Völkl (or Voelkl; ) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

sports equipment Sports equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear, which varies in shapes, size, and usage in a particular sport. It includes balls, nets, rackets, protective gears like helmets, goggles, etc. Since th ...

brand, founded in 1923 in

Straubing Straubing (; Central Bavarian: ''Strauwing'') is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the Districts of Germany, district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Ba ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. The brand currently produces

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

equipment and accessories. Since 2017, the Völkl ski brand has been part of

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

-based Elevate Outdoor Collective, a snowsports company held by private equity firm

Kohlberg & Company Kohlberg, formerly known as Kohlberg & Company, L.L.C, is an American private equity firm that focuses on leveraged buyout transactions. Founded by investor Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., the firm invests in a variety of transactions including leveraged ...

. Elevate's other brands include Marker,

Dalbello Lisa Concetta Dal Bello (born 22 May 1959), also known as Dalbello, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She released three albums in the pop and pop/rock genre in her late teens, from 1977 through 1981 under her full name. In 1984, she re-e ...

, and the

K2 Sports K2 Sports, LLC, known simply as K2, is an American sporting goods company headquartered in Seattle, Washington focused primarily on winter sports equipment. K2 operates under the labels K2 Snow and K2 Skates, as well as its subsidiaries Backcou ...

group of brands. Völkl tennis racquets are produced by a separate company, Völkl Tennis, at a factory in

Bogen, Germany Bogen () is a town in the district of Straubing-Bogen in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of 10,105. Bogen is located between the southern slopes of the Bavarian Forest and the River Danube. The town lies at the foot of the Bogenberg, a hil ...

Product History

Skiing

In the 1910s, Franz Völkl began producing boats, sleds, and horse-drawn carriages under his name. His son Georg took over in 1923, producing the company's first skis. In the early 1950s, under Georg's leadership, the company became a leading European ski manufacturer. Jarden Action Sports at one time owned the Völkl and Marker brands. In 2007, Jarden acquired K2 and LINE. Jarden was acquired by Newell in 2016. Newell sold Völkl and K2 to

in 2017, leading to the creation of Elevate Outdoor Collective. Völkl produced

snowboards Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...

from 1997 until 2017. Current or recent Völkl ski racers include

Katharina Truppe Katharina Truppe (born 15 January 1996) is an Austrian FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. Born in Villach, Carinthia, she specializes in the technical events of Slalom skiing, slalom and giant slalom. Truppe made ...

, Markus Salcher, Adriana Jelinkova, Harry Laidlaw, Istok Rodes, Leona Popovic, Sam Maes, Sebastian Holzmann,

Stefano Gross Stefano "Sabo" Gross (born 4 September 1986) is a World Cup alpine ski racer from northern Italy. Born in Bozen, South Tyrol, Gross was raised in Pozza di Fassa in Trentino; he races in the technical events and specializes in the slalom. Car ...

, Reece Howden, and Stefan Luitz.

Tennis

Völkl tennis racquets were first produced in the early 1970s. Their Zebra racquet was one of the first to be made of composite materials, rather than wood. Their racquets have been used by players such as

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

Michael Stich Michael Detlef Stich (; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in ...

Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player . He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in men's singl ...

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in February 1998. Korda won ten singles titles, including the 1998 Austr ...

, Jana Novotna,

Stefanie Vögele Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA rankings, WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January ...

Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African- American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara B ...

, and

Laura Siegemund Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988) is a German professional tennis player. Siegemund reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 on 29 January 2024 and has won fourteen doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She is a three-time Gran ...

. Since 1994, the company's signature model has been the V1 Classic.

References

External links

Official website
Tennis equipment manufacturers Sporting goods manufacturers of Germany German brands Companies based in Bavaria Ski equipment manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1923 1923 establishments in Germany 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2017 mergers and acquisitions {{Germany-company-stub