100 years of experience and quality
The creation of the Strolz ski boot began shortly after the start of alpin skiing which also began in the Arlberg region.
In 1921 Ambros Strolz opened a shoemaker's workshop and made leather ski boots for the not yet so numerous skiers. His custom-made leather ski boots were of such high quality that even the department store Galeries Lafayette included them in their assortment after the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937.
Of course, Ambros could not have foreseen the extent to which the company would grow and still meet the same standards he had set himself generations later: To produce ski boots at the highest level of craftsmanship and from the best materials for his customers individually and by hand.
From ski racer to entrepreneur
Ambros' son Martin followed in his father's footsteps as a master orthopedic shoemaker. But he was also an extremely successful member of the Austrian skiing national team and thus his own test pilot, product developer, ski star and promoter. Among many other top skiers, he also equipped his friends Otmar Schneider and Egon Zimmermann, both of whom became Olympic champions on Strolz ski boots. At the 1954 World Ski Championships in Åre (Sweden) Martin Strolz was runner-up in downhill skiing - on his own ski boots, of course. The international skiing elite, above all the Austrian national team, were customers of Martin Strolz from then on and after the end of his own active racing career. For over 25 years, Strolz was the outfitter for many international ski teams.
Martin Strolz brought everything with him that predestined him for the development and manufacture of ski boots at the highest level: his own racing experience at the top of the world, craftsmanship, orthopedic expertise and the unconditional will for perfection. Unsurprisingly, Martin Strolz took over his father's business and began to expand it. However, Strolz ski boots were not just for racing: skiers from all over the world appreciated his ski boots made of the best leather and handmade in the company's own workshop in Lech.
The art of adapting to change
Over a period of 15 years, the company flourished and, towards the end of the 1960s, faced a major challenge: the introduction of the first plastic ski boots marked the end of the era of leather boots. Martin Strolz recognized the opportunities and risks of the new materials. While he had immense experience with the artisanal tradition of leather processing, mold making and injection molding for plastics were something completely different. And both technology and material were designed for the production of large quantities, which contradicted the philosophy of the Strolz company of the highest possible individuality or one-off production.
Of previously five well-known manufacturers of leather ski boots in the German-speaking countries, only Strolz managed to make the switch to synthetic ski boots. In 1970, Strolz launched its first own synthetic ski boots - the Competition model came onto the market.
Developing the so called Foam-Fit system, the foaming of the spaces between the inner shoe, Martin Strolz established an almost perfect manufacturing technique.
Change provides an opportunity
Since 1990, Hannes Strolz has been the third generation to run the family business. He was also trained as an orthopedic shoemaker and then studied graphic design before joining the family business. In addition to the professional competence, also the design of the ski boots would now be developed in-house.
Despite growing competition and concentration on the part of manufacturers, he too managed to strike a balance between tradition and modernity.
Both the 100th anniversary as well as the disentanglement of Sporthaus Strolz and Strolz ski boots in 2021 were the reasons for a renewal of the product strategy and the development of an independent brand «Hannes Strolz», which is completed by the new experimental sub-brand «POP by Hannes Strolz».
Hannes Strolz guarantees with his name for the quality and excellence of his ski boots .
