Word of Mouth: Fairbanks

The aurora borealis, skijoring, street art and more in our guide to the Alaskan city

A confluence of accident and opportunism led to the founding of Fairbanks when businessman E.T. Barnette‘s steamship ran aground in the Chena River in 1901. It seems a natural progression then that over 100 years later—following gold and oil booms and busts, and statehood in 1959—Alaska’s second largest city remains a place of hyper-local, entrepreneurial free enterprise. Here, chance meets necessity and life is inextricably …

ThirtyTwo + Crab Grab

One of snowboarding's most trusted brands teams up with a creative newcomer for a 2014 season collaboration

Since 1995 ThirtyTwo has continually produced the lightest and some of the best-selling snowboard boots in the industry. Since 2012 Crab Grab has produced little pieces of foam that you stick on your board to improve foot and hand traction. While the two seem worlds apart the connection lies in the brands’ dedication to snowboarding. Neither make running shoes nor football uniforms, both exist solely …

mimiTENS

Godzilla, skull and princess kids' mittens made in Canada

They don’t call Canada the Great White North for nothing—it gets cold up there. To Anna-Maria Mountfort, founder of children’s mitten brand mimiTENS, the country seems like the right place to make quality winter wear. “The way I see it, if you buy olive oil from Italy, kids’ mittens from Canada is pretty logical,” says Mountfort on her website. Mountfort started mimiTENS when she couldn’t …