Longtime professional athlete Anthony Boronowski is having a love affair, and his girlfriend and business partner Ingrid Sirois couldn’t be more thrilled.
In 2016 the couple launched Foehn, a high-end climbing-inspired clothing line for men that retails exclusively online. Visitors to the website will instantly recognize Squamish, flagrantly featured in what looks more like fine art photography than your typical lifestyle marketing images.
In fact, it’s the local rock, lifestyle, and community that both Boronowski and Sirois agree gets their blood pumping.
But Foehn, named for a warm, dry wind blowing down a mountain, is currently based in Quebec where the couple has lived together for two years with their son Léonard, 3. Yet, if the pair had their way, they would move west tomorrow.
“Squamish… it’s a special place isn’t it?” muses Boronowski, who grew up in the Lower Mainland. “We were last there in August to climb, but Ingrid was there last week and probably three times this fall. We come to climb every summer, visit family for a couple of weeks, and be in the mountains. Our heart is there.”
Sirois said creating Foehn was part creative, part strategic.
“This is why we started this project, as a way to get back to Squamish where we want to live,” echoed Sirois. “Our heart is in the Sea to Sky Corridor.”
In 2014, Sirois’s husband and Léo’s biological father, JP Auclair – legendary freeskier and founder of Armada – was killed in an avalanche alongside fellow freeskier Andreas Fransson while filming in Patagonia near the Argentinian Chilean border. The geography of the accident created such a complexity that it has been hard to finalize certain legal aspects and thus prevented an earlier move to Squamish, said Sirois, adding they are relieved the legal issues should be resolved soon.
“JP was a very good man. He did a lot for skiing. Anthony and he were best friends, and there was no way that we could have predicted that we would end up together. But here we are. We are a different kind of family, a special little family.
“It’s part of our story, and one of the reasons this project started,” she explained. “A couple of years ago Anthony transitioned from being a pro freeskier. He was first hired as a designer by Lululemon where he learned the ropes, like textiles and manufacturing processes.”
“We’ve been encouraging him to do climbing pants ever since,” laughed Sirois, who herself has worked in a variety of capacities in the sports retail industry for companies like Oakley and Orage. “There are no beautiful pants in the climbing world!”
Foehn’s designs crossover from urban to rec and back again. What one could stylishly wear in downtown Vancouver is easily up to the task of a challenging ascent.
“We want to be technical, but we don’t want to sacrifice style or function. We want to make great product for a sport that hasn’t changed in decades. The look, the style, the fashion – if there ever was any – it’s that look that we want to build and achieve for the climbing community,” said Sirois.
“It’s our goal that in 10 years we can look back and say we really helped change the way that climbing looks,” she said. “It’s a bold goal, a big thing to say, but I think it’s possible.”
Bold is something Boronowski is no stranger to. Having been a pioneer of freeskiing himself, he’s known throughout the corridor as a trailblazer – and maybe even a little political.
“A Foehn brings warm air and changes the temperature very rapidly in the mountains, it brings a whole new weather system very drastically; you have to behave differently. We liked that because we want to do the same thing – change people’s mindset and all those things associated with weather change. That’s the idea behind the name — that it’s associated with climate change.”
Climbing compatriots
Freelance photographer Kieran Brownie, 26, met Boronowski through the climbing community and subsequently shot much of the company’s promo pieces.
“Anthony’s passionate about his work and what he produces. He puts a lot of thought into what he does and that’s reflected in his personality. He’s worthy of my respect,” Brownie said sincerely. “Climbing is all about style: why you do things, and what you do.”
This past August several photographers and videographers, including Brownie, Josh Bishop and Nolan Vanherk both out of California, and Whistler videographer Radek Drozdowicz convened in Squamish with Boronowski and Siroi to shoot Foehn’s product in action.
“To be able to work at home with a really good intention like they are bringing – to communicate the Squamish vibe – got me on board right away.
“Plus I’m a fan of what they are producing. The Robson down puffy is the best thing in the world,” he said excitedly. “It’s like throwing on a down sleeping bag with a hood, comfy packs down light, one of those pieces of clothing that, if you didn’t have to, you wouldn’t take off.”
Local avalanche safety trainer and rock guide Taran Ortlieb, features prominently in the photography that Brownie and Bishop shot, and has become something of an “athlete ambassador,” testing product and giving feedback, according to Boronowski.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for what Anthony is doing and who he is,” Ortlieb said. “He’s always been an innovator of style, whether it’s his ski movies, his tricks or the way he skied, or the clothes he wears.
“Outerwear for climbing is inherently dorky looking. You always look like you are wearing an astronaut suit of some sort. Anthony’s been pressed to bring style to the climbing community and blend street fashion into the sport – to create fashion around it.
“But if Anthony is the one behind the designs, Ingrid is the key to behind the scenes,” said Ortlieb, giving props. “She’s key in directing where the product goes. She’s a beautiful spirit – she loves everyone and she’ll let you know. She’s no less than half of this company.
“The brand was born here, in Squamish. It is a Squamish brand – as much as the office is in Quebec at the moment. It’s deeply routed in the coast and this place.”
The principals would seem to agree.
“The main thing is the community and the people. It’s where we belong,” articulated Boronowski, adding that he feels beyond fortunate to be doing all of this alongside Siroi.
“We are partners on the brand, and we are partners in life. It’s good.”
Sirois said they plan to spend May to August this summer locally so they can start to put down roots.
“We love Squamish and its beautiful community,” she said. “It’s an amazing playground.”
