The first skis were manufactured in Switzerland in around 1900, mostly by carpenters and wainwrights (such as the ski brands Alpstein, Säntis, and Toggenburg). Over the course of the last 100 years, more than 95 wainwrights began producing skis. Around 30 Swiss ski brands emerged which could also be purchased abroad. The most well-known of these were: Streule, Attenhofer, Schwendener and Authier. Since then, all of these have disappeared from the market.

Domestic ski sales have sharply declined in recent years. The main reason for this is climate change and the ever-shorter winters, but also massive price pressure from foreign suppliers and major distributors. Where half a million pairs of skis were sold in Switzerland in the mid-80s, only 191,000 were sold in the 2018/19 season.

Of the skis sold in Switzerland today, only around one fifth are made by Swiss manufacturers, of which the majority – approximately 60,000 pairs of skis – can be attributed to the ski company Stöckli, which was founded in Malters, Lucerne in 1935. The reason for the company’s success was their decision to switch from selling their products in sports shops to distributing them directly as early as 1967. Nowadays in Switzerland, Stöckli skis are only available from 11 Stöckli stores and 60 partner shops (2020). This gives Stöckli a 14-per-cent share of the Swiss market. The market leader is Head, followed by Atomic and Rossignol (2019). Nevertheless, in addition to the Stöckli brand, which has also gained a foothold in the Ski World Cup, there are other Swiss ski and snowboard brands.

For decades now, some small producers have enjoyed an uncontested market in luxury skis. Famous examples include Zai based in Vicosoprano in the Grisons, Kessler based in Schwanden in Glarus, AK Ski based in Stansstaad and RTC Ski based in Valais. Yet more surprising, however, is that new Swiss skiing products have been entering the market in recent years. There are manufacturers, for example, who specialise in wooden skis. Among them are Swiss Massiv based in Doppleschwand in Lucerne, Earlybird based in Bern and Timbaer based in Appenzell. There are also a few manufacturers who make custom or personalised skis, such as Enskineering based in Riken in Aargau, Craftski based in Goldau in Schwyz, and enlain based in Laax in the Grisons. Still others produce smaller series that focus on individual segments of the skiing market, such as MOVEMENT based in Puidoux in Vaud who specialise in freeskiing, Earlybird based in Bern who specialise in ski touring, and Oxess based in Bubikon in Zurich who specialise in aerial skiing. For the most part, these companies manufacture their products in Switzerland with very few employees and sell a production run of no more than a few hundred pairs of skis per season. In addition to skis, many of these manufacturers also sell their own components, especially their own bindings, as well as models tailored to the customer’s size, weight and skiing style.