It’s officially the first day of fall, which seems like a pretty appropriate time to talk about Autumn.
If you’ve been coming into Milo over the last few years, you probably already know the name. Autumn came onto the scene in 2020 with a pretty simple idea: make great headwear with good fits, good colors and a point of view that came directly from snowboarding.
Six years later, the beanies are still at the heart of Autumn, but there’s a lot more happening around them.
Our History With Autumn
Our connection with Autumn goes back further than the brand itself.
We’ve known founder Brad Alband and Jeff Richards for a long time, and both are good friends of ours. There’s even some old Milo DNA in the mix. Jeff once managed the original Milo shop in Utah, the same shop where our own roots in snowboard retail began long before Milo Snow & Skate opened in Auburn.
Brad has spent a huge part of his life behind the scenes in snowboarding, working with brands including Holden, ThirtyTwo, Volcom and KR3W. Along the way he worked across sales, marketing, design and merchandising before eventually deciding to build something of his own.
That became Autumn.
We’ve had the opportunity to watch the brand grow from the beginning, and one of the things we appreciate most is that it has developed without trying to become something it isn't.
It Still Starts With the Beanie
For all the new things Autumn is doing, we can't talk about the brand without talking about beanies.
The Select Solid has become the best-selling Autumn beanie at Milo. It's simple, fits right and comes in enough colors that there's pretty much one for everybody. Autumn lists it as a medium-weight 11-inch beanie with a 3-inch cuff, but the reason it keeps selling for us is even simpler: people put it on and like the way it fits.
The Mini Stripe is my personal favorite. It uses that same medium-weight 11-inch profile but adds a two-color stripe that gives it just enough personality without trying too hard.
This year's lineup has some other standouts too. The Stamnes Beanie caught our attention, and the Duck Camo Beanie is exactly the kind of slightly different piece Autumn does well. The Duck Camo uses a four-color machine-knit pattern on a lighter-weight, taller fit, so it has a completely different feel from something as straightforward as the Select Solid.
That variety is a big part of why Autumn works so well in the shop. They're really good at taking something as basic as a beanie and finding small ways to make it interesting.
Then There's MTN
While the headwear continues to grow, so does the rest of Autumn.
Autumn MTN takes the same approach and pushes it into fleece, layering pieces, hoods, cold-weather accessories and increasingly technical mountain apparel. The fits are relaxed, the colors and materials feel considered, and everything still looks like it belongs in snowboarding.
That's probably the part we like most. There are plenty of great rider-owned and rider-driven companies in snowboarding right now, and Autumn has found its own place among them without feeling like it's chasing anybody else.
This season's MTN collection feels particularly cohesive. These are pieces you can wear on the way to the mountain, layer up in when you're riding, or keep wearing when you're back in town. Our lifestyle shoot this year captured that side of the collection perfectly.
Watching It Grow
Maybe we're a little biased.
Brad and Jeff are friends, we've known them for years, and there's something pretty cool about watching people you know build something that continues to find its place in snowboarding.
But friendship only tells part of the story.
Autumn has become a fixture at Milo because the product works here. The Select Solid doesn't keep selling because we know the guys who make it. It keeps selling because our customers like it.
Now we're watching the MTN side of Autumn develop in much the same way. More pieces, more ideas and a bigger vision, while the things that made us like the brand in the first place are still there.
Winter isn't here yet.
But Autumn definitely is.