Ski
Mežica
This retro Yugoslavian-inspired ski design pays tribute to the once-glorious ski Mecca of Mežica, in Slovenia.
This small town in the Koroška region of Slovenia, was once a Yugoslav skiing hotspot. Opening in 1949, it was Slovenia’s second ever ski area, becoming a major tourist destination and attracting thousands of skiers each winter.
It went on to produce some of Slovenia’s (and Yugoslavia’s) greatest ski champions, and for years it even had a renowned ski factory, founded by two brothers from the town, who manufactured their ‘Šipek’ brand of skis. For 25 years the factory supplied Yugoslavia with skis, sometimes smuggling materials in from neighbouring Austria.
However, despite its strong ski status, Mežica was to fall on hard times. The ski-factory ceased production in the mid ‘70s, and by the late ‘90s, for reasons not entirely clear, the ski lifts too had closed for good.
Today, aside from the old pistes that still cut through the forested mountainside above the town, little remains to suggest that Mežica was once a legendary centre of Slovenian skiing.
