The denim—not the skier—has entered retirement.
In a social media post, Olympic hopeful halfpipe skier Nick Goepper shared that, after several high-profile competition appearances wearing jeans, he was ditching the denim.
“This is a bittersweet turning of the page for me, but I must stay true to myself in this next chapter of my career,” Goepper wrote in the post.
Goepper, formerly a dominant slopestyle athlete with three Olympic medals, briefly retired from competitive skiing in the winter of 2023. Then, months later, he announced that he would return to competition. This time, though, he would perform in a new discipline, halfpipe, aiming to clinch a spot in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Simultaneously, Goepper underwent a rebrand online, sharing silly Instagram videos that oscillated between honest and irreverent. The jeans, it seemed, were part of Goepper’s apparent effort to have more fun during the second phase of his career.
Goepper donned the denim in the X Games’ 2024 halfpipe event, finishing fourth. This winter, he rocked jeans at a World Cup halfpipe competition in Copper Mountain, Colorado. There, he placed third.
But looking forward, Goepper’s taking a different tact.
“Goepper will be switching to more comfortable fabric suitable for double cork 1620s and negative temperatures,” reads a blurb attributed to GQ Men—almost certainly as a joke—that Goepper shared on Instagram.
“I will be defined by something greater,” reads another blurb.
It makes sense.
The jeans have become synonymous with Goepper’s new image, and jeans—literally, anyone will tell you—aren’t designed for the feats of athleticism halfpipe skiing necessitates. You wouldn’t ask Simone Biles to wear Wranglers during her next gymnastic routine.
Let’s speculate a little bit.
Maybe Goepper doesn’t want his fans to expect him to wear jeans, even when it’s brutally cold out. Or, he’d rather not have the jeans be associated with the seriousness of his ongoing Olympic bid—Goepper is, of course, much more than some guy who showed up at the X Games wearing denim.
It could also be that Goepper’s signed with a new outerwear sponsor that doesn’t sell jeans.
Admittedly, though, it’s tough to peer through all the layers of silliness with Goepper—for all we know, he’ll show up at the X Games wearing Carhartt overalls. We’ve texted him for a comment and will update this article if he replies.
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