|
The roots of Nils Inc. can be traced to Sweden in 1953; the year Nils Andersson, founder and owner was born.
At age four, Nils began participating in the Swedish National pastime of cross-country skiing. At age ten he was introduced to alpine skiing while on vacation with his family in Norway. He fell in love with the sport and while in high school and college, started traveling to his favorite ski destinations in Austria, Switzerland and France.
After high school, Nils enrolled at the German Textile Academy in Munich where he discovered his passion for designing and pattern making. It was during a summer vacationing in the United States that his passion for skiing and designing would merge. While visiting Newport Beach, California, Nils met his soon to be wife and future merchandiser, Nancy, who was working at a local ski shop. Nils soon left Sweden and took up residence in Newport Beach where he began designing men’s shells for a ski shop in the area. Three years later in to the growing need for a high quality, fashion-driven women’s skiwear line, Nils Skiwear was born.
Due to initial response to the product, the collection was expanded and introduced at the Ski Industries of America Trade Show. At the same time, the management team was also expanded, adding skiwear veterans Dick Leffler as Director of Marketing (now President of Nils), Toni Leffler as Merchandise Director, and Susie Wiyninger as Head of Design.
Nils Skiwear became one of the first fashion companies to incorporate Gore-Tex into their collections. With the innovative design of the high waist, stretch bottom suit they soon began to dominate the stretch suit market. Over the course of the next several years Nils established a reputation as the best fitting women’s skiwear collection in the business and the product offering was extended to include sweaters, fleece, resort wear and petites. The universal active sportswear layering system and waterproof, breathable outerwear system is consistently regarded as the most complete offering for women in the industry. Susie Wiyninger has won several prestigious design awards and continues to unite fashion and function in the women’s skiwear market. |
