Salewa · Italy
Founded in Munich in 1935 and relocated to Bolzano in 1990, Salewa operates from South Tyrol under the Oberalp Group, a company that has always been owned and led by the Oberrauch family. Design and product development happen in Bolzano.
The name is just an acronym. SAttler und LEder WAren, saddlers and leather goods, coined in a Munich workshop back in 1935. Nobody there imagined it would end up on the backs of people scaling the Dolomites.
Fast forward to 1990. Heiner Oberrauch buys the company, moves it to Bolzano, and builds his Oberalp Group around it. Design and testing still happen right there, in South Tyrol, close enough to the mountains that “testing gear” often just means going for a hike.
Here’s the detail that makes Salewa stand out. Salewa buys and spins the wool of the Villnösser Brillenschaf, a local sheep breed with dark rings around its eyes that make it look like it’s wearing glasses. It is South Tyrol’s oldest sheep breed and an endangered one, and more than 50 farmers breed it.
Where it is made: Salewa designs and develops its products in Bolzano, but it does not make them all in Europe. According to the Oberalp Group’s 2024 Social Report, the group’s textile production took place in 18 countries, including China and Vietnam as well as European countries such as Romania. About 40 percent of Salewa’s shoes come from a factory in Romania that the Oberalp Group bought in 2022. Salewa is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, a group that works for fair labour conditions in the garment industry.
Learn more about Salewa in South Tyrol: https://www.salewa.com/made-in-south-tyrol
