List of products by brand FISCHER

The only ski company in the world that remains family-owned turns 90 this year – a major achievement in this era of massive multinationals where once proud businesses built up from scratch by generations of hard-working families have become just “brands”.

In Fischer’s case, the Austrian company, which has a strong ski racing roots right up to World Cup level and is number one in the world for Nordic equipment, has maintained its independence by being a market leader in true innovation, year in, year out.

This season, that racing pedigree is reflected in the RC4 line, while Fischer continues to be the only company offering a fully formable ski boot with VACUUM boots.

Josef Fischer, who had previously worked as a wagon builder, made the bold decision to set up a ski-making business in a shed in his home village of Ried in 1924, thanks to funding from family and a business partner. Over the next 35 years, the company – originally established to manufacture a variety of wooden products – became a ski specialist, and by the time of Josef’s death in 1959, had manufactured half a million pairs of skis.

Josef Fischer Junior took over the company in 1955 and quickly transformed it, in some cases against his elderly father’s instincts. Rapid success resulted from attending international trade fairs, building a new factory and developing the composite and then metal-edged ski, so that by 1960, for the first time, Fischer was exporting more skis than it sold in Austria, and its triangle logo was becoming known worldwide. In 1964, Egon Zimmermann wore Fischer’s pioneering Alu Steel skis to win Olympic gold. The following winter, 250,000 pairs are sold, with exports as far as Japan, and by the end of the decade, Fischer was the world’s biggest ski manufacturer.

The rest is history