NORDICA

 In 1939, after years of experience as traders in hides, the brothers Adriano and Oddone Vaccari founded "Nordica" in Montebelluna, making casual footwear. In the after-war years, Nordica specialized in ski boots, although continuing to supply the market with cross-country ski shoes and climbing boots. Work was still seasonal and the equipment manual.

In 1950 Zeno Colò gave his name to a Nordica ski boot and to a revolutionary lining designed by Colmar.

Zeno became World Champion with Nordica both in the downhill and the giant slalom of the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, Colorado, and gave his name to a ski boot made by the company in Trevignano.

The sixties saw radical transformations: 1963 marked the introduction of the buckle, a fastening system conceived in Austria and applied for the first time in Italy by Nordica.

1968 was a crucial year with regard to company technical decisions, which would affect the future and the size of Nordica: the leather upper of the traditional models was plastic-coated externally using polyurethane or PVC and the cuff was raised.

The great innovation of that year, however, was the all-polyurethane ski boot; specific molds (one for the right boot and one for the left) and injection presses were developed.

Nordica set up its first affiliate in the United States, which was the result of an agreement between Nordica and Rossignol. Other affiliates were opened in Austria, Japan, Switzerland, France, and German Nordica at that time covered 30% of the world production, with an output of 2,000,000 pairs of boots/shoes a year.