From Zakopane to Szaflary

The Polsport ski manufacturing enterprise was established in 1969. It initially operated in Zakopane, before a new factory was built in Szaflary, where production began in 1972. Podhale offered a long skiing tradition, workers who understood the equipment and nearby terrain where new skis could be tested.

The scale went far beyond a traditional workshop. The factory used machinery that was modern for its time. Materials included hickory, balsa, ash and maple, alongside epoxy laminates, plastics and high-strength aluminium alloy sheet. Ski making was moving from a largely single-material product to a layered construction in which each component had a specific role.

1978: more than 207,000 pairs

The factory reached its production peak in 1978, making more than 207,000 pairs of skis. They went to Polish slopes and export markets including Canada, the United States and Scandinavia. During the 1980s Polsport ranked among the world’s major ski manufacturers.

For Szaflary, the factory meant hundreds of jobs and a new industrial identity. Ski production depended on a whole team: technologists, woodworkers, machine operators, finishers, quality inspectors and shipping staff. Each pair passed through many precise stages. The slopes provided a direct test of the finished result.

In Podhale, ski quality was tested by winter, the mountains and the experience of people who skied themselves.

Polish skis on international slopes

Exports mattered beyond the sales figures. They showed that equipment made in Szaflary could find customers in established skiing markets. Models evolved with technology and fashion, while the brand’s distinctive markings became familiar to a generation of Polish skiers.

For many people, their first pair of skis was a pair of Polsports. They were used by school teams, sports clubs and families on holiday. Everyday equipment could also be an object of aspiration, especially when Western brands were difficult to obtain.

The factory closes; the memories remain

The economic changes of the late 1980s proved unforgiving. Production ended around 1989–1990. The brand, however, lived on in people’s memories. Older models now appear in private collections, museum displays and family stories, recalling a factory capable of making hundreds of thousands of pairs and shipping them around the world.

Polsport’s history reaches beyond nostalgia for communist-era Poland. It speaks of local skills, industrial ambition and the relationship between a product and its place. Here, at the foot of the Tatras, ski equipment grew from the practical demands of travel, sport and winter life.

From a factory to today’s rental shop

Most skis now come from international production networks, and technology changes rapidly. The essential question remains the same: who is a particular model designed for, and in which conditions will it work best?

A rental shop gives visitors something a catalogue alone cannot: the chance to experience different constructions on snow. It continues a familiar local tradition — the mountains provide the testing ground, and practical experience helps make sense of the label.