From leisurely hikes to extreme tours: hiking is a popular sport.

According to Statista, a good 40 million Germans aged 14 and over pursue this leisure activity.

The hiking industry is booming.

You can find hiking apps as well as outdoor magazines on the market.

There are also more and more quality and premium hiking trails.

Hiking shoe manufacturers are also clearly feeling this trend.

Lowa GmbH from the Bavarian town of Jetzendorf near Munich recognized him early on.

"A few years after the mountain regions were gradually opened up for tourism in the 1950s, hiking became a real popular sport," says Managing Director Alexander Nicolai.

“People were drawn to the mountains because they wanted to experience unique moments back then.

Nothing has changed about this drive today.”

Lowa equips expeditions and goes to the highest mountains in the world with the Lowa Pro Team.

Professional mountaineers like David Göttler reach the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen in Lowa shoes.

Other expeditions that Lowa equipped are the first ascent of the north face of the Zugspitze by athletes Fritz Miller and Michaela Schuster and the first ascent of the route "24 hours of freedom" in November 2020 by Martin Feistl and Sven Brand on the Sagwand north face in Austria.

Lowa Air increases awareness

Lorenz Wagner, whose initials form the company name, founded a small shoemaker's workshop in his parents' house in 1923.

Initially he made classic Haferl shoes, then quickly expanded production and produced mountain boots.

In 1936 he employed 54 people in his "Ilmtaler Schuhfabrik".

The first generation ski boots were made of leather and bore the names of mountains.

The “Kreuzeck” model was developed for the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

His daughter Berti and her husband Josef Lederer then led the shoe factory into a new era, says Nicolai.

In 1972, the company became better known through the development of the Lowa Air ski boot. This stands for a very good fit thanks to air cushioning.

Ten years later, Lowa created a new category with the first trekking boot, the Trekker.

But at the end of the 1980s, the company ran into financial difficulties.

"In order to be able to continue to secure jobs, the Lederer family decides to sell their shares in the company," reports Nicolai.

In 1993 the Italian group Tecnica Lowa took over.

The ski boot business is relocated to Italy.

"From now on, Lowa will concentrate on the production of mountain boots," reports Nicolai.

Bestselling Renegade

A great success is achieved with the Renegade model, a light and flexible multifunctional shoe.

"This model will become a bestseller," reports Nicolai.

A new production method was devised.

"What was previously only common in other shoe segments formed the cornerstone of a new generation of shoes." At that time, Lowa had made a shoe for the first time in which the sole was no longer glued, but injected directly.

The Renegade is one of the best-selling outdoor shoes in Europe.

"The five millionth pair was sold in 2017." Hardly any other model has been produced for so long and so successfully, says Nicolai.

In 2000, Lowa sold a million pairs of shoes.

Ten years later there were 2 million pairs, in 2021 around 3 million.

Sales in 2021 were EUR 229.3 million, 23 percent more than a year earlier.

For the current year, too, Nicolai expects sales to increase to more than 240 million euros.

Prices start at around 160 euros for the Lowa Renegade GTX.

The company employs more than 2000 people internationally.

The strongest sales market is in the German-speaking countries: a good 50 percent of sales are generated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Lowa exports to more than 80 countries.

High-quality materials are processed, says Nicolai.

They are waterproof and made of breathable Gore-Tex.

Customers include families as well as ambitious mountaineers.

Under the motto "Repair instead of throwing away", sustainability plays a major role.

In the in-house workshops, resoling, heel renewal, seam repairs, heel lining repairs, hook and border repairs as well as various spare parts are offered.

The workshops are located in Jetzendorf, Interlaken in Switzerland and St. Martin in Austria and are in high demand, according to Nicolai.

Lowa also runs centers where you can test hiking and outdoor shoes for free.

You are close to popular hiking areas, such as the Traufgänge near Albstadt, in Langweiler in the Hunsrück National Park and in Reit im Winkl.

In the coming year, Lowa not only wants to continue to grow and invest - it is also celebrating its hundredth anniversary.

The article comes from the student project "Youth and Business", which the FAZ organizes together with the Association of German Banks.