Tom Key 
Exploring the Raichle Ski Boots Story
My buddy Jim swore by his Raichle Flexon Comps. Red and gray, with a look that was more European engineer chic than American ski racer aggressive, they were interesting—but I didn’t get it. Three buckles? Actual comfort? That wasn’t how ski boots were supposed to work.
Jim, however, would not shut up about them. He swore they flexed better, fit snug, and—somehow—made him ski faster. “They don’t just clamp onto your foot,” he’d say, with a sharp twist of his nose and an audible sniff of arrogant indifference, as if he’d just stated the obvious. “They move with you. The flex is progressive. The comfort is next level. You don’t understand.”
He was right. I didn’t. But over time, I started to realize that Jim was on to something.
Raichle wasn’t just another ski boot brand. It was a company that fundamentally changed the way ski boots were designed. And, like all great things in skiing, it eventually got swallowed by the industry, only to be resurrected under a different name.
This is the story of Raichle—how they revolutionized ski boots, vanished from the shelves, and still, somehow, refuse to die.
The Swiss Made More Than Chocolate
Before Raichle was a ski boot company, it was a boot company. Period. Founded in 1909 by Louis
Raichle in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, the company originally made work boots and slippers—because if there’s one thing the Swiss do well, it’s being aggressively practical. By 1912, Raichle expanded into military boots, because apparently, war was more lucrative than après-ski at the time.
By the 1920s, skiing was gaining traction, and Raichle pivoted. 1924 marked their entry into ski and hiking boots, and over the following decades, the brand established itself as a leader in high-quality, durable footwear. By the mid-1900s, Raichle wasn’t just making ski boots—they were helping define what a high-performance ski boot should be.
But the real revolution? That wouldn’t happen until the 1980s.
The Flexon: A Boot That Refused to Suck
Let’s talk about ski boot design in the late 20th century. For decades, ski boots followed a simple
formula: two overlapping pieces of hard plastic, a liner, some buckles, and—inevitably—mild to severe foot pain. This was considered normal. Comfort was for other sports.
Then came Raichle’s Flexon Comp, introduced in the early 1980s. This boot wasn’t just different—it was heretical. Instead of a stiff, overlapped shell, it had a three-piece design with a hinged external tongue that actually let the boot flex forward without deforming. This meant:
- More natural flex (you know, like an actual human ankle).
- Better shock absorption, making it a dream for mogul skiers.
- Consistent stiffness, meaning it performed the same in different temperatures.
If you’ve ever skied a Flexon-style boot, you know the feeling. Unlike traditional boots that punished you for existing, the Flexon let you move.
At first, this radical design was weird. Then it became legendary.
The Freeride Movement and the Skiers Who Swore by Raichle
While Raichle boots had a cult following among many skiers, they truly earned their legendary status in freeride and extreme skiing, thanks to two of the most influential skiers of their time: Glen Plake and Seth Morrison.
Plake, with his unmistakable mohawk and larger-than-life personality, helped put Raichle’s Flexon boots on the map in the 1980s. He wasn’t just skiing—he was redefining what skiing could be, charging down mogul fields and insane chutes with a level of control that made the Flexon design look like the future. His neon-colored boots became as iconic as the man himself.
Then came Seth Morrison. If Plake was the showman, Morrison was the technician—a skier whose ferocious big-mountain lines, massive cliff drops, and impossibly smooth landings made him a legend. And like Plake, he trusted the three-piece design to deliver the flex and shock absorption he needed to ski at a level that, frankly, should have been illegal.
By the late 90s, Raichle had become the boot of choice for skiers who pushed limits—whether that meant charging Alaskan spines or sending backflips off cliffs. But while the athletes were progressing, the company wasn’t.
Morrison, however, wasn’t about to let go. It’s rumored he stockpiled dozens of pairs of Flexon Comps, ensuring he’d have a lifetime supply of his favorite boots.
The Fall: When the Swiss Got Out of the Ski Boot Game
By the 1990s, the ski boot industry had changed. Bigger brands like Salomon, Lange, and Nordica were dominating the market, and Raichle—despite their legendary status—was struggling. The company went through financial troubles, and in 1996, they were acquired by Kneissl, an Austrian ski brand.
For a while, Kneissl tried to keep Raichle alive. But by the early 2000s, the brand was effectively dead.
Or was it?
The Resurrection (Sort of): Full Tilt and the Three-Piece Boot Revival
In 2006, an American company called Full Tilt bought the molds for the original Flexon boot and brought it back. Same three-piece design. Same external tongue. Same unmistakable feel. They updated the liners, freshened up the look, and suddenly, the boot had a new lease on life.
Seth Morrison became one of Full Tilt’s most prominent athletes, keeping the boot relevant for a new generation of skiers.
Then, in 2021, Full Tilt itself got absorbed into K2. Now, the Flexon design lives on under the K2 FL3X model.
So if you’re still skiing in your old Raichles—or hoarding them like Seth Morrison—you should know: the design never died. It just changed logos.
The Legacy: Why Raichle Still Matters
Raichle isn’t just some defunct ski brand. It’s one of the most influential boot companies in history.
- The three-piece boot design? Still a huge player in freestyle and freeride skiing.
- The idea that ski boots should actually flex? Now a standard.
- The influence of extreme skiers like Glen Plake and Seth Morrison? Still shaping how people think about skiing today.
And while you can’t buy a pair of Raichles anymore, you can buy their descendants. K2 might be
making the boots now, but if you close your eyes, buckle them up, and lean into a turn, you might just feel a little bit of that old Raichle magic.
Which brings me back to Jim.
I’m heading to Colorado this weekend to ski with him, and part of me is hoping he shows up in a pair of K2 FL3X boots—the modern incarnation of his beloved Raichles. If he does, I’ll have to admit he was right all along. Then again, if he’s still in his original Flexon Comps, drinks will be on me—partly out of respect, partly to take the sting out of the inevitable I told you so.“
