ISPO Gold Award 2018

Highest-ranking award in the sporting goods industry already in year one.

Salzburg based start-up ski manufacturer wins ISPO Gold Award in its first year of operation – the highest-ranking prize in the sporting goods industry.

Customized skis that are personalized according to your body height, weight and skiing style: this is the concept behind ORIGINAL+, a start-up based in Salzburg. This extraordinary idea and the skis’ top quality did not go unnoticed among the leading international sports business network ISPO. The jury of experts awards ORIGINAL+ the ISPO Gold Award in the Snowsports category.

The world’s largest sporting goods and fashion trade show starts on January 28, 2018 in Munich. Every year an independent jury of experts evaluates several hundred submissions by sporting goods manufacturers according to precisely defined criteria, such as innovation, design and function. This top-class selection is a welcome orientation aid for both sports business professionals and consumers.

Austria’s youngest ski manufacturer ORIGINAL+ submitted one of the competition entries for 2018/19 – and it got selected best product in the Snowsports category. The start-up convinced with its concept of functional customizing of alpine skis. At the core of the personalization process is software based on artificial intelligence that is capable of configuring individual skis according to biometric data and information about the skier’s riding style. Based on this configuration ORIGINAL+ then builds custom-made skis that are functionally adapted to the skier’s body height, weight and riding skills. And they look really good, too. The process and especially the ski constructions widely meet the standards of modern race skis built for World Cup athletes: materials of highest quality, uncompromising quality standards and individual ski flexes and tuning properties. Thanks to its modular construction the pleasure of skiing a customized ORIGINAL+ ski is available to any ambitious recreational skier, not just pros.

ORIGINAL+ was founded in 2016 by Mag. Siegfried Rumpfhuber who has lots of skiing industry experience from working as a Product Manager at Fischer Skis and General Manager at Kästle Skis. His vision: building the perfect ski for every single skier out there. “The ski market comprises about 1.400 different models. This huge variety is overwhelming, even for an experienced skier or expert. At the same time there’s a trend towards individualized products in the consumer goods and especially the sporting goods market. The next step in product development is adaptation to the customer instead of more and more choices. This is what motivated me to create a custom-made ski that addresses the individual’s needs, skiing style and preferences,” says Siegfried Rumpfhuber. All skis are manufactured in Austria exclusively, through a mass customization process. ORIGINAL+ skis are sold direct-to-consumer, via the company’s own webshop and a Factory Store in Salzburg’s Panzerhalle. This new generation of skis makes every turn a unique experience.