Hub of innovation: Mark Wallace, Parlor Skis

If you’ve had trouble finding a taste of ski culture in downtown Boston recently, you’re simply looking in the wrong spots.

As the only custom ski crafters in the city, Parlor Skis, which operates just past Logan International Airport in East Boston, has developed a dedicated skiing following that centers around both the strength of the product and the sense of community that surrounds the process.

Mark Wallace, one of the founders of Parlor, gave us some insight about where Parlor has come from, and where it is headed based on its success.

New England Ski Journal: Can you tell us a little bit about how Parlor Skis found its origins?

Mark Wallace: Parlor Skis was founded on the idea that there is a better ski experience out there for everyone, both on and off the hill. We started with humble beginnings in a funeral parlor in Cambridge, which is where we got our name, but we have always had big aspirations.

We worked tirelessly for four years in the basement of a funeral parlor fusing the highly engineered but often unforgiving construction of a race ski with some of the more progressive all-mountain shapes to create a line of skis that can handle whatever you throw at it. We learned very quickly that just making great products was not enough though. In addition, we wanted to create a totally different experience of buying a pair of skis. With that in mind, we developed a unique process where each ski is made to order and designed with custom graphics. We are very transparent about what we do, and how we do it — and take so much pride in the craftsmanship of our product. We love having clients in the shop, and the shared experience we can create for events and for build-your-own-ski workshops that we host, is really rewarding for everyone involved.

NESJ: Why Boston? What does the city give you as a business that you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in New England?

Wallace: Boston is an amazing place for us to be. A lot of skiers in New England live or work in and around Boston, so we are vary accessible for our clients. In addition, this is a fantastic innovation community to be involved with. As our work includes manufacturing, innovation and technology, we have been able to leverage the knowledge (of) many world-class universities, industry-leading craftsmen — furniture builders, boat builders, machine shops — as well as work with tech companies here to build our process and systems to the point where they enable us to stand out from other smaller ski companies. There is a very vibrant community here of like-minded businesses, which are innovating their processes and building amazing products, and it is fun to be part of that.

The best thing about being in Boston is that we have been able to bring a piece of ski culture to the city. Parlor is only seven minutes from downtown, but the beer is always cold, the shop smells like wax and someone is always ready to invite you in and tell a ski story that is mostly true.

NESJ: What makes your products original from both your average retail ski as well as those created by fellow custom shops?

Wallace: The biggest difference in the materials we use is the quality. We build every pair to order and never cut corners on materials. Informed clients know Parlor skis are amongst the most durable skis on the market. We use a vertically laminated hard and soft wood core, laminates from Vectorpy, and plastics from Crown. When you use the best materials, the focus shifts to how they come together. This is one of the beautiful aspects of custom work. We can change and refine the composition of every ski to match every individual client’s needs.

Every custom shop has its own style and process, and many are making good skis. I think what sets us apart from the other brands in New England is our scale. We are building more skis every week than a lot of others do in a year.

There is a sweet spot that we are fortunate to be in, where we are small enough that we can pay close attention to each client and build their skis truly to order, but we are large enough to put these skis through a manufacturing process that is advanced, honed, dialed in. Compared to our West Coast competition, what sets us apart is our focus on creating a custom ski that really carves and is stable on ice when you need it to be. Our New England roots and our race background has always brought our focus back to carving performance.

NESJ: How has Parlor evolved from the early years?

Wallace: It has been an rewarding experience to watch Parlor grow over the last seven years. We have made huge leaps in our manufacturing capabilities, which are 100 percent in house and have gone from what was a fairly basic shop when we started to a facility that can turn out truly world-class skis. We built it up over time, working to find the perfect solution for every stage of the process.

Parlor’s most important evolution has been with our community. We have met and continue to meet so many inspiring people through this business, and each of them contributes to our success, whether they’ve had a really unique design concept we’d never envisioned for their Parlor skis, they’re sporting a Parlor T-shirt and telling a friend about our process and craftsmanship, or even coming to work with our team. It is the unique, passionate individuals that make this fun, and we are thrilled to be in touch with so many skiers here in New England and around the world.

NESJ: What has this season brought to help deliver you to the next level?

Wallace: This year we have grown our staff and brought on some high-energy and innovative talent. We now have a fulltime design engineer running our CNC and design software, and we have even more amazing graphic designers than before. We also have two inspiring young guys running our finishing equipment and a full-time dedicated lay-up person doing final assembly and quality control for every ski that goes out the door. We have a bigger event staff than ever before, and each of them will be on the hill. Everyone is getting out on the skis. This year, we have also partnered with Stowe and the Yellowstone Club to roll out some new, exciting ways of bringing the Parlor experience to the mountains.

NESJ: What are some of the steps of creating a custom ski with a customer?

Wallace: There are two sides of what goes into a custom ski — what the customer sees and what we do behind the scenes. For the customer, we normally start the process with an email or a phone call. We talk about where they are going to be skiing, what they are working on, a few key points about technique and what they want their graphics to look like. We then pair them with one of our graphics designers who sends them a few initial design drafts, takes feedback and then develops a final design for them. Once we have the specs complete, we send the order downstairs and the shop gets to work. Two to three weeks later, the skis are ready for pick up or shipping and ready to be enjoyed on the hill.

Fitting and afterwards as we finalize specs of the ski is the best part of my job. It starts with a mental picture of skiing a run. I spent many years racing in the U.S. and Europe, and a big part of daily race preparation is visualizing the course.

So each ski starts with an image of the trail and how I envision a customer skiing down the trail. For example, if a skier wants a powder ski that is not too damp, I picture a steep bowl run with trees on the top of it, then opening out onto some more low-angle powder below. Then I figure out how they’re going to ski the run. Is it a lot of short turns or are they going to send it off the top and then make two turns on the run-out? I meet with our design team, then an outline, a profile and materials take shape in CAD. We model the performance, and a new ski is born.

NESJ: How have you seen the custom ski business change in only the time that Parlor has been in operation?

Wallace: The custom ski world has continued to gain traction, as people are no longer satisfied with off-the-shelf products. We have seen increased attention from the media and review sites. Some of the companies have come and gone, and we found if we deliver quality products and connect with people, they’ll keep coming back.

NESJ: How much bigger can you get, and do the walls of East Boston limit you in any way?

Wallace: We have an amazing space in Boston with strong growth potential, so that isn’t a limiting factor. In addition to physically scaling our space out, we are dedicated to maintaining the quality of experience that comes from interacting with your ski builder, and are always seeking new for ways to scale that.

NESJ: How can skiers experience Parlor for a feel for the product?

Wallace: We always recommend you come by the shop to put your hands on the product, see the shop and meet the builders. We also have made a big effort to make sure people can get out and try the skis. We have demo fleets at Stowe, Wachusett and Shawnee Peak, as well as a 12-stop demo tour that we have partnered with Lord Hobo on for this year to bring you an amazing on- and off-snow experience.

NESJ: In 10 years, you hope for Parlor to be …

Wallace: We want to still be building the best skis money can buy and putting smiles on our customers’ faces, because they know their skis are as unique as they are — custom made just for them. It is likely there will be more carving products coming soon, and we will continue to focus heavily on new experiences, partnerships, trips and workshops. The sky is the limit.