores are stronger than capped skis and easier to repair if you blow an edge. In terms of sidecuts and dimensions we’re playing around with 100mm _ waist dimensions, but the problem with that is you lose versatility which is key to skiers who can only afford one pair of skis.

What is the worst trend in skiing?

Frickin flouro’s coming back to outerwear... Cheers Oakley, thanks for that... Also just got the vast award entry dvd and there’s a guy on a monoboard straightlining everything.. Its sick. Doing three years in France you see some truly excellent fashion.

Do you think (as I do) that the next trend in skiing is going to be Pirate-style, where guys in the park will have parrots on their shoulders, wear an eyepatch over their goggles and go off the sides of the jumps because they lost their depth perception from having one eye covered?

Keith Richard’s going to be Jonny Depp's dad in Pirates of the Caribean II. If hes getting in on the pirate act maybe you’re right.... Then again he’s always looked pretty close..

What is the worst question you get asked in the lift line about your skis?

Ha ha I get some good ones.. The first year (2003) I made about 30 pairs and just sold them to my friends, and I new where every pair was at all times pretty much – and I got a random email from a guy in Sweden going "Hey I just tried your skis in Are and they were sick" and I swear there was never a pair there...

Describe for us the process of finding a factory.

Guarded like the crown jewels.

Tell us about the Manifesto.

The manifesto is something that’s a reflection of my personal beliefs, and really a reaction (as I was describing above) to the current state of the industry. I worked in event management and promotion for Mt. Hotham in Australia and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, and as a graphic designer my clients have included businesses like Ford, Fosters, Jim Beam, Intrawest and so on – and I got to this point where I was so sick of how our sport is continuously bombarded by people trying to sell us shit – and then seeing brands who have nothing to do with the sport whatsoever get involved. I remember one year at Hotham for one of the comps there there was something like ‘The Ansell Condoms Big Air’, ‘The Lifesavers (dunno if you have them in NA they’re like a lolly you suck) Half Pipe’ and ‘The Davidhoff Slopestyle’ - it’s just ridiculous. Yeah it’s good that big companies are prepared to put money into the sport but when it comes down to it it’s just so they can sell us something we don’t want or need..ok apart from the Ansell Condoms.. Or any alcohol brand come to think of it... anyway then I started competing in freeride comps over in France, and looking into the industry and finding out that there’s a real lack of choice in the products we buy.

Quiksilver now owns Libtech, Gnu and Bent Metal snowboards, DC shoes, and now with the purchase of Rossi also owns Dynastar, Look, Lange, Kerma poles and Hammer snowboards. The Finnish Amer Group owns Atomic, Volant, Wilson, Suunto watches and now with the purchase of Salomon from Adidas, controls Mavic, Bonfire, Arc’teryx and Cliché skateboards. K2 own Volkl, Marker, Ride, Marmot, Adio and Hawk skateboards and Planet Earth apparel. Wheres the freedom of choice? Wheres the healthy competition? All these brands are shareholder owned companies which means their drive is to build profit, not to create good products and pass savings onto the customers... It sucks. They’ve also been big exponents of the whole ‘globalisation’ situation which has seen K2 sack all their original staff from Vashon Island and ship production to China.... Being Australian we are atrocious at stripping our country of raw materials, selling them overseas and then buying back the products that other countries make. And consequently we get to the point where the economy suffers, the people suffer, the environment suffers and so on. Im a big believer in the "Think global, act local" ethos, and the more we can do to make sure our own industries and communities are doing well, then we can do more to help others – but at the moment I see more and more companies taking jobs away from small towns, and I don’t see it doing any good for anybody. Read "No Logo".. It puts all the dots together.

How important is you team to Faction and the Manifesto?

Crucial – the people on the team are guys and girls I talked a lot to before I made the decision to include them in what we’re doing. I don’t care how much you can spin it’s more about good people who are doing what they can where they are, and right now im really happy with the guys we’ve got – Kyle Johnson has been totally supportive right from the start, Evan Wilcox has been a coach and digger up at High North for awhile and got into the World Skiing Invitational last year which was fantastic – Dustin Hendrix down in Schweitzer sends me the most incredible quiktime clips every couple of months – he’s going to be phenomenal. Ben Hawker in the UK has been working hard with event organisers over there and has just completed a tour of schools getting kids interested in skiing – theres a huge dryslope scene there at the moment. Then Kalle Fredrikson’s a swedish kid from verbier who’s wicked, Chloe Veuthey’s getting better and better, then the old school big mountain guys like Ross Janzen and Martha Burley (who won the 2003 Verbier RIDE womens big mountain comp, on telemark skis no less) are guys I've known for ten years and have been a core part of helping me get this started from the beginning – I couldn’t have got this far without them.

You talk on your website about environmentally conscious manufacturing. What steps do you take to achieve this and do you think people will recognize this and buy your skis because of it?

Well I hope so – it’s not enough to sell a product on how environmentally conscious it’s manufacturing is, it has to be a world class product as well – but as I talked about above I believe there’s a lot of people out there who are starting to think more and more about what they buy, how its made, where it comes from and what gets put back into society because of it, rather than just profits and how ‘cool’ it is. Obviously a ski is made from pressing together some pretty harsh chemicals, but we do what we can. For example the wood comes from regrowth forests and with any ski you buy, wood is better than plastic. A tree can be regrown and forests maintained. A foam core comes from a hole in the ground and you can’t do much with that.

Do you think people really care? Do they care about supporting the independent, the better environmental practices, supporting products not made in countries with poor labour laws?

You know - branding and marketing is always going to sway what we think. I don’t like badmouthing anyone, but K2's ads used to feature shots of the guys from the factory skiing – and part of their whole pitch used to be "Made on Vashon Island". As soon as they moved to China and the whole debate started about socially conscious manufacturing and human labour laws in Asia, they tried to take attention away from where they were making their skis. Reading between the lines is pretty difficult, but I think skiers as a whole are pretty aware people, so there’s hope. I come from a marketing, design background so I know what happens which helps. All we can do is be honest about who we are and what we do and hope people will respond, and so far the reaction has been amazing – I get enquiries from Sweden, Poland, russia, Japan, Australia, Canada, North and South America, UK, Germany – everywhere – its fantastic.

What has been the hardest part of making your own skis?

Going to the next step. I need to find an investor to go to the next level as I’ve plowed every cent I have into this so far and it needs proper investment so we can reach similar levels to the other independents out there like 4frnt, Ninthward and guys like Zag over in France.. So if theres anyone out there interested, give me a call.

Hey, I want to grow up and make skis just like you. How do I do it?

Geez where do you start? Get a book. Learn about materials and construction techniques, then experiment. Then find someone who know’s more than you do and talk to them.

Start spitting your game. You've got the attention of thousands of skitards. Tell them about anything I have failed to mention, but you'd like to say.

The important things are: If you’re doing a season a good collection of fancy dress outfits will help you win friends and chicks. Everything they say about Swedish Girls... It’s true.

One last question. Where can I meet the girls on the topsheets of the Wednesdays?

I probably shouldn’t say this, but.... it’s...... Aria. And if you know who I mean, YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN.


For more info on Faction, go to www.factionskis.com