Why does too much direct sunlight fade out the colours?
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Colors are created molecules in the material, called “Pigments”. These molecules are just atoms bound together in a special way, kind of like they are holding hands.
Sunlight is a mixture of different forms of light energy, called radiation. One specific form of light energy is called “Ultraviolet Light” and it’s just the perfect size and power of radiation to smack into the atomic hand-holds and separate them. So UV light breaks up the pigment molecules and since they are different now, they don’t make the same colors they used to.
The colors in fabrics are created by dye molecules that absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others. Sunlight contains all wavelengths of visible light, so when fabric is exposed to sunlight, the dye molecules absorb some of the light and reflect the rest. If the fabric is exposed to sunlight for too long, the dye molecules will eventually become saturated and will no longer be able to absorb any more light. This will cause the fabric to appear faded.
You know how the sun gives you a sunburn?
The same exact reason that colors fade. The UV rays are destroying the fabric and the color pigments slowly over time.
Your ski/fabric dries up and cracks, and the pigment changes to a more faded color
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