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Alpina is a high-quality footwear brand and an icon of Slovenian shoemaking. In Žiri, a small town surrounded by hills, the shoemaking trade was developed hundreds of years ago. The shoemaking factory established in 1947 merely continued this tradition.

Today, the company Alpina is strongly development-oriented and sees its competitive advantage in the long-standing tradition and continuous development of new technological solutions. Alpina knows how to include these in the design of top-notch products. For its "lifestyle" segment, Alpina collaborates with the renowned Slovenian fashion studio Draž fo its collection Alpina Draž. Alpina's cross-country ski boots have been awarded the Red Dot Award four times. Alpina also designed the first eco cross-country ski boot in the world, which is almost completely degradable.

  • Alpina Draz

    Alpina Draž collection. Photo: Alpina archives

The story of Alpina footwear in competitive sports began in Sarajevo in 1984 when representatives from the Alpina factory in Žiri first attended the Winter Olympic Games, along with skiers from the Yugoslav national team. Afterwards, Alpina invested heavily in development, which paid off – at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, Alpina equipped competitors in three disciplines, i.e. Alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing. The first Olympic gold for Alpina was won by Norwegian Thomas Alsgaard. Since then, Alpina's competitors have returned from the Olympics with numerous medals and at the 2014 Sochi Olympics competitors in Alpina footwear won 35 Olympic medals.

Breakthrough products  

This year, Alpina placed the “I Feel Slovenia” hiking boot on the market as a tribute to the Slovenian hiking and mountaineering tradition. The company can also pride itself on excellent technological solutions regarding cross-country ski boots for competition. The boots are not only technologically perfected, but also neatly designed. Many world-class competitors wear them and win numerous medals at the Olympics and World Championships in them. Today, Alpina equips world-class cross-country skiers and biathletes with skiing boots (e.g. Charlotte Kalla, Linn Svahn, Jonna Sundling, Dominik Landertinger, Benjamin Wagner and others).

  • i feel slovenia alpina 8 vel

    Alpina placed the “I Feel Slovenia” hiking boot on the market as a tribute to the Slovenian hiking and mountaineering tradition. Photo: Alpina archives

Their breakthrough solution with which they became an ambassador of the Slovenian economy is the Elite 3.0 footwear for cross-country skiers and biathletes, which was created on the basis of Alpina's own expertise and design development.

It is a boot with a revolutionary, breathable upper that is extremely light and comfortably elastic. It allows air to circulate and keeps the athlete’s foot dry. Thanks to the carbon technology, the boot causes no unnecessary pressure on the heel and completely adapts to different foot types and shapes. The technological advancement makes it possible for the carbon fibres injected into more flexible materials to ensure boot strength and at the same time help reduce weight, as lighter materials can be used.

The World Cup athletes are impressed with the boot, and rightly so. The boot is also completely PVC-free. Alpina replaced the material with solutions that are more environmentally friendly.

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Author: Polona Prešeren

Date: 3. June 2020

Time to read: 3 min