Mammut acquires Raichle footwear as it plans U.S. expansion

After months of negotiations — and rumors about the acquisition swirling since last spring — Mammut announced it has acquired the Raichle outdoor footwear division from Kneissl & Friends.

Mammut CEO Rolf Schmid told SNEWS that the brand is ideal for rounding out the offerings by Mammut and its companies (Ajungilak, Toko and Climb High) and in fact was the only one that satisfied what Mammut always imagined as the best footwear compliment to its brands.

“Swiss branding, ideal size, highly recognizable name worldwide, restructuring now finished, and a good and tight line,” Schmid summed up for SNEWS.

“In the USA, we now want as a group to establish our brands and to expand our distribution,” Schmid said.

Klaus Brandstaetter of Austrian Kneissl & Friends will continue without Raichle. He told SNEWS he just founded Dee Luxe snowboard shoe company as of Dec. 1, 2002, for which he will be CEO. Kneissl will continue as a niche company with only about 15,000 products (high-end and racing models) made each year, he said.

Mammut, which belongs to Conzetta Holdings AG, will take over the Raichle brand officially as of April 1. The acquisition includes all proprietary rights, customers, suppliers, part of the assets, and all employees in development, design and marketing. Raichle was founded in 1909 in Switzerland and was taken over by Kneissl in 1995.