The company, which owns Salewa, Dynafit and Silvretta, and represents many foreign brands in Italy, has asked eight studios in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France to present their ideas for a new head office that will accommodate the company’s expanded staff of 150 people in 2009.

Somewhat like the planned new head office of Rossignol at the foot of the French Alps, the new headquarters of Oberalp will be sited in Bolzano/Bozen near the highway leading to the Brenner pass into Austria, and it will symbolize the company’s “mountain culture.” Oberalp presented the new project last month in connection with the first edition of Sportitaly, the new Italian trade fair in Bolzano, which it wants to turn into “Europe’s mountain capital.”

Founded by Heiner Oberrauch in 1981, Oberalp has been growing at an average annual rate of between 10 and 20 percent annually in recent years excluding acquisitions. The company reached a turnover of €131 million in 2006 and is set to grow to €180 million in four years’ time.

Aside from its three house brands, which are developing nicely, Oberalp has the distribution in Italy of brands such as Löffler, Luhta and IcePeak, Barts, Hamax, Timezone, F2, Deeluxe, DXL, JP Australia and Kari Trar. It recently introduced the American Armada brand of free-style skis and accessories.

Oberalp is one of the holdings of the Oberrauch family along with vinyards, apple farms and restaurants. The family also owns Oberrauch Zitt, a major manufacturer and retailer of Tyrolean loden clothing, and Sportler, one of the leading chains of sporting goods stores in Italy. Together they generate estimated annual sales of nearly €400 million.

Run by Heiner’s brother, Georg Oberrauch, Sportler has 17 stores in Italy. Their sales increased to around €80 million in 2006. Sportler is opening a new mountain shop in Kufstein, Austria. The biggest store within the chain is scheduled to open its doors in Treviso next year, measuring 6,000 square meters. Together they will have the same surface as Sportler’s two main stores in Bolzano combined, whose product assortment is complementary.