Today, December 2, 2013, marks the 94th birthday of ski-wear designer Klaus Obermeyer. If you know anything about him, it should come as no surprise that he is still skiing, yodeling and designing clothes.
Obermeyer was born in 1919, in Oberstaufen, a small Bavarian village in Germany. He grew up enjoying everything that the German Alps had to offer, including mountaineering, ski racing, rock climbing and ski jumping.
One afternoon in Munich, his parents took him to see the movie Sun Valley Serenade.
“It showed Sun Valley resort in Idaho, and they had chairlifts! There were no chairlifts at the time in Europe, and I thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s terrific!” When the war was over, it felt great to get the hell out of Germany,”
Obermeyer told 5280Magazine.
Obermeyer in Aspen
Legend has it that when Klaus Obermeyer immigrated to Colorado in 1947, his mother insisted he pack a comforter. This was probably one of the most important pieces of advice he ever received. When he began work as a ski instructor in Aspen as a ski-instructor, he found himself ill-prepared for the brutally cold Rocky Mountain winters.
His creative mind came up with a solution to the problem. Obermeyer transformed the down comforter into a coat. Although he looked like the Michelin Man, when one of his students offered to buy the coat for $300, the wheels inside his head began to turn like a high-speed chairlift. Obermeyer returned to his hometown, and asked a local manufacturing plant to create 75 prototypes. Sport Obermeyer was born.
The Sport Obermeyer Brand
The creation of the ski parka opened the gates to Obermeyer´s highly innovative mind. His company eventually developed a high-altitude suntan lotion, turtlenecks, nylon windshirts, mirrored sunglasses and other products for mountain athletes. In 1961, the first Sport Obermeyer factory warehouse opened in Aspen, Colorado, and the creative process continued with the development of soft-shell jackets, double lens goggles, and the first waterproof-breathable fabrics.
Environmental Initiatives
“Step lightly on the planet,” is one of Obermeyer´s most popular quotes, and Sport Obermeyer practices what it preaches. According to their website:
“Today we use post-consumer recycled polyester (PET) in high performance gear, the architectural design of our headquarters minimizes energy consumption, and employees are rewarded for using alternative transportation.”
Happy Birthday, Klaus, and many happy turns down the mountain!