Cool pics of the USST Subie. Neat.
On the "suit", and uniform thread, perhaps I'm looking at this differently, but likely much as
@ScotsSkier does. On the one hand, almost every USST system skier needs as much financial "help" as possible. Sure, MS does not, but you can bet that every member of the B team on down does. For example, 15 years ago, the minute you made even the USST C team, if you had any advice, you immediately negotiated contracts with ski, boot, pole companies. I know skiers who were "not that great" who had $50K in their wallets. No longer the case. That money goes to far fewer skiers...those at the very top and the "curve" of who earns what is different. So, here in the USA, at the end of a season, every athlete is going to have suits, jackets, gloves....often many still in the plastic. And should you buy some, it helps the athlete.
I don't know anybody racing in ANY national team suit from any country who is trying to fake it as a poser that they are actually team skiers. However, if you go to any higher level race, you'll see MOST of the field in these suits. They are simply BETTER. Better material, better stitching, better padding, better zippers and other components. Better. And for a kid of the age where they are in a suit not just every day of the winter, but a lot of the entire year, that quality lasts. Sure, the suits eventually get beaten up and torn at the stress points, but they do last. So, having a couple of team suits or more and rotating them is smart.
My kids also always had....and still have training pants from the USST or CAST. Again, they were such better quality, better material, and they had a better cut and fit. They lasted. And they were not available to purchase. Not in the retail chain. For a few years, Spyder made great stretch training shorts, and at some point they were no longer sold, but the national teams that had contracted with Spyder had them. Same thing with many of the jackets. I know a lot of people who would not be caught dead wearing them, but others who won't wear anything else because of the quality and the FIT. The teams get great rain wear. and great coaching kits. They are purpose built. Hard to get otherwise. No coach or athlete wearing them is "posing".....the stuff just WORKS.
The best jacket that I ever had was a Phenix Norwegian team coach coat. Never available for sale in any color. I wore it off and on for about 15 years......and no, I did not try to pretend that I was a coach for the Vikings. It had a huge hood, best pocket setup ever, better cuffs, great zippers and pulls and it was made of iron. I paid a coach $300 for it. Great deal. He was pleased.
Our "kids", from the time they were physically big enough to wear real team suits had them. I recall my daughter's first was a size XS Spyder suit. That is tiny. Not sure that any team athlete could have squeezed into it. For a few years, Descente made training suits for the CAST that were thinly lined with a fleece fabric. Those were money for kids training in the very Northern climates. Not many around...but warm. I was just thinking of the suits that we had along the way, and I count WC suits from eight countries. And from ages 13 on....zero non team suits. They were better, and a better deal. And....the athletes liked the cash. I think that my kids actually wore them with a show of respect. Not disrespect. Nobody was faking anything. However, when they reached the college/NCAA ranks they were pretty disappointed in the quality of the college "uniforms." Proud to wear them, but the stuff just fell apart. Short life span. At that point it seemed like everybody bought Spyder, which was well priced, just not that well made.
So, yeah.....not "replica" suits sold by the usual suspects. The real deal. They make sense.
Now bike kits? Our town is pretty passionate about cycling. A lot of road biking going on. And a lot of chubby guys who need more time on the bike riding in full-on TdF kits. In some cases including the helmet and shoes, not just the socks and gloves. THAT to me looks just insane. All replica stuff. You could buy beautiful quality kits, much better, for the same money. I do not get that. Then again the bikes that some of these folks are on....even more insane.
Just my take on it.