It’s been 10 years already that Studio Sonda and Elan have been successfully collaborating on designing women ski collections. After initial work based exclusively on graphic solutions, in 2010 we started developing the concept of ‘Lightskiing’, which aimed to bring a significant differentiation in the market of women’s skis. The teamwork between Studio Sonda, Elan’s R&D department and the Elan W Studio (in which women express their needs on snow), lead to a technological development of skis adapted to specifications of female features, while the use of new materials made them lightweight and easy to carry.

Graphic solutions also evolve from aesthetic to functional and respectively towards the highlighting of new technologies. Since the first Delight model (the lightest ski in the world) was launched in 2013 there has been a sales increase of 112% so far. If sales of the same price category in 2010 are compared to today’s Delight skis for season 16/17, it sees a rise as high as 571%. This shows how Elan, despite the downward global trend of winter sports related market, has a continuous sales increase in the field of women skis. Not only is Delight the first ski that has entered Japanese stores as Women specific performance model, but also is a multiple award winner: Plus X Award for High Quality, Design and Functionality for Delight Prime 16/17, Delight 15/16 and Delight 13/14; Skimagazine Innovationpreis for Delight QT 1314 ski set; Red Dot Honorable mention for Delight 13/14 and ISPO award Winner for Delight 13/14.

While waiting for the launch of the new collection 17/18 at the ISPO fair in Munich, we are keen to present a retrospective of some of the most successful models.