What's the Deal with Raichle?
There
was a lot of confusion going on with Raichle this past year. Basically,
the US distributor went out of business. Raichle, owned by the parent
company Kneissel and Friends, did not go out of business. They merely
lost the distributorship in the USA. However, thanks to the support
of everyone in the hard boot market, there was much competition to obtain
another distributor.
The distributor is now a company on the east coast. Bomberonline.com is a dealer. To make matters even more confusing, Kneissel and Friends was split up, in a sense, to form 3 new companies. Raichle, is now used only for hiking boots. That name has no meaning in the snow industry world any longer. The ski line is all going to be called Kneissel. And the Snowboard line is all going to be called Deeluxe. From what we understand everything is still housed in the same building, and the people are all the same, it is just the ownership that has changed.
So great, you say, what does that mean to me, the carver?
Basically nothing. It means that all the new hard boots will now be called Deeluxe. They are using the same molds, and they are essentially the same boots, new paint job. They are still making an "AF" series, but it is not called that anymore. These boots have regular names, like Indy and Susuka. The "SB" series is also still around, now called Lemans and Spa.
So see, not a big deal. If you still have questions, don't call us. This is all the info we have on the subject. Try to contact Deeluxe directly. Hopefully, it's not an Austrian holiday.
