One Hundred Years Of Fortitude
Nidecker Snowboards draws from a rich heritage.

What is it with woodshops and European snowboard factories? Within an hour of each other, are two different companies that both got their start in the wood business, and both may be old, but the Nidecker factory has an even older heritage. The Nidecker family has been in the woodshop and furniture business for 100 years. In fact, there have been four generations of Henri Nideckers, and each one has developed a different product for their business. The first made chariot wheels, the second ladders and bottlers, the third skis, and the fourth makes snowboards.

In October 1993, the continuous line of history almost ended when the factory burned down. But by 1994, a new, modern factory had been finished and Nidecker was back in production (and the company managed to fill all orders during the factory down-time).

Located 30 minutes outside of Geneva, in Rolle, Switzerland, the Nidecker factory sits back from the main road, and overlooks Lake Geneva and the Swiss and French Alps across the lake.

SNOWboarding Business visited the factory on its recent European trip and met with communications Director Codrin Cojanu, who showed us around the facility.

From the main road, the three-story building looks like half residential apartment and half modern office building— in fact, it’s both. The Nidecker family lives in the front, and the rest of the building is divided into open offices for design, customer service, and administrative personnel. Walking past these offices, one enters the actual factory plant.

The factory employs 75 people, and the company takes pride in the Swiss handcrafted quality of the boards. Nidecker picked up quite a few of the skilled employees several years back when the Authier Ski factory went bankrupt.

This year, these employees made between 50,000 and 60,000 snowboards, or roughly 60 percent of the boards the company sold. The rest of the boards came from OEM suppliers, including Pale. Cajanu says the company will sell 120,000 boards for the 1996–97 season. (Okay math majors: I know 60,000 boards is not 60 percent of 120,000, but that’s what he told me.)

Nidecker sells boards throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and Japan. But interestingly enough, the company has had little luck with either U.S. distribution or sales. Although nonexistent in the United States, the brand is one of the most popular in both Europe and Japan. The company believes it’s the second-largest brand in both those markets.

In contrast to many of the other European snowboard factories, Nidecker looks modern—thanks to the fact that it was recently rebuilt. The machinery and factory floor are clean and well kept. The space seems compact and slightly crowded, but no room is wasted in the manufacturing processes. There is a logical flow to the snowboard, with raw materials coming in one end and starting through the production process. Poplar woodcores are cut to size in the wood machinery room. Being the life of the board, Nidecker manufactures full-length woodcores that have precontoured tips and tails before the boards are even put into the presses.

The company has shifted most of its board constructions to cap designs. In fact, there are now only two boards in the line that utilize sidewall construction. According to Cojanu, Nidecker is using multi-directional fibers for cap edges, so the fiberglass actually wraps the woodcore.

After the boards are pressed in one of the seven double presses, they are taken to the finishing areas where the tops are silk-screened and lacquered for a glossy finish. Interestingly enough, every board is handmade, like all the products the Nidecker family has been involved with for the last 100 years. You can bet the same will be true for another 100 as well.

—John Stouffer