Snowboarder Stale Sandbech’s New Oakley Team Collection Is All About Style And Having Fun

Professional snowboarder Stale Sandbech is rarely at home.

The Norwegian slopestyle and big air specialist’s greatest passion since he began snowboarding at the age of eight has been traveling the globe looking for the freshest powder and the gnarliest runs.

In addition to competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the 2014 Games in Sochi and the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, Sandbech’s career has seen him shred in locales from Switzerland to New Zealand to the U.S.

But with the continued spread of Covid-19, Sandbech’s wanderlust has been chilled; now he’s exploring his home mountains in Norway more closely than ever.

“Traveling has been such a big part of my life, not only because of my career, but also because it’s a big passion of mine,” Sandbech tells Forbes. “The pandemic for sure put a hold on that for all of us, but somehow also opened up the opportunity to to spend time exploring the mountains of Norway. But I can’t wait for things to get back to normal again, so we can go all over the place.”  

In his new collection for Oakley, which dropped today, Sandbech still wanted to honor that adventurous spirit while also staying on top of the game, style-wise. Just as street style has created a distinct sartorial movement in skateboarding, snowboarders—of all levels—want gear that performs on the mountain but looks sleek at après, too.

Sandbech wanted the Team Collection “to incorporate pieces that made an easy transition from the mountain to the streets while of course also looking stylish.” “Style is a big factor in snowboarding, in both how you ride and what you wear. So having gear that you feel comfortable riding in is really important to me,” he says. “Look good, ride good.”

Snowboarding, like skateboarding, skiing, golf, and a handful of other pro sports, is distinct in that many people who are fans of the pro sport also do it themselves, sometimes at an extremely high level. Sandbech thinks this dynamic between pro snowboarders and amateurs who can shred with the best of them is important to honor, and that’s also reflected in the Team Collection.

“I feel very close to the whole snowboarding community, whether that’s fans or professionals,” Sandbech says. “We are all just snowboarders who want to explore the mountains and have fun, and it’s really this shared passion for snowboarding and that lifestyle that makes our community so close  While designing the collection with Oakley, I definitely kept this top of mind.”

As for what’s next for Sandbech following his Oakley launch, he’s laying a bit low, taking things day-by-day as the pandemic continues to make planning for the future tricky at best and impossible at worst. He’s planning on doing the biggest competitions that are still able to happen, and he’s also focused on spending time filming bigger mountains and exploring terrain outside the resorts.

Sandbech’s collection, with taglines Return to the Playground and Never Grow Up, begins and ends with having fun…because if it’s not fun, why do it? The entire collection, which includes goggles, helmets, outerwear and more, is available on Oakley’s landing page.

Sandbech is especially stoked on the technology used in the TC Flight Time Hoodie and Pant, which uses Polartec micro fleece—created from recycled fabric—that keeps more than 24 plastic water bottles out of landfills and the ocean and saves 1.5 pounds of CO2 emissions from the air.

“We are all impacted by climate change. As a snowboarder, I definitely see these effects firsthand,” Sandbech says. He’s also mindful of the role traveling plays in climate change and his own carbon footprint, which he works to reduce wherever possible.

“I know that creating two pieces won’t offset a lifetime of travel, but I think it is great we can take part in making a little change and hope to do even more in the future,” Sandbech says.