Ski Boots – A Graubündner Invention?

It is well known that Davos has played a significant role in the emergence and development of winter tourism, both in Switzerland and globally. However, not everyone knows that the world’s first ski boots were invented in Davos nearly 150 years ago!

In the late 19th century, Davos was primarily known as a health resort for tuberculosis patients. In 1883, however, a new phenomenon appeared on the slopes of the Prättigau: skis. In that same year, a shoemaker by the name of Franz Heierling opened a workshop in Davos. This coincidence turned out to be a stroke of good fortune. Over the years, Davos became well-known as a ski resort, and the Heierling Shoemaker's Workshop began crafting the first ski boots entirely by hand. These solid, robust boots attracted the attention of internationally acclaimed skiers, such as Walter Prager. However, Heierling boots only truly became successful during the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, when many athletes wore them.

The production of handcrafted boots continued until 1965, when the company decided to launch a second, cheaper, mass-produced line of ski boots for the general public. Over the years, the models and materials were further refined, and in 1983, exactly one century after the founding of the Heierling boot factory, the company reached its peak with an annual production of over 100,000 pairs of ski boots. Although fierce competition in the market during the 1990s led to the takeover of Heierling by Salomon, the story did not end there. Today, Hans Martin Heierling, the fourth generation of the family, has opened a centre for measuring and fitting ski boots at the original site of the Heierling bootmaking workshop in Davos, and has resumed the production of made-to-measure ski boots. Thus, the Heierling brand has been revived, continuing a tradition that is more than 140 years old.