Heart + Soul
The story of Obermeyer has it all: courage, vision, and pure-and-simple love. From Klaus Obermeyer climbing high into the mountains at a young age, to award-winning environmental practices and industry-leading, innovative product design, there is a real, passionate, palpably beating heart to all things Obermeyer.
Part of it holds the memories: the legendary tales of Klaus, his groundbreaking inventions, his contagious love of the sport. Another part holds the future: what new trails lie ahead? What better product or better way of making it can be discovered? And tying it all together: the Obermeyer family and extraordinary employees who work together as one. We are a company with both deep roots and indomitable vision. But most importantly, we are a company with a proven commitment to making the best possible product, year after year. Beautiful, peak-performing garments and accessories that will let you stay outside longer, go further, ski harder… and love every second of it.
Welcome to Obermeyer.
In a 1984 Aspen Magazine article, Obermeyer was described as having “unusual and unbusinesslike values” and we could not be more proud to have been described in this way. After all, it’s a direct reference to the fact that Klaus started the business to serve the people who love the sport that he loves. This approach to creating product – where consumer needs mean more than just making a profit – guides our design process to this day.
Everything we make, including a long list of industry “firsts,” comes from a true knowledge of and passion for the sport. And most importantly, it comes from knowing what our customers really need and want.
Obermeyer Innovations and Manufacturing Firsts:
• Double ski boot
• Flow-fit boot
• Down ski parka
• Tapered and dual-tapered aluminum ski pole
• Traditional ski sweater
• Seamless turtleneck
• Double-prong ski stopper
• Mirrored sunglasses
• High altitude sunscreen
• Double-lens goggle
• Kid’s “I-Grow” extendable length jackets and pants
• “Ski Cashmere” knit - merino wool face, cashmere back
To know and love a piece of Obermeyer clothing or outerwear means two core things: impeccable fit and technical performance. This is because Klaus’ singular rule for achieving greatness in clothing design is simply: fit is function.
The design and fit process at Obermeyer begins and ends in Aspen – the ultimate testing ground. Each Obermeyer style is comprised of hundreds of individual components pieced together by their on-site design team and master fit technicians to create a garment in which functional performance is paramount.
Every sample is then arduously measured and fitted on models and forms. Master fit technicians revise and refine the patterns with designers who select fabrics and alter design lines based on a keen awareness of consumer needs, likes and dislikes, and the demanding winter environment one finds on the mountain.
At Obermeyer, there’s nothing we love more than sharing the mountain experience with family and the next generation. Since 1947, we’ve been designing gear and accessories for the whole family. In 1968 we put together a team to focus specifically on Kids.
It’s an area we are absolutely devoted to, because their future is our future. Our families, our communities, our planet: this is why we wake up in the morning.
And what motivates us to burn the midnight oil, too.
This is also why our product lines span a wide range of high-functioning, expertly crafted garments and accessories for the whole family, from little girls and boys, to teens and adults of all sizes. From the more conservative and mature to the fast, flashy and playful, we believe your gear should reflect the unique style you bring to the sport. Each of our creations celebrates the characters and individuals in every family – we know, because we see them every day on the mountain and the street alike.
Top-of-the-line Ski Jackets and Pants, Gloves, Scarves and Hats, Fleece and Sweaters, as well as super-technical base layering pieces: we make only the best for any activity – fall, winter, or spring.
There’s incredible power in being on a windswept ridge and knowing you’re going to go for it. Other days, there’s indescribable beauty in hiking through the silence of a heavy snowfall. Knowing for certain that your gear will hold up makes these moments feel that much more exceptional.
Obermeyer’s home in the Rocky Mountains offers the ultimate conditions for product testing. In the Aspen area, the Elk and Raggeds Range weather can change from blinding snow and ice storms to scorching spring days on corn snow. And our teams brave it all to test anything and everything that will carry our logo.
What makes up these real-life survival tests? Among others: Wind and waterproofness, warmth and heat retention, breathability, how the fabric and insulation stretch and flex, and how the garment holds up over repeated, awesome abuse, including from your washing machine. We want our products to perform so well that you don’t even have to think about them, giving you more time to turn those indescribable moments into unforgettable memories.
Our employees learn to reuse, repurpose, make-do with and exhaust every resource they can before purchasing something new. Every person contributes to reducing their footprint by turning off lights, composting, recycling and up-cycling, or by carpooling and biking to work. Several staff members have even won regional “commuter-of-the-year” awards for engaging in
alternate forms of transportation. We also proudly tend a garden together, growing and sharing produce.
The commitment from Obermeyer staff to step lightly on the planet however and whenever they can has been part of our company culture from the very beginning. Klaus has always been a trailblazer when it comes to the environment. The main Obermeyer office in Aspen is an award-winning “green” complex built in 1980, receiving 60% of its heat from solar energy. In 1991, Obermeyer completed construction of a hydroelectric plant that supplies clean, renewable energy to more than 7,000 homes in southern Colorado. And more recently, all the lighting in the Obermeyer Aspen and Denver offices, as well as the 100,000 sq. ft. US Distribution Center, was replaced. We now use max-energy efficient LED panels with motion sensors, so lights are never on until needed.
Klaus was born December 2, 1919 and grew up in the small Bavarian village of Oberstaufen, Germany, a remote farm where he learned early on that everything can be put to use. At the age of three, he fashioned his first pair of skis out of thin, flexible chestnut slats from an orange crate. Much to his mother’s dismay, he nailed his good house shoes to these skis, and he was off. Klaus made his way to the United States in 1947 and became a ski school instructor in Aspen, Colorado. It was this job that led to the founding of Sport Obermeyer. At 102, with a beautiful family, staggering list of product innovations, and numerous industry awards bearing his name, Klaus still resides at his ranch on the Roaring Fork River. He comes to work seven days a week, swims a half mile each day, skis all winter, plays tennis, practices Akido, and has a smile and hello for everyone he meets.
These incredible memories and milestones make Klaus not just the fearless founder and president of Obermeyer, but the true heart of the company. His contagious enthusiasm and boundless optimism inspires family and friends, the employees he works with every day, and countless fans worldwide. They all say Klaus inspires them to try new things, think big, get outside, and live a well-balanced life. They strive not only to “ski like Klaus,” (a popular bumper sticker seen around Aspen) but to “be like Klaus.”
