Spyder is an American Colorado-based manufacturer of luxury, high end skiing & snowsports apparel.
History
David Jacobs, Spyder's founder and chairman was born in Montreal, Canada, and began skiing at age 13. At 21, he won the Quebec Kandahar, and from 1957 through 1961 was a member of the Canadian National Ski Team. In 1957 he captured the title of Canadian Downhill Ski Champion, and was the top-ranked member of the Canadian FIS Team the following season. He was the first full-time head coach and program administrator for the Canadian National Ski Team from 1964 to 1966.
In 1978, while Jacobs' sons were in the ski race circuit, he noted that there was only one brand of race sweaters available. He believed he could make a better product and sell it to the close-knit race community. This business, named David L Jacobs, Incorporated, began as a small mail order business in his Boulder, Colorado kitchen.
After the successful introduction of race sweaters, Jacobs added ski pants to the catalog offering. One of the earliest creations was a navy blue racing pant with yellow striped pads extending from the knee to the hip. His son Billy mentioned that skiers were calling them “spider” pants, due to their spider leg-like appearance. Jacobs recognized this as an opportunity to have a powerful, lasting name and logo associated with his products, and renamed the company. A passionate sports car fan, he borrowed the spelling with a “y” from the Porsche Spyder. The early mail order catalogs included race pants, padded sweaters, Vuarnet sunglasses, bent downhill poles and other racing accessories. For two years, Spyder operated out of Jacobs' kitchen. At the end of two years, sales were in the six figures and his kitchen was too crowded.
To finance an expansion in 1980, Jacobs sold the brand to Boulder-based Hanson Industries, a ski boot manufacturer. Eighteen months later, he bought Spyder back before Hanson went bankrupt.