Rosemount Ski Boots

Rosemount Ski Boots

Rosemount produced these Playboy-branded "Bunny Boots" in the early 1970s when Playboy operated several ski resorts. The large metal plate supporting the hinge and covering the opening in the side of the boot can be seen on the far boot. The near boot has the cover closed. The lower cable has slipped out of the notch that tries to keep it in place. The forward-lean control of the Fastback series can be seen at the back of the boot.
Type	Ski boot
Material	plastic
Manufacturer	Raichle
Introduced	1965/66

Rosemount Ski Boots introduced one of the earliest all-plastic ski boots for the downhill skiing market, competing with Bob Lange for the title of "first". Rosemount's design was easily distinguished by its use of the uncommon "side-entry" method for putting the boot on, which was rare at the time and is no longer used.

The boot was introduced by Rosemount Engineering, better known for their aerospace instrumentation. They referred to the boot division as either the Rosemount Consumer Products Division or Sports Technology. Rosemount sold the factory to Bass Sports in 1968, but the boots retained the Rosemount name throughout their production. Many variations of the design were introduced over the next four years, adding ski bindings and ski poles as well. The rest of Rosemount became Rosemount Inc. when they were purchased by Emerson in 1976.

Bass Sports was in turn purchased by Raichle in 1972, who ended production of the Rosemount boot in favour of their own designs the next year. Ironically, one of the few other side-entry boot designs was the Raichle Fibre Jet (aka Red and Red Hot), another fibreglass design which was no longer in production.

Downhill skiing evolved as a specialization of a previously generic skiing sport. Before the era of ski lifts, skiing always involved cross-country portions, and the downhills tended to be short, slow, and had to be skied back up.

Equipment during this era was designed for the cross-country portions. This normally consisted of a wooden ski, a leather winter boot, and a cable binding to keep the two together. This combination of equipment was far from optimal for downhill skiing. During the downhill portions the skis are turned by rotating them onto their edges; in traditional cable bindings, the heel is free to lift from the ski to allow a striding motion, and the system offers little support for edging.

The introduction of ski lifts, especially after World War II, led to the specialization of downhill as a separate sport, and new equipment evolved to meet this market. One example was the "Kandahar" style cable bindings, which added small metal hooks near the heel. When the cable was passed under the clips it was locked in place and offered much better edging control. By the mid-1950s these were joined by a number of new binding systems that allowed the toe of the boot to release during fall.