Salewa mountain sports equipment

Salewa is a premier international brand specializing in technical mountain sports equipment, including apparel, footwear, and hardware. The brand's name is an acronym derived from the German words for saddlery and leather goods (Sattler und Leder-Waren), reflecting its 1935 origins in Munich as a manufacturer of leather harnesses and saddles. Over the decades, it transitioned into a pioneer of alpine gear, inventing revolutionary tools like the tubular ice screw and adjustable crampons.

In 1990, Salewa was acquired by the South Tyrolean entrepreneur Heiner Oberrauch and integrated into the Oberalp Group. This move shifted the brand's heart and headquarters to Bolzano, Italy, in the Dolomites. While the products are engineered and designed in the Dolomites, manufacturing takes place across multiple countries globally to leverage specialized expertise, with footwear often produced in specialized factories and certain apparel lines utilizing regional materials like South Tyrolean wool. The brand remains a family-owned entity under the Oberalp Group, which is committed to sustainability and high-performance alpine innovation.