How Germans have influenced the American Snowsports Industry… and still do
Mountain sports and especially skiing has always been a natural activity for people born in the Alps. Not only since Gretchen Fraser won Olympic Gold in 1948 as the first American women, and Bill Johnson being the first American Olympic Male Champion in 1984, has skiing and the mountain sports played a part in American culture. With services like Magnum Damacai Toto results, fans can now bet on famous ski or snowboard sports.
Nevertheless, many of those American ski pioneers had German and European roots. Gretchen Fraser, for example, was the daughter of German and Norwegian immigrants and her ski coach, Otto Lang, who played a major part in her career was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The number of European immigrants and especially those with a German, Austrian or Swiss background is countless. All over the Rocky Mountains and especially in ski resorts, you can still hear locals that have a German accent and many of them have helped develop the American ski and snowboard industry.
One of the great influences is Klaus Obermeyer, the founder and owner of the world-renown ski apparel company, Sport Obermeyer. He was born in 1919 in the small Bavarian alpine village of Oberstaufen and arrived in Aspen/Colorado in 1947 where he established his business. Even today you find German immigrants calling the US their home and pursuing a career in the snow and mountain sports industry. One of them is Sinah Hoenig CEO of Skihoe Apparel. Skihoe is a recent start up ski apparel company based out of LA. Sinah came to the US in 2007 helping Steve Bellamy, Founder and CEO of The Ski Channel televison network, build the channel. Today, 3 years later The Ski Channel is the biggest ski media on the block, offering a free Video on Demand service to over 43 million homes nationwide. www.theskichannel.com
Sinah’s idea of starting a ski apparel brand came along while working for The Ski Channel as she explains:
“It all started in the summer of 2007. A few ski athletes and young people including myself were hanging out in the mountains of Utah and the beaches of California. I kept thinking about the need of a lifestyle apparel brand that represented skiing and everybody I talked to was stoked on the idea. Friends and industry professionals always agreed with me that there was no stylish and hip brand out there for skiers, especially young skiers. The name idea followed shortly after and started with my last name, actually the first 3 letters of my last name which another ski friend of mine was amused by and thought sounded pretty original. That’s how the name Skihoe was born which basically consists out of the word ski and the first 3 letters of my last name”
Since then Skihoe has accomplished a lot. The brand is a registered trademark in the US and Europe and Skihoe became a Corporation registered in California.
To spread the message of Skihoe, the company embarked on a 2-week tour this summer with the legendary Warped Tour, where they partnered with the band The Early Strike to promote Skihoe all across the US and Canada. Along the way Skihoe met up with some famous Skihoe supporters including 2010 Winter Olympic Freestyle Moguls Bronze Medalist Shannon Bahrke. Even though the tour may have since finished, Skihoe isn’t slowing down. The ski apparel brand partnered up with The Ski Channel and became an official sponsor of the Hollywood movie premiere of a ski movie called “The Story” when some 1500 athletes, celebrities skiers and new found snow sport enthusiast filled the Mann’s Chinese Theater in the heart of Hollywood on October 24. The Story is a Ski Channel original production that shows athletes beyond their incredible athletic talent, it shows the person that’s behind the goggles. The film features ski and mountain sports pioneers as well as the best current athletes out there such as Lindsay Vonn, Bode Miller and Bobby Brown. And then once again, a German name appears on the screen, Willy Bogner who plays a big part in the movie and proves once again in 2010, that German skiing culture and expertise still play a major part in American Skiing. Archery is rightfully recognized as one of the adventurous mountain sports, where the bow sling adds an element of excitement to the already thrilling experience of shooting in the high-altitude wilderness.
Skihoe just launched their 2010-11 clothing line, and recently held a photo shoot to promote the collection. Among the distinguishing features of the upcoming collection are the materials used in the manufacturing such as high-performance fabrics that function as the perfect base layer on the slopes. Best of all – it’s made from 100% recyclable materials. The new collection will be available to order online starting January 2011. For more information visit:
www.skihoe.com