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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports |
| Founded | 1978 as "David L Jacobs, Incorporated" |
| Founder | David L Jacobs |
| Headquarters | Headquarters:Boulder, Colorado, United States / European central office based in Baar (ZG), Switzerland |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Insulated Jackets, Ski Clothing |
| Parent | Authentic Brands Group |
| Website | spyder.com |
Spyder is an American Colorado-based manufacturer of luxury, high end skiing & snowsports apparel.
David Jacobs, Spyder's founder and chairman was born in Montreal, Canada, and began skiing at age 13. At 21, he won the Quebec Kandahar, and from 1957 through 1961 was a member of the Canadian National Ski Team. In 1957 he captured the title of Canadian Downhill Ski Champion, and was the top-ranked member of the Canadian FIS Team the following season. He was the first full-time head coach and program administrator for the Canadian National Ski Team from 1964 to 1966.
In 1978, while Jacobs' sons were in the ski race circuit, he noted that there was only one brand of race sweaters available. He believed he could make a better product and sell it to the close-knit race community. This business, named David L Jacobs, Incorporated, began as a small mail order business in his Boulder, Colorado kitchen.
After the successful introduction of race sweaters, Jacobs added ski pants to the catalog offering. One of the earliest creations was a navy blue racing pant with yellow striped pads extending from the knee to the hip. His son Billy mentioned that skiers were calling them “spider” pants, due to their spider leg-like appearance. Jacobs recognized this as an opportunity to have a powerful, lasting name and logo associated with his products, and renamed the company. A passionate sports car fan, he borrowed the spelling with a “y” from the Ferrari Spyder. The early mail order catalogs included race pants, padded sweaters, Vuarnet sunglasses, bent downhill poles and other racing accessories. For two years, Spyder operated out of Jacobs' kitchen. At the end of two years, sales were in the six figures and his kitchen was too crowded.
To finance an expansion in 1980, Jacobs sold the brand to Boulder-based Hanson Industries, a ski boot manufacturer. Eighteen months later, he bought Spyder back before Hanson went bankrupt.
In 1994 Jacobs was granted a patent on SpeedWyre, a technology that enhanced race suit performance. A “trip wire” formed by a narrow seam on the surface of the legs and arms streamlined the surrounding air flow, significantly reducing wind drag by up to 40% in laboratory tests. US Ski Team members wearing Spyder suits enhanced with SPEEDWYRE captured gold, bronze and fifth place in world championships over the next two years, including two World Downhill Championships by Hilary Lindh and Picabo Street. The FIS banned SpeedWyre in 1997, claiming that it gave skiers an unfair advantage.
Spyder is an official supplier to the US Ski Team, a relationship begun in 1989. The Canadian Alpine Ski Team has been outfitted by Spyder since 2002, and the Jamaica Ski Team since 2009.
Olympic podiums gave the brand worldwide presence. Diann Roffe-Steinrotter and Hillary Lindh scored silver in Albertville in 1992. In the 1994 Lillehammer Games, Tommy Moe, Picabo Street, and Roffe-Steinrotter each won gold; Moe and Street also won silver. Bode Miller took home two silver medals from Salt Lake City in 2002. At the 2006 Games in Turin, the Austrian and US Alpine teams collectively captured 16 medals, while Canadian Jennifer Heil won a gold in moguls.
In the late-nineties, a new genre of skiing formed, named Freeski. In 1998 introduced the Kreitler line, eponymous for pro skier Kent Kreitler. That collection became Venom, an apparel collection targeting features, functions, and fashion inherent to the mountain-based, adrenaline-driven freeski lifestyle.
Spyder is the largest ski-specialty brand in the world. In 2004, Apax Partners, a global private equity group, acquired Spyder. [1] Jacobs continued to direct the company as chairman of the board. Jake, his eldest son who penned the trademark spiderwebs, serves on Spyder's board of directors.
The company acquired Cloudveil Mountain Works in 2008. Founded in 1997, Cloudveil manufactures apparel for the outdoor, snowsports, fly fishing and casual apparel markets.
In August 2013 Authentic Brands Group acquired Spyder and licensed it to Li & Fung. [2]
On 29 July 2021, Spyder’s parent GBG USA commenced voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings and put its apparel and footwear brands up for sale with help from a $16 million bankruptcy loan. [3]
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA. It was soon backed by International Ski Federation president Marc Hodler during the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1966 at Portillo, Chile, and became an official FIS event in the spring of 1967 after the FIS Congress at Beirut, Lebanon.
Samuel Bode Miller is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist, a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, and the most successful male American alpine ski racer of all time. He is also considered one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time with 33 race victories and being one of five men to win World Cup events in all five disciplines. He is the only skier with five or more victories in each discipline. In 2008, Miller and Lindsey Vonn won the overall World Cup titles for the first U.S. sweep in 25 years.
Picabo Street is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She won the super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the downhill at the 1996 World Championships, along with three other Olympic and World Championship medals. Street also won World Cup downhill season titles in 1995 and 1996, the first American woman to do so, along with nine World Cup downhill race wins. Street was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 2004.
Thomas Sven Moe is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. An Olympic gold and silver medalist in 1994, he specialized in the speed events of downhill and super G.
Hilary Kirsten Lindh is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. A specialist in the downhill event, she was a world champion and Olympic medalist.
The 29th World Cup season began in November 1994 in Park City, USA, and concluded in March 1995 at the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy. The overall champions were Alberto Tomba of Italy and Vreni Schneider of Switzerland.
Wilhelm Bogner Sr. was a German Nordic combined skier who competed in the 1930s. He and his wife, Maria, co-founded a ski apparel company that bore their name. Bogner was a member of the Nazi party and held the rank of Untersturmführer.
Steven Lee is an Australian alpine skier. He competed in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, and had a competitive career lasting just on 25 years. He is the second of only 3 Australian skiers ever to claim victory on the Alpine World Cup circuit. He has also done sports commentating for channels 7, 9 and 10, co-owns Chill Factor magazine, and is a national selector and president of Falls Creek Race Club. He has worked in movies with Roger Moore and Jackie Chan.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to skiing:
Yina Moe-Lange is a Danish 2010 Olympian alpine ski racer. She was born in Tokyo, Japan where she skied first time at Mount Zaō when she was 3. Her mom's job as a diplomat had previously brought the family to Tokyo, Japan. At age 4 she spoke fluently Japanese. That was also the time when her family relocated to California.
Josh Dueck is a Canadian alpine skier. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in the men's slalom sit-ski event. On February 3, 2012, Josh became the first person to perform a backflip on snow in a Sit Ski.
The Men's Downhill competition of the Nagano 1998 Olympics was held at Hakuba on Friday, February 13. Originally scheduled for Sunday, the race was postponed several times due to heavy snow, followed by rain and gusty winds.
The women's super-G competition of the Nagano 1998 Olympics was held at Hakuba on Wednesday, February 11.
The Men's Downhill competition of the Lillehammer 1994 Olympics was held at Kvitfjell on Sunday, 13 February.
The Women's Downhill competition of the Lillehammer 1994 Olympics was held at Kvitfjell on Saturday, 19 February.
The Women's downhill competition of the Albertville 1992 Olympics was held at Meribel on Saturday, 15 February.
The Men's downhill competition of the 1960 Winter Olympics was held at Squaw Valley on Monday, February 22. The race was postponed from February 19, due to heavy snow fall.
Herman Jan "John" Semmelink was an alpine ski racer from Canada.
Alice Robinson is a New Zealand World Cup alpine ski racer. At age sixteen, she competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in giant slalom and slalom. She represented New Zealand in the giant slalom event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The 2023 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships were held at St Anton am Arlberg Ski Resort in St Anton am Arlberg, Austria from 19 to 25 January 2023. For the first time, the Alpine combined was held as a team event. It was the fourth time that a World Junior Alpine Skiing Championship was held in Austria after the editions in 1986, 1997 and 2007.
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