Munich Heiner Oberrauch was 19 when he opened his first sports shop. The South Tyrolean is now 64 – and he still enjoys new projects: these days he is often on his farm on the Renon, a mountain ridge not far from his home town of Bolzano.
This is a blessing for his daughter Ruth Oberrauch, 36. Because in this way she can increasingly take on a leadership role in the family-owned sports group Oberalp. The father has a lot of confidence in his daughter: In the past two and a half years Ruth has been able to develop “La Munt”, a new sports label especially for women.
La Munt is the Ladin name for mountain. Ladin is a group of Romance dialects that are spoken in several alpine valleys of northern Italy. The first clothing collection will hit stores next spring.
“It will one day be the most valuable brand in our group,” predicts Heiner Oberrauch. That means something, because Oberalp includes well-known names such as Salewa and Dynafit.
However, the entrepreneur has not yet transferred the top position at Oberalp to his daughter – and that will probably not happen anytime soon. The CEO has been Christoph Engl, a salaried manager, for a good three years. The reason: Oberrauch believes that he has had good experiences with non-family bosses.
Daughter Ruth will have the last word in the future
Nevertheless, Ruth will have a lot more to say in the future than before. She will take over from her father at the helm of the board in the not too distant future. She will not have to worry about day-to-day business in the position, but will have the last word in the widely ramified group.
Like the Oberrauchs, the Italian competitor Tecnica has been doing it for years, which includes the Bavarian hiking boot brand Lowa and the Austrian ski manufacturer Blizzard. The offspring of the owner family, Alberto Zanatta, has final say as president. Operational management, however, lies with non-family management.
In fact, it is a demanding and time-consuming task to run sports companies like Tecnica or Oberalp. This is mainly due to the fact that the owners have taken over numerous different brands and factories over the years. It is not so easy to keep track of things.
Heiner Oberrauch has been the owner of the traditional outdoor label Salewa, which was founded in Munich, for more than 30 years. He also owns the Bavarian ski touring outfitter Dynafit, Pomoca, a Swiss manufacturer of adhesive ski skins, Wild Country, a British rock climbing specialist and the climbing shoe label Evolv. In addition, there is the sports retail chain Sportler and the online outdoor mail order company Bergzeit from the Munich area.
The entrepreneur also runs museums, a textile and shoe factory and fashion stores. He also owns a castle above the South Tyrolean capital Bozen, has his own wineries and a cheese dairy.
The company’s headquarters in Bolzano are characterized by modern climbing architecture.
(Photo: Oberalp)
Oberrauch is an entrepreneur with rough edges: Whatever he does, it usually has to do either with the mountains or with his beloved homeland. Ideally, the busy father of three children combines both: Then he writes a book about the best tobogganing areas in the region. For the inauguration of his headquarters in Bolzano at the beginning of the decade, Oberrauch rappelled spectacularly from the roof.
People are drawn to nature
In its core sport business, the Oberalp Group achieved sales of 235 million euros last year. In 2021 sales will have shot up to 290 million euros, says Heiner Oberrauch. Like many competitors, the company with its 700 employees could not deliver as much as the dealers ordered: “We are sold out,” emphasizes Oberrauch. Next year, the income should then climb to 350 million euros.
The entire outdoor industry is doing better than it has been in a long time. The corona pandemic drives people into nature – and for this they stock up on equipment. “Consumers have more money available, they travel less,” says Thomas Gröger, head of the Bavarian mountain boot specialist Hanwag. Nothing will change that quickly. Gröger: “It looks very, very good for the next six months.”
So things couldn’t go any better, and yet Ruth Oberrauch is thinking about how things should go on in the long term. The mother of two believes that the group will no longer just offer products, but additional services. “People want to identify with a community,” says the entrepreneur. The company could soon also borrow clothes and equipment, run a washing service for technical textiles, offer training courses or sell healthy food.
But the equipment itself should also change. “The most important contribution to sustainability is renunciation. Long-lasting products come straight after, ”says Ruth Oberrauch. She envisions that her company’s rain jackets or ski pants will soon be worn by three or four generations of children.
Spectacular new building in Kiefersfelden
Heiner’s father reckons it will take three to four years before the youngest brand in the group, “La Munt”, is really well known among women who are enthusiastic about mountain sports. “The start was brilliant,” he says – although the goods are not even on the shelves. But some of the best sports retailers in Germany such as Sport Conrad in Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Sport Schuster in Munich would soon be offering the collection.
Even if Heiner Oberrauch withdraws more and more and hands it over to his daughter: For decades, travelers on both sides of the Brenner will not be able to overlook his legacy. The entrepreneur is currently building a spectacular new building for 20 million euros in Kiefersfelden, Upper Bavaria, directly on the motorway towards Italy. Two 30-meter-high, snow-white wedges will in future accommodate 100 employees of his Bavarian ski touring brand Dynafit.
Beyond the main Alpine ridge, the multi-entrepreneur built a sensational complex for 40 million euros at the beginning of the last decade. Immediately adjacent to the Brenner motorway in Bolzano, its headquarters towers mightily behind a greyish-black facade. A building like a spaceship that really stands out among the South Tyrolean apple orchards.
The new building in southern Bavaria should now be the counterpart to this. It could also be the parting gift for his workforce.
More: The “hiking boots Dasslers”: Hanwag wants to catch up with Lowa with new soles