A stroll through the past...

It all started with a little corner shop in Feldkirchen on the Danube in Austria, which was run by Franz and Maria Wöss. What is now the EISBÄR company really got started, however, when a travelling salesman from a textile wholesale company in Linz offered knitted goods for the shop. Franz and Maria Wöss told him that they made these themselves. Maria Wöss' father, Grandfather Klinginger, had taught himself to knit on a hand-knitting machine. Impressed, the traveling salesman invited Franz Wöss to come to Linz to show his boss samples in person. Grandfather's sweater was presented the next day, and Franz Wöss came home with an order for 200 sweaters. The only problem was that it would have taken two years to make them with the hand-knitting machine.

But Franz Wöss was not to be discouraged. From the Chamber of Commerce he obtained addresses of knitting machine manufacturers, travelled to Vienna and ordered the first automated knitting machine – which was so big that it had to be set up in the living room. The first two hundred sweaters were promptly delivered after three months.

The next step was to find a brand name: Erich Wöss, ten years old at the time, had the idea of a polar bear on cold days, and so the company got its name from the German word for polar bear: EISBÄR.

In the late 1950s Maria Wöss had an idea for beautiful, hand-embroidered ski caps. Franz Wöss, who enjoyed travelling around the world, showed the caps at the sporting goods trade fair in Wiesbaden and the new company began its first export business. The EISBÄR cap was born.

In 1966 Maria Wöss died at the age of only 48. Her son Erich, who had just finished the textile commercial academy in Vienna, had to come home. Instead of a school graduation trip, he took his first business trip to the sporting goods trade fair in Tokyo, from which he brought home an order for more than 32,000 EISBÄR caps! Toni Sailer had just sparked a veritable skiing euphoria in Japan.

Prof. Hoppichler, the Austrian king of skiing, was equally enthusiastic about the quality of the caps from Feldkirchen. Since that time, the Austrian National Ski Team has worn EISBÄR products at the World Cup and the Olympics.

Erich Wöss came home from a further trip to Japan with the idea of a ski brand cap, which he had patented. Karl Schranz wore one with the Kneissl star, Franz Klammer with the Fischer sign, and Annemarie Moser Pröll with the Atomic star. Everyone wanted to look like their ski idols then – EISBÄR made it possible.

The EISBÄR ski jacket developed in late 1970s also started out as a family story. When the three young daughters of the Wöss family objected to dragging a sweater over their lovely curls, Gitti Wöss came up with a brilliant solution: a zipper in the front, a stretch rib insert on the side. Voila! The EISBÄR jacket quickly became a hit.

When ski suits came on the market in the 80s, it meant the end of the classic ski pullover. To compensate for the shortfall in sales, headbands in wonderful colours and patterns were developed. These quickly became a MUST HAVE in every winter.

The invention of the fuzzy hair cap in 2000 was another coup. Everyone who wanted to look cool had to have a cap with colourful fuzzy hair to keep their neck and ears warm. The American TV broadcaster CBS even devoted a special TV feature to the fuzzy hair caps at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

In 2006 Erich and Gitti Wöss passed the company on to the third generation, which was already well prepared for the task. Their daughter Susanna Wöss is responsible for the collection, their son David for the entire commercial section and the organisation of the business.

The light knitted caps from EISBÄR were the third generation's response to the mild winters of recent years and became the favourite accessories of Stefan Eberharter and company.

Today with 85 employees EISBÄR produces high quality caps and sweaters in the modern knitted goods factory in Feldkirchen on the Danube. The popular EISBÄR products are supplied to leading sporting goods shops all over the world.