A few weeks back I participated in the Ski Essentials Ski Test. I’ve written in detail about it in previous columns. This year as I was picking up a pair of Nordica skis to test ,I noticed that they said “Made in Ukraine!” This prompted an interesting conversation with the Nordica rep.

It turns out there are several ski factories located in Ukraine, one of them may be the largest in the world. First, I should mention that today’s ski factories are not brand-specific. Many brands may use the same factory where the skis will be made to the brand’s specifications. The largest factory is  located in Mukachevo and owned by Fischer, but also makes skis for Nordica, Blizzard, and Dynafit. The Mukachevo facility dates back to 1944, but was purchased by Fischer in 1985

When the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022, the Mukachevo facility was closed for a month and a half causing supply chain concerns for the ski companies. However since the factory is in the western part of Ukraine while most of the war was in eastern Ukraine, the factory was able to reopen. The Nordica rep told me that there also was an influx of skilled workers fleeing the war zone and looking for jobs. So the factory was able to expand production and even retool to handle making more different models.  

Mukachevo accounts for 180 different cross country ski models and 130 alpine models. And according to the rep the Ukrainian workers take a lot of pride in their work. While the skis I saw just said “Made in Ukraine”, some of the newer models say “Proudly Made in Ukraine!”