What to Wear for Après Ski: Outfit Ideas That Actually Work

Après ski starts the moment you click out of your bindings and can last until well after midnight. The temperature drops fast once the sun goes behind the ridge, the bar is hot and crowded, and somewhere in between you still need to walk back to your chalet in ski boots. That is why the question what to wear for après ski comes up before every trip. Here is what works, based on more winters in the Alps than we care to admit.

The short answer: layers you can take off

The perfect après-ski outfit is built in layers. On the terrace you want the sun on your face and your jacket open. Inside the bar an hour later you want to strip down to a T-shirt. On the walk home you want everything back on. So think in three layers:

• Base: a soft cotton T-shirt. This is the layer everyone sees once the jackets come off, so make it count. A funny après-ski shirt is the easiest conversation starter on the mountain.
• Mid: a warm hoodie. Fleece inside, roomy hood, big pocket for your phone and lift pass. Our ski hoodies are made for exactly this moment.
• Shell: your ski jacket, open on the terrace, zipped on the way home.

Sun terrace, 3 pm

The first round is usually outside, in full sun, at altitude. It feels warm but the air is cold. Keep your ski pants on, open the jacket, and let the T-shirt do the talking. Sunglasses stay on. A beanie replaces the helmet. This is the moment the group photo gets taken, so this is the moment your ski T-shirt earns its place.

Inside the bar, 5 pm

Après-ski bars are famously hot. Two hundred people in ski gear, a wood stove and a DJ. The jacket goes on the pile in the corner, the hoodie follows soon after. What is left is your T-shirt, so make sure it is one you would happily wear all evening. Unisex, true to size and 100% cotton is what you want here: breathable, soft and easy to wash the morning after.

The walk home, 8 pm

Once you leave the bar it is dark and well below zero. Hoodie on, hood up, jacket zipped. A cotton blend fleece hoodie holds heat much better than a second T-shirt, which is why we always pack at least one hoodie for every ski trip. The oversized look works well here: size up if you want to wear it over a thick base layer.

Dinner and the second round

Back at the chalet, showered and changed, the outfit is simple: jeans or joggers, sneakers or boots, and the hoodie you were wearing earlier. Nobody dresses up for a mountain village restaurant. A clean hoodie with a good print looks better than any shirt you could pack.

Five après-ski outfit rules we swear by

1. Cotton over synthetics for the visible layer. It looks better, feels better and does not smell after one evening.
2. One hoodie per three days. It rarely needs washing and it is the piece you wear most.
3. Match the crew. A group in the same Après Ski Club hoodie gets the best table and the most free drinks. Every time.
4. Keep the print on the back. It shows when you walk in and when you dance, and the front stays clean for the spilled beer.
5. Skip the fashion boots. You will be in ski boots until you get home anyway.

Our favourite après-ski shirts

If you want a shortlist: Après Ski Instructor is the classic, Perfect Balance Snow + Spritz is for the ones who prefer a terrace to a mogul field, and Don't Need Therapy is the one that gets asked about most. All of them exist as a T-shirt and as a hoodie, so you can wear the same design from the terrace to the walk home.

Still packing? Read our ski trip packing list or, if you are shopping for someone else, the best gifts for skiers.