Ski manufacturing isn’t for sissies…

Recently, the economic Austrian magazine Trend announced that Van Deer, the ski company Marcel Hirscher founded in 2020, has widened its retained loss to €17.9 million as of the end of 2024. This includes a loss carry-forward of €5.7 million from the previous year. Thus, more than €12 million was added in Hirscher's comeback year. 

As always numbers like these are meaningless if they are not in relation with a company’s total sales or EBITDA, but the annual sales of Van Deer skis, a private company, aren't publicly known and published. What we know is that the company was founded in 2021 by Hirscher. Its initial production was originally announced to be 1,500 skis produced in the first year.

Soon, Van Deer entered into a partnership with Red Bull to operate as "Van Deer-Red Bull Sports" and if its visibility was impressive from the get go with athletes like Henrik Kristoffersen and others, that along with its boss and founder Hirscher quickly increased brand awareness and sales. The company doesn’t give its product away, with prices between €589 and €1,329 per pair. 

Based on these factors, it can be estimated that the company generates sales in the millions, although an official figure is not available. Everyone is currently eagerly anticipating Marcel Hirscher's second comeback, perhaps as early as the World Cup opener in Sölden at the end of October. Hirscher, through his TMS Beteiligung GmbH, holds a 45% stake in the ski company while the 51% majority is held by Red Bull. A small 4% remaining percent is owned by Dominic Tritscher, a long-time Hirscher’s associate. 

The young company is currently undergoing a wave of investment. At the end of September, ski production for the Van Deer and Augment brands will relocate from Oberpinzgau to the newly constructed factory building in Scheffau in the Lammertal Valley, where production is expected to begin in the second half of October. 

Initially, around 80 employees will start, and according to local media, this could rise to 100 upon completion. Up to 30,000 pairs of skis per year are expected to be produced in the new factory. The global market for alpine skis is around 3 million pairs per year and is widely dominated by Rossignol, Atomic-Salomon, Head and Elan. 

Whether domestic, expensive manufacturing without mass production can be combined with commercial success will be one of the key questions for the young ski company. On skis, Hirscher became famous for his spectacular comebacks in the second run. As a businessman, he will have to show us that he can repeat that feat!