OUR STORY
In the Twenties Thirties and Forties, Narciso Delladio hand-crafted wooden clogs and leather boots for many lumber-jacks and farmers of the Fassa and Fiemme valleys, who trusted his skilled hands.
Very important is the date of a participation certificate at the Milan Trade Fair in 1928.
During the Second World War, Delladio custom produced mountain boots that were supplied to the Army. Dating back to this period is a patent for a special lacing system, that later will be used by the most important footwear factories.
After the war, the demand for boots increased, obliging Narciso to hire new workers:
the good name of "Calzoleria Sportiva" crossed the boarders of the valleys and reached the cities of Trento and Bolzano.
In the Fifties, his son Francesco began to work for the company, and by doing the right thing at the right time he started building a new workshop on the outskirts of Tesero, where today is located a large industrial area. In the new and roomy biulding they began to design and develop ski boots, for a fast growing sport, requiring more technical boots.
The market opened up quickly and Francesco Delladio introduced the brand name "La Sportiva" firstly in the Milan Exhibition, then throughout Europe, with a winter collection characterised by audacious technical and aesthetic solutions, and a summer collection of traditional mountain boots.
In the Seventies, with the arrival of plastic boots, "La Sportiva", after a trial season, had to discontinue the production of ski boots, for financial reasons; the investment would have been too high and therefore the production was limited to mountain boots and cross-country skiing footwear.
In the meantime the sons of Francesco began to work in the company: Lorenzo, Luciano, Marco. The desire to create, to stand out and to make a name for oneself in an ever increasing market is a characteristic present in the Delladio family.
During the Eighties the focus of the firm moves towards the climbing sector due to an intuition which will prove to be a winner. An innovative shoe characterised by the colours purple and yellow was devised and produced to become the forerunner of a long series of avant-garde products, which very quickly will seal the success of the brand name world wide.
The footwear manufacturer "La Sportiva" became a Ltd Co, owned exclusively by the Delladio family; very courageous technical and commercial solutions were studied and evaluated, that were optimised in a short time.
1991
50% of the firm’s independent distribution “La Sportiva France” is acquired and this allows for an increase in the penetration and control of the French market, considered fundamentally important.
1995
With the same spirit, the Delladio family realised that the factory in Tesero was too small to cope with the ever increasing worldwide demand, and they decided to build a new,larger and more functional factory. So in
1996
In September the Company moved into its new and modern factory located in Ziano, at the foot of the Trient Dolomites, in the North-Eastern part of Italy.
1997
The new facility in Ziano confirmed the expectations of the Delladio family. The turnover was growing and the sales rose by 13% over the previous year.
The productivity of the Company continued to be excellent. Export confirmed to be higher than 75%. During 1997 Luciano left the family company.
The objective of Quality System Certification is attained according to the Uni Iso 9002 norms
1998
On June 30th an agreement has been signed between the Companies "La Sportiva" and "The North Face". This agreement provide for the immediate acquisition of 20% of "La Sportiva" stock by the American Company. During the next 3 to 5 years "The North Face" will acquire a further 31% of it. With a similar operation the independent Company "La Sportiva USA " has been sold to "The North Face", which this way has got the rights of exclusive distribution of the brand "La Sportiva" in North America
2000
The awaited technical/commercial support, expected after the fusion with "The North Face" didn't work because of continuous changes of top managers in various Research and Development American Departments. At this point the Delladio family didn't have the same people, with whom the agreement had been signed in June 1998, as interlocutors any more and at the same time they didn't share the new strategies of "The North Face". Therefore they felt that the best solution would be to ask for a cancellation of the agreement. After a careful evaluation of the situation "The North Face" has accepted it and now La Sportiva will proceed with the draft of the corresponding documents. The end of the operation of "La Sportiva" purchasing back the shares from "The North Face" is expected within the end of January 2000.
2002
The increasing demand for technical mountain products, with La Sportiva logo, was a reason for the owners to decide to invest in new spaces, in new machineries and additional employees. Consequently a new building has been purchased, and then connected with the existing structure by an underground tunnel.
State-of-the-art machineries have been acquired. Several new employees have been hired. Mister Lanfranco Brugnoli, a person with great administrative experience, has become part of the organization, and he has been appointed Administrative and Financial Director.
2003
We must point out the big commitment that was undertaken to convert the old system UNI EN ISO 9002: 1994 with the new updated UNI EN ISO 9001: 2000, integrating it all with the Environmental Management System UNI EN ISO 14001.
The final inspection conducted by the certifying Body DNV is expected within February 2003. This engagement, unique worldwide until today in the shoe manufacturing / outdoor sector, demonstrates the commitment of "La Sportiva" for issues regarding both Quality and environmental impact and respect.
2005
Two difficult years for the entire market world wide.
Two years during which „la sportiva” reacted with courage and determination maintaining their sales figures in every single country and in some cases even increasing them.
The increased sales turnover was 6% compared to 2003, a result which satisfies the management, even if the initial aim was higher, but the worldwide, negative events which occurred during this two year period, did not permit the predicted growth.
Large investments are foreseen for the year 2006 for research and development and marketing. These two projects will definitely bring an increase in sales with the consequent increase of internal personnel, benefiting local employment.
Ziano di Fiemme, January 2006.
PRESS RELEASE JANUARY 17,2006
BOULDER, CO, January 17, 2006 – La Sportiva, a leader in outdoor footwear, announced that its North American distribution operations have become part of La Sportiva’s unified global distribution consortium. As of January 1, 2006, La Sportiva S.p.A., the Italian parent company and manufacturer, and La Sportiva N.A., Incorporated merged in a cooperative effort to support La Sportiva’s brand strength with their customers who continue to benefit from their expertise in mountain specialty products delivered with the quality and innovation that are the trademarks of the La Sportiva brand.
La Sportiva N.A. announced a 30-percent growth in preseason sales from S05 to S06 with a considerable spike in the trail running category. What’s more, the Leisure Trends Group recently reported that La Sportiva dominated the U.S. climbing shoe market in 2005 with over 35-percent overall market share and a staggering 65-percent market share for price points over $100 for ten month sales from January 2005 through October 2005. La Sportiva continues to clearly dominate the mountaineering boot segment with a 65-percent market share for the same period. The success the brand is having in the North American market drew the attention of La Sportiva Italy and translated into the new partnership structure.
By aligning the North American operations with the global brand, the company will achieve considerable synergies in its marketing, product line management, R&D, and finance operations. New access to expanded resources from the Italian parent company is expected to fuel exponential growth in the coming years. The La Sportiva N.A. operations recently restructured its research and development functions to sharpen its focus on trail running and light hiking markets.
The move happened at the right time, says Colin Lantz, President of La Sportiva NA. “After our most successful year and with anticipated continued growth, our new partnership with La Sportiva Italy will enable us to offer our dealers the enterprise level of support we’ve always dreamed of offering,” Lantz said. “This is a very exciting turning point for us. Our goal for the last decade had been to reach competitive parity in off-shore product development with some of the big hitters in this industry. Having attained this we are now setting our sites on providing the highest caliber sell through support this industry has ever seen. We are fulfilling the promise that our dealers have seen in us all of these years. It’s happening!”
La Sportiva NA’s web presence, formerly www.sportiva.com, is now changed to www.lasportiva.com, which reflects the global La Sportiva presence.
2006
Many operations are consolidated:
- The research and development department was enriched with new techniques.
- Large investments in machinery and technology were made in the production area.
- New staff was recruited to the benefit of local employment levels.
- An internal marketing department was created with two people responsible for communication and public relations.
- The commercial sector was completely revised and strengthened with the introduction of two staff members with wide experience of the outdoor world: an export sales manager and a sales director for Italy and bordering countries.
- The sales turnover increased considerably.
- The export quota reached a figure close to 80%.
2007
The year closes with a higher-than-projected sales growth rate.
Exports consolidate at around 80%
The new sales staff give fresh impetus to business and with the support of the marketing department are able to meet and exceed sales targets without compromising profit margins.
The R&D department work in an exemplary manner and the new products arouse the client’s interest and admiration.
New products like Solution (climbing) and Fireblade (Mountain Running) receive important recognition from prestigious specialist magazines.
Production numbers continue to increase with the aim of satisfying market demands, while at the same time guaranteeing the highest qualitative standards.
La Sportiva’s climbing team reaches new heights: victory goes to Patxi Usobiaga in the World Cup Difficulty and to Kilian Fischhuber in the World Cup Bouldering. Further success comes from the world of Mountain Running with first place in the Italian championship awarded to Fulvio Dapit.
2008 (January)
1928-2008: 80th anniversary !
It will be a year to celebrate the company’s 80th anniversary A line-up of special, exciting events are in store.
The birth of a new project concerning a different market sector
The signing of an important business agreement by which La Sportive becomes the exclusive european importer of the Canadian technical clothing line “Blurr”
2009
Regardless of the global financial crisis, our company has responded swiftly and positively to the adverse conditions.
The implementation of a series of effective sales and marketing strategies assured that La Sportiva “closed” the 2009 financial year with a positive operating result and an increase in turnover of 14%.
Our new mountaineering products contributed to this success by gaining leadership position in their specific product categories. In particular the new carbon and titanium, ski mountaineering boot Stratos has allowed the company to enter the ski mountaineering sector as market leader.
The Canadian brand “Blurr” has been introduced to the outdoor market through leading European outdoor retailers.
2010
Growth in sales continues: turnover has increased 15% compared to last year, in contrast to global economic trends. The company leaders believe in investment and have therefore been able to provide the sales-force with a new, innovative and uniquely avant-garde collection.
A new collaboration with the Korean multinational electronics company “Samsung” has begun. This is the start of a strategic plan which, within a year, will lead to the creation of a new collection of technical outdoor clothing.
This collection will accompany the existing ski and mountaineering range of plastic boots designed to complete the ski range launched last year, including the carbon boot “Stratos” and a state-of-the-art range of technical skis , bindings and accessories.
To meet the needs of this new product expansion, the company has acquired new work space. The finished products warehouse has been doubled and work has begun to build a new accommodation to house the sales and marketing offices. The company has also made important investments in consideration of environmental impact: new active carbon air filters have been installed and the proportion of product recycling has been further increased.
2011 (JULY)
After the first six months, the outdoor market is showing very encouraging signs for the future.
The company is working hard towards the completion of a winter clothing line to present at ISPO 2012.
Work continues on the construction of a new building with photovoltaic panels on the roof.
In April this year, a new company was founded - “ Fujan La Sportiva” - in collaboration with our Chinese producer who has worked with our company for the past 12 years on the production of a mountain running line. This main objective of this enterprise is to provide a better service to the Chinese market. Further info on: http://www.lasportiva.com/magazine/?p=1231&lang=en
