27.11.2015 |
The end of November 2015 in Jetzendorf. The crème de la crème of the German-speaking mountaineering community got together with the entire LOWA development team. The complete climbing lineup at the athletes’ feedback meeting, the very first time that all members of the world-class PRO team had ever assembled together in one room.
Concentrated expertise
LOWA’s development specialists from the team of LOWA Managing Director Alex Nicolai entered this meeting with the true stars of the mountaineering world full of excitement and anticipation: Ines Papert, Alix von Melle, Hans Kammerlander, Stefan Gowacz, David Göttler, Rudi Hauser and Luis Stitzinger. The lineup was a true who’s who of the mountaineering elite.
The meeting was moderated by Arthur Kudelka, an experienced Alpinist who has also taken on some of the world’s highest mountains himself. At LOWA, he is responsible for supporting the athletes and is an expert in the brand’s products as Head of the Service Department.
The head of the company, Werner Riethmann, also attended the meeting and knows each of the athletes personally. After all, he is the one who selected the individuals whose extraordinary adventures the brand supports and who become members of the LOWA PRO team. But membership in the LOWA PRO team revolves around something more than financial and material support. It also involves professional collaboration. This meeting was a key part of this working relationship.
Questions and answers
Werner Riethmann and the LOWA development team primarily wanted to act as questioners and listeners during the meeting. But the company head made clear at the start of the meeting that not every wish expressed by the athletes could be incorporated directly into the product. As he noted, the ultimate aim was to develop products that were to be sold in the marketplace. The company lives off of these sales and can also afford the “hobby” of extreme sports as a result, Werner Riethmann noted.
The meeting then got into full swing. Alex Nicolai and the athletes got right down to business: product feedback. The focal products were naturally the professional models EXPEDITION 8000 EVO RD and EXPEDITION 6000 EVO RD, LATOK and ICE COMP. The development team listened closely to the comments made by the athletes. They meticulously wrote down the praise and suggestions offered by the athletes. The mountaineers discussed the topic very intensely with one another. It became clear that the ice climbing pros had a different set of priorities than the members of the rock and mountaineering group. At this point, Arthur Kudelka noted: “We won’t be able to come up with an egg-laying, milk-producing woolen sow.” And Alex Nicolai pointed to the limitations that boot design faced in this or that area.
Every detail counts
Nonetheless, it was obvious that the professional athletes had delved very deeply into the details of the products and evaluated them. The developers nodded their heads over and over again, took notes and quietly commented on the things they were hearing. You could see that the group was intensely analysing the feedback and thinking about how to turn it into a reality.
“In my view it’s the warmest in the eight-thousander footwear league. A specialist that has been optimised over the course of many years for tackling eight-thousanders like Mount McKinley or for Antarctic expeditions.”
The feedback meeting turned into a constructive discussion about ways to optimise individual features and models. Praise was certainly not in short supply either. “The boots are already really good, ” Hans Kammerlander said several times in his own deliberate way. But one theme ran through all discussions about all professional models: the desire for less weight. This was the top priority for the athletes. But, as Rudi Hauser noted, “it’s obvious that you can’t cut any corners when it comes to quality, reliability and insulation.” The mountaineers offered a few of their own improvement suggestions and asked Alex Nicolai and his team where they thought potential could be found. The discussions were conducted among equals. Both groups understood that everybody was working with real professionals.
David Göttler told the group about a customised boot that he had used during the past summer, a boot made by hand by a modeller and was not in the product lineup as a result. He expressed his total enthusiasm about the boot, offered a few ideas and passed it around the group of experts assembled in Jetzendorf. Once again, the group collectively nodded their heads and offered enthusiastic comments. “Such a boot is definitely missing in the collection, ” Ines Papert said. All members of the LOWA PRO team agreed with her.
The discussion then turned to the features of the footwear, including design ideas. Alex Nicolai and Werner Riethmann spoke up here and stressed the commercial aspects of the products once again. By the end of the day, one thing was clear: A new project group had been set up to explore the idea of developing this new boot. The idea created in the feedback meeting was to be implemented, potentially with two models: a very special professional version that would be made much more painstakingly by hand and a somewhat broader version for normal mountaineering fans that would be mass produced.
From the drawing board to development
This entire discussion clearly showed once again just how helpful it can be if a company has short decision-making processes on the one hand. And its own trained modellers, qualified shoemakers and the required equipment directly at the company on the other hand.
The new model was not the only specific result of the day. The development team left it with a stack of homework to be done in their offices and workshops. Two specific areas were: ways to reduce weight and to strengthen the material at sensitive points of the footwear that were revealed during extreme use. The weight of some areas could be reduced for one reason: Experience had shown that certain features were unnecessary because they showed no signs of wear even when subjected to the most severe conditions.
Reversed roles
It was now time for the athletes to do the listening. Alex Nicolai told the PRO team about a new project that the company was working on. The focus was on the vision of a new Alpine boot. Everything rethought: fit, sole design, cushioning, soles, protection, look and weight. The only thing that was not up for debate was the LOWA DNA. The PRO team was really impressed. The athletes saw that this vision, which also included an initial prototype, had already incorporated many of their ideas.
Alex Nicolai urged the professional climbers to help with the development work and to express their ideas and thoughts. The eyes of the mountaineering stars gleamed, reflecting their willingness to help out.
Success through repetition
This meeting was to become a regular event. LOWA wanted to tap the know-how of its PRO teams even more deeply in future. Speaking on the athletes’ behalf, Stefan Glowacz said:
“We, the members of the PRO team, want to make an even bigger contribution to LOWA in future and be even better LOWA ambassadors.”
Their true desire is to give back to the company and Werner Riethmann those things that enable them to live their dreams. Dreams that ultimately end up in the footwear produced by LOWA. Those things that the professionals need to carry out their adventures will later be introduced into the models designed for us, the normal friends of outdoor and mountain sports. This is why the PRO team makes such good sense.
