Anna Tedstrom was raised in Vail and grew up skiing and doing outdoor activities with her brothers and friends. Those adventures sparked an idea to design unique ski wear, so she started Hoohah, a clothing company where people can find bright and colorful skiwear adorned with flowers, hearts, and other designs.
“When I moved to Colorado, I missed the outdoor activities, so I started bringing my girlfriends from Florida and Chicago out on ski trips to Vail,” said Tedstrom, who now lives in the Littleton area. “Then I had the idea about getting into the outdoor industry and wanted to learn more about fashion.”
Becoming a fashion designer
She started the process by attending a fashion design school at Parsons School of Design in New York City.
“I studied product design because I wanted to make camping gear or backpacks and tents,” Tedstrom said.
Tedstrom said she was interested in the technical aspects, so she started making furniture, then took a detour into toys and worked for Mattel. From there, she started working for Restoration Hardware in San Francisco.
But Tedstrom still dreamed of designing clothes, so she started working for a company called Marine Layer in San Francisco, a California casual clothing company where she worked as a technical designer with the factories and took on a job as a product developer.
“I was working on the fit and the construction of all of the garments for both the men’s and women’s lines. I was really trying to learn a lot about outerwear and also met with manufacturers,” Tedstrom said.
A skiwear line is born
When she went on ski trips with friends, Tedstrom said her friends were intimidated by skiing, so she started wearing her mom’s old onesie ski wear with tight legs and fringe.
“Skiing became more about getting out and having a good time dancing and chatting on chairlifts. It didn’t matter how long we were out there or how many runs we did. My friends were distracted by my outfit and wanted to go vintage shopping,” Tedstrom said.
Tedstrom said when she and her friends went vintage shopping, they created fun ski outfits; some had stains and holes or didn’t have fringe, so they added more fringe.
“We started upcycling them, retrofitting them and sewing them to fit better. If they had a hole, I would sew it closed or make massive flower patches to put over the holes and stains, giving them a new life and a new personality to make them fun,” Tedstrom said.
Anna Tedstrom, founder of Hoohah Clothing. Credit: Arturo Torres. 
The models are wearing snow pants and jackets with fringe designed by Anna Tedstrom. Credit: Ryland Lovvorn 
The models are wearing ski bibs and snow jackets designed by Anna Tedstrom. Credit: Ryland Lovvom 
Models at a Denver Fashion Week showing Anna Tedstrom’s unique bib, snow jacket, and snow pants designs. Credit: Kate Rauch
When the girls wore them, Tedstrom said people would stop them on the slopes and ask where they got the outfits.
“They would say, ‘I want one.’ So I started making some custom pieces for people,” Tedstrom said.
Under the ski suits they were upcycling, Tedstrom said they had a black fleece lining that she didn’t particularly like.
“I thought, I can’t wear a black fleece under this fun outfit. I’m going to start making some fleeces, which would be easier to sell as well,” she said. “I started making fleece long-sleeve tops and then fleece bra tops as well.”
Tedstrom began selling her unique ski and activewear at markets and pop-ups. She also started manufacturing bibs with more sizes and colors.
“I started manufacturing our Sunnyside bibs and this year I actually was able to make 300 of them. We are growing little by little,” Tedstrom said.
Hopes for the future
Tedstrom said she’s working on getting her business to work independently and support itself. It takes a lot of money to manufacture, especially outerwear.
“The big goal for me is to be able to sell out of all my ski wear so I can make more. I would love to have a retail shop,” she said. “I do pop-ups all over Colorado, and I’ve started to do some in in Utah and California.”
She dreams of having a unique retail shop so people can enter and immerse themselves in the Hoohah world. Tedstrom said she would love to eventually be able to ship worldwide.
“It’s definitely a long road ahead, but before we get there, little by little, I’m trying to grow slowly and intentionally right now; I’m bootstrapping this business, and I don’t have any investors,” Tedstrom said.
How did Tedstrom come up with the Hoohah name?
“I was skiing with my sister-in-law, and I had to pee while we were riding on the chairlift so she said, ‘You’re going have to go in the woods and get your Hoohah cold,’ and I laughed. I thought I needed to reclaim this name,” Tedstrom said.
To view and order Tedstrom’s unique clothing, visit hoohah-us.com or look for @hoohah_us on Instagram.
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