POWDA was launched in 2019 as a side hustle by Kim Western. She is a passionate snowboarder and has loved chasing bluebird powder days since she was 19 years old.

However, she found herself getting frustrated at the inconsistent NZ snow conditions. Not only is it almost impossible to get a reliable weather forecast in NZ, but even when a great day came about, the old "4 seasons in one day" rule would come into play and she found it difficult to find gear that catered to our conditions, designed by overseas brands with reliable snow conditions.

One of her first experiences with this involved a large investment in some big-name snow goggles, which came with two lenses - one for sunny riding and another lens that could be switched out during low-light conditions. Unfortunately, when the weather inevitably changed and she needed to switch out to her low-light lenses, the click-out technique was difficult to manage with freezing cold hands, and she was embarrassed about making her friends wait while she did it.

She didn't want things outside of her control to determine how enjoyable her day was, so she set out to develop snow gear that caters to the changing NZ conditions that maximised riding time, performance and enjoyment, starting with quick-change snow goggles.

She thoroughly researched all of the top brands in the market to understand what materials they used to deliver the highest quality and set out to develop 2 new goggle styles that catered specifically to NZ conditions. From here, the Gecko and Peacock snow goggles were born and revolutionised the nz snow sports market.