Peak Performance Set To Launch In UK With First London Store In Covent Garden

Scandinavia's premium mountain apparel brand, Peak Performance, is bringing the spirit of freeride to the UK for the first time, with a concept store right in the heart of London, in Shaftesbury Capital’s Covent Garden.

Here are the ten biggest talking points around the new outpost and expansion from across the North Sea:

• Known for its premium technical ski and outdoor wear, Peak Performance's new Covent Garden store at 49 Long Acre is the brand's first-ever UK store.

• The brand's 155m2 space in the heart of London joins several recent international openings, including new outposts for 2023 in Berlin, Innsbruck, Vancouver, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Yokohama. This global growth turns the volume up on Peak Performance's core principle: to bring the freeride spirit to the world.

• The store will be offering a curated selection of high-performance apparel, with a focus on ski and trail products alongside new technical items such as the Elevate Liner Hood – winner of the ISPO Award 2024. 

• Styles on the rails include the super lightweight down-insulated Helium collection (featuring the limited-edition iteration Helium Utility FLO made from deadstock/leftover fabrics) and top-of-the-line Vertical Pro ski range, alongside staples that represent the brand’s bold and progressive design approach: perfect for adventurers in the city as well as mountains.

• Peak Performance is bringing more than premium ski and outdoor wear to its store. Unique advice and personal guidance from the store’s ambassadors will be a key focus, along with innovative services including Care & Repair, and a professional washing service.  

• As part of Peak Performance’s second-hand programme, WearAgains, the store will also offer a trade-in system from launch, allowing customers to exchange their used Peak Performance gear for vouchers.  

• Throughout the rest of 2024 and beyond, Peak Performance will be hosting a series of community events and projects that’ll invite everyone to enter and enjoy nature’s outdoor playgrounds. More information on this will be released in due course. 

• The store will feature a Scandinavian aesthetic, with brightly lit interiors and light wood furnishings. Additionally, fixtures will include parts made from recycled waste materials. 

• "London’s world-leading approach to fashion and style, alongside a growing community of new outdoor adventure seekers, makes it an ideal destination for Peak Performance. We couldn’t be more excited to open our first-ever store in the UK and the heart of its great capital. Our vision is for our new store to become a meeting place for the local ski and outdoor community and a key destination for international visitors," says Sara Molnar, CEO of Peak Performance.

• The new store opens on Friday 27 September 2024. Trading hours will be 10am-7pm Monday-Saturday, and 11am-5pm on Sunday.

Back in 1986, two very passionate skiers, one of them a world-class mogul skier with several World Cup wins, were sitting next to each other in a chairlift heading up a mountain. About to test and write about a new skiwear line, they started to talk about why no one was making skiwear that they wanted to wear. Garments that combined excellent functionality with simple, attractive design. Also, they wondered if there was any way that they could stay longer and more often in the ski resort they both loved - the little mountain village Åre, in northern Sweden.

It turned out that the answer to both questions was Peak Performance. Initially, their ambitions didn’t extend much beyond making some clothes for themselves and their friends, in sufficient quantities to make a living from it. The business was shaped by what was important to them. Finding the right design and technical solution was paramount.

And the strategy worked. In the late 1980s, people were tired of extravagance and superficiality. Everybody was looking for the real thing that comes with genuine quality. Ski jackets with leather details and flannel shirts were suddenly the answer, rather than neon and looking like a fully decorated Christmas tree. Orders generated by the first mail-order catalog overwhelmed the little post office in town. So much so that they had to take on more staff just to keep up.

During the early years, most things took longer to do than they should have. After all, Peak Performance was a company founded by skiers – people who more than anything else wanted to ski come winter. Anyone who managed to find the little office in Åre was often confronted with a sign on the front door that read: Gone skiing.

Peak Performance's hometown Åre, in northern Sweden, has hosted the Alpine World Championship three times but is probably more known for tree-lined skiing, easy access to vast off-piste terrain, Scandinavian nature, and notoriously extreme weather. The saying goes, “If it can handle Åre, it can handle anything,” more or less.

Straight up the mountain from Åre’s central square and the store, you can spot the Peak Performance Mountain House. 

On the second floor of the store in Åre you’ll find Åre Syverkstad (Repair Shop), headed up by Marie. She’s repaired Peak Performance garments since 1996 and knows more about their products than anyone. Her specialty is anything Gore-Tex.

In an old warehouse in one of Stockholm’s many ports, you’ll find the head office. This is where everything at Peak Performance is created by a very dedicated crew. Design, Sourcing, Marketing, the Sustainability Team, and all the other important functions that make up the brand all sit together here.

Besides everyone’s favorite area, the fireplace on the second floor, you’ll find a range of gear all over the office. Skis, both downhill and cross country, various bikes depending on the type of commute, and the occasional kayak and board considering we’re located right in the harbor. Never a dull moment at Peak Performance HQ.