Ski Clothing by Goldwin
Another ski clothing brand that isn't very well known in the UK, Goldwin
is a Japanese company that is much more popular overseas, not just in Japan
and the far east but also the United States and some of the European countries, particularly
Italy, where it seems as common place on the slopes as some of the big European brands.
It may sound a bit like an East-European gambling website, but Goldwin's range
of ski gear and close links with the ski-racing industry make it a highly-respected, quality brand.
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The company was formed in December 1951 by Tosaku Nishida who founded
a knitting and clothing company "Tsuzawa Knit Manufactory" in his native Japan.
By the late 50's were manufactring basic ski gear such as socks and ski sweaters.
In 1963, a year before Japan hosted the International Games in Tokyo,
"Tsuzawa Knit Manufactory" changed it's name to the slightly more catchy "Goldwin",
the hope being that the countrys sportsmen and women would wear it's gear, be
victorious in their events and become "gold winners", hence the name.
It certainly seemed to work, out of 16 home gold's, 12 were won by athletes
decked out by Goldwin.
Mid 60's produced windproof sweater named, "Perfect Sweater".
1968 Develops woven skiwear.
By the 1970s
GOLDWIN had become one of the largest manufacturers of sporting apparel in
Japan.
and were being used in competitive ski racing in the country's leading
resorts such as Sapporo.
Mids 1970s was expanding abroad, exhibiting at the ISPO for the first time.
In the last 40 years GOLDWIN has sponsored many sporting events and sportsmen.
As well as manufacturing it's own clothing GOLDWIN has introduced many famous
foreign brands by license to the country, and has had close ties to the likes of
Ellesse, The North Face, Helly Hansen, Fischer to name but a few.
The company has grown in size to such an extents that it is now listed on the primary
Japanese stock market exchange.
1990s and since turn of century has seen Goldwin work closely to develop products
specifically designed for particular skiing
events and techniques such as ski-cross, moguls, carving, free-riding
Sponsors Junior races for the 1st time.
Along with the like of Spyder, Colmar etc, Goldwin is a brand that is fully
committed to ski-racing as well as recreational skiing.
It's been the official supplier to not only the Japanese alpine team, but also
a long association with the Swedes, dating right back to Ingemar Stenmark in the late 1980s.
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In our eyes, Goldwin produce ski jackets that give a bit of a nod and wink back to the olden days, wilth multi-colours, panels and stripes.
Not in a corny, or cheesy 80s way, but a more modern version of this style, what many old-skool skiers like to think of as proper-looking ski attire.
A bit like the jackets you often see on ski instructors. Quite similar in style to Colmar, which is possibly why it's
so popular in Italy.
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Ever since it's early days back in the 1950s and 1960s, Goldwin has placed a strong emphasis
on using high quality materials and striving for technological advances
in both materials and product design. The company has a big technical centre based
in Toyama, and with a high investment in researching and developing it's clothing,
Goldwin continues to get great feedback from it;s customers.
All this dedication and development gives it a great name amongst serious skiers,
which has a knock on effect that lesser skiers want it to make them look serious by
association !
specialised in thermal technology, windproof and stretch materials
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With Goldwin jackets and pants being so hard to come across in the UK it;s hard to give you an exact price, but you are basically looking at
around 300 pounds for pants and around 400 pounds for a jacket. This ties in with the sort of prices you'd pay in Europe, where
we;ve seen a lot of their jackets around the 400-500 euro mark.
When some of Goldwin's stuff has magically appeared at TK Maxx (albeit the previous season's gear) it's been half these sort of prices.
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SnowKings is aware that Goldwin gear has been available at the following Online Ski and Snow Shops:
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Keywords:
: ski and snow gear
: what are the top ski gear manufacturers in Japan
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: information about professional ski gear in the far east