Building Community-First Brands in Male-Dominated Markets

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Alicia Moore, VP of Marketing at Halfdays. Halfdays is disrupting the ski and snowboard apparel industry by creating performance fashion specifically designed for women at the intersection of outdoor functionality and contemporary fashion. Founded by Olympic skier Kylie Tinsley, fashion strategist Ariana Ferwerda, and Karel Vredenburg five years ago, the brand addresses a fundamental gap in the market: ski apparel that actually fits women's bodies and makes them feel confident on the mountain. Operating with a lean team of 30 people in Denver, Halfdays has built a thriving community of nearly 10,000 members and is expanding beyond winter sports into year-round adventure apparel while maintaining their commitment to authentic, human-centered marketing. Topics Discussed: Disrupting the "shrink it and pink it" mentality in women's outdoor apparel Building authentic community through monthly meetups and brand ambassadors Leveraging Slack as an unexpected community platform for 10,000 members Scaling a small marketing team (9 people) to compete against legacy brands with massive budgets Developing insight-driven creative campaigns around emotional themes like "girls trips" Balancing paid media experimentation with community-first brand building Strategic use of AI tools while maintaining human authenticity in customer experience and creative Expanding from seasonal ski wear into year-round adventure apparel