Lange is part of the Rossignol group, one of the best-known names in ski manufacturing and also one of the oldest, with a century of history behind it.
The company has grown to supply its equipment worldwide, including to World Cup and Olympic racers, and has grown to become a global giant with a €220m turnover.
InTheSnow was lucky enough to enjoy a tour of Lange’s large manufacturing, design and R&D facility in Italy recently to see where the innovations for the latest ski boots are tested and perfected.
Concepts are tried out here following input from racers, free riders and retailers. All the hard work paid off at the Sochi Olympics last year when the company’s athletes were awarded more medals than any other boot brand, including five golds and a clean sweep on the women’s downhill podium.
Throughout the factory there is a constant impression of the level of professionalism and overall quality and care that goes into ski boot production. The research and development labs offer state-of-the-art 3D digital scanning equipment and 3D printers that together can produce a prototype for a custom-fit ski boot within hours.
For racers getting purpose-designed boots the process begins with a full 3D digital scan of the racer’s foot, which is fed into the CAD software. From there, the 3D printer can produce a mould of a new boot inner that is ready for prototype production in an extremely cost-effective and time-efficient manner.
2015 sees the release of Lange’s new “WTR” (walk to ride) technology which we’ll all be seeing from many major boot manufacturers. The concept is set to be a new standard in ski boot manufacturing and is being hyped as “the biggest revolution in ski boot manufacturing for 100 years”. Essentially it means that ski boots will be easier to walk in, but WTR-compatible bindings are also required for the full setup.
In the Rossignol and Lange collection, the hike and ride range, Altrack and the new XT are WTR compatible. The Lange XT 130 will come with an extra set of soles which can be swapped to meet the different binding set ups that riders may have allowing skiers to use either alpine norm bindings or when they change bindings a fully WTR compatible set up.
