BRAND EINS visits

 "IT WORKS: Tailor-made planks"

We certainly can't complain about a lack of coverage. During our first two years in business, ORIGINAL+ has been featured in several articles and stories. One of our favorite pieces was published in January 2019: an article in the renowned brand eins magazine, which focused on the theme of "Overcoming Resistance."

When the call from brand eins came in, ORIGINAL+ founder and CEO Siegfried Rumpfhuber was in the middle of installing a new high-precision edge grinding machine. The inquiry? Whether they could come to Salzburg for a personal interview. Siegfried didn’t have to think long—after all, brand eins is considered one of the best-made business magazines in Germany and one of the most successful in the German-speaking world. What makes brand eins special? Their stories are less about big-name companies and executives and more about people who take unconventional paths and often succeed because of it.

Just like Siegfried Rumpfhuber and ORIGINAL+. With his business idea of producing custom-made skis for recreational skiers, Siegfried has challenged the status quo of the ski industry. Through creativity and expertise, he has set new standards. But more on that later.

In mid-December, brand eins visited us at our 300-square-meter workshop in Salzburg. The team included a journalist, a photographer, and a lot of exciting questions about the company's history and every step of the custom ski-making process.

"The path to uniqueness is the same for everyone. You need to answer 21 questions: What kind of terrain do you ski? How do you rate your skill level? Where do you prefer to carve your turns?" This is how the article begins, in the first issue of brand eins's 21st year. And this is exactly how the process starts—resulting in a pair of ORIGINAL+ skis that are individually tailored to the skier in terms of material and construction. Such customization was previously only available in professional sports, where skis are fine-tuned to perfection, costing between €8,000 and €10,000. Siegfried knows this from his extensive experience in the industry. However, with his team, he has found a way to offer nearly equivalent skis starting at just €860. brand eins author Wolfgang Wieser asked how this was possible. "By automating the conversation with the customer," Siegfried answered.

For those curious, the "secret" behind ORIGINAL+ is a self-learning program called ORIGO, developed by Siegfried in collaboration with the Salzburg-based data science companies Fact.AI and Cognify. The program essentially takes on the role of a traditional ski developer, analyzing answers to 21 personalized questions and using artificial intelligence to configure a ski. "The more data, the better the software’s recommendation," Siegfried explained in the interview.

He also shared that the 32 different components in a ski (such as the wood core) can be customized to the skier, whether through composition, craftsmanship, or thickness—all of which directly influence the ski’s performance. From the possible configurations calculated by the software, about 600 different ski constructions can be created. As a result, ORIGINAL+ skis have little in common with mass-produced models.

brand eins wouldn’t be one of the most important magazines for top decision-makers in media, advertising, and industry if its makers didn’t work at the highest journalistic level. For the ORIGINAL+ article, a sports scientist who had worked with top athletes like Hermann Maier, Stephan Eberharter, and Hans Knauß was consulted before publication. His conclusion on custom-made skis: the best ski is the one that fits the skier best. "You have to think of the skier as a unit of person, boot, and ski," the expert said. "I believe that ambitious skiers, in particular, will benefit."

We wholeheartedly agree: each of us is unique, and so is the perfect equipment. Or as brand eins aptly put it: "Siegfried Rumpfhuber makes skis personal."

Thank you, brand eins, for the insightful questions and engaging article! You can read the original article here.

Published in brand eins, Issue 01, January 2019.