Word: ski
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Skis, in a way, are like vodka. Apart from the very top and bottom of the line, many brands are similar in quality; yet a special mystique makes it In to buy and use a certain one. Nowadays, from Mt. Fuji to Mt. Blanc-with many mts. in Colorado and Vermont in between-the fashionable ski is "Rossi," fond nickname for the product of Skis Rossignol, a company with headquarters in the French alpine town of Voiron. Rossignol, counting its Dynastar subsidiary, sells more than 16% of the world's skis-1.5 million of the 9 million pairs marketed...
President Laurent Boix-Vives (pronounced Bwah-veeve), now 51, started two ski-lift companies in his home region of Savoie in 1951, after serving an apprenticeship in his father's fruit and vegetable business. In 1955 he learned from a friend, Emile Allais, a former world downhill and slalom champion, of a nearly bankrupt firm, Societe Rossignol, that produced wooden spools for the textile trade and wooden skis on the side. Boix-Vives borrowed $50,000, bought the firm and laid off everyone but 27 ski makers, creating a lean, one-product shop. Allais soon devised a metal ski...
...Boix-Vives's decision to go into multinational manufacturing. Says he: "It was better to produce on location abroad so that we could become accepted. It also gave us a better knowledge of local markets." Indeed, it was the company's Vermont plant that developed a compact ski suitable for New England's thickly wooded hills; the ski has also become a hit in parts of France, Austria and Germany...
...Rossignol's 3,000 employees, 100 work full time in research and development, a proportion unique among ski makers. In their search for the "ultimate ski," the designers, together with West Germany's Bayer AG, are exploring the properties of polyurethane and compressed air. Boix-Vives is also planning a whole new product line. A dedicated schusser, he was inspired by an American study showing that 80% of his fellow skiers also play tennis. So he plans to spend $1.3 million to get Rossignol racquets into production. The racquets will be a molded mix of metal and plastic...
Harvard's season began last week at the UVM Winter Carnival where the skiers hit the slopes for the first time since the beginning of exam period. Harvard skiers only practice on weekends, unlike their opponents, who ski every...