Boards for the Olympics – China’s national team likes Swiss snowboards – News

The Winter Olympics are approaching. Not only athletes will be starting from Switzerland, but also, among other things, skis and snowboards from the Oxess company. So the national team of China relies on their boards – and Oxess on the Chinese market.

A small company in the Zurich Oberland is one of the world leaders. She equips international snowboard pros. At the last Olympic Winter Games, athletes won nine medals with Oxess boards under their feet. Above all, the Swiss alpine snowboarder Nevin Galmarini with Olympic gold, but also twice silver and the bronze of the Chinese ski acrobats. A number of World Cup winners and world champions also glided on Swiss skis.

The success story was founded by the 52-year-old carpenter Marcel Brunner. In 1993 he founded the company and has been building tailor-made snow boards ever since. Before that, he had been working on homemade snowboards for a few years. His previous work on Sauber’s Formula 1 team helped him create his own racing gear from wood core, fiberglass and carbon fibre.

The company is still small with six employees. Corona had slowed down the business. In addition to various other professionals, Oxess has also been equipping the Chinese national team of ski acrobats and snowboarders for a few years. This has also boosted demand from private customers in China. Winter sports are booming there, state-sponsored with millions in investments.

The important thing is that in the future they will promote our label and it will be seen in China.

“The most important thing is that they advertise for us and not that I earn a lot of money from the few boards that I sell there. The future is important: that they promote our label and that it is seen in China,” says Marcel Brunner.

Chinese investor on board

The conditions for the Chinese professional drivers have recently been difficult. You couldn’t travel to competitions abroad for a long time because of Covid. Many were in quarantine.

But the collaboration is worth it: Marcel Brunner now makes a third of his sales with China. And he wants to focus even more on the rapidly growing ski and snowboard market there, together with a strategic investor from China.

It is very difficult to gain a foothold in China, says Brunner: “I’ve learned a lot in recent years, but in order to really get into it, I need a partner there who will help and support me there and who knows a lot about the market knows better than I do.”

Don’t be afraid of copies

Brunner isn’t afraid that the Chinese will soon be building his own boards more cheaply: the hand-made series that are in demand are too small. The Chinese are therefore not interested in the business – at least not yet.

In China, Oxess sells its racing and freeriding boards to private customers through distribution partners: in shops in the Olympic area and in Beijing. “The Chinese market will grow year after year,” says importer Han Xiaodong. “Marcel told me he could increase his production so that we have enough of his boards for China.” She wants to sell up to 400 of his skis and snowboards annually in the future.

Sport vs Politics

Some states are boycotting the Olympics in China over human rights violations in the country. When asked about this, Brunner expressed reservations. He was probably the wrong person for these questions. It is extremely important for the athletes to be able to take part in the games. If a state boycotts them, it will certainly be very hard for the athletes, says Brunner. “But of course I understand that, there are certainly reasons why you couldn’t find it good.” He is rooting for his athletes who want to go.

Marcel Brunner is banking on China, and China is banking on him. It remains to be seen whether the calculation will work out.