Head (company)

Head N.V.

Type	Naamloze vennootschap
Traded as	OTC Pink:
Industry	sportswear and Sports equipment
Founded	1950 (Baltimore, Maryland, United States)
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands Kennelbach, Austria
Key people	Howard Head (founder) Johan Eliasch (CEO)
Products	Footwear Accessories sportswear
Revenue	$375.4 million (2014)
Profit	$2.8 million (2014)
Number of employees	2,499 (2014)
Subsidiaries	Penn Mares
Website	Head.com

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Head N.V. is a Dutch sports equipment and clothing company, which sells alpine skis and tennis rackets. The company includes parts of several previously independent companies, including Head Ski Company, founded in Delaware, United States, in 1950; Tyrolia, an Austrian ski-equipment manufacturer; and Mares, an Italian manufacturer of diving equipment. Head Ski Company produced one of the first successful metal-wood composite downhill ski, the Head Standard, and one of the first oversized metal tennis rackets. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The company was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, in 1950 by aeronautical engineer Howard Head, after he took a ski trip and was astonished to see his skis were made of wood in an era when metals and plastics were replacing wood in many product designs. Head worked at the Glenn L. Martin Company where they used a form of aluminum and plastic laminate to build the fuselages of aircraft, and he felt the same material would make an ideal ski. After two years of constantly breaking skis, by the winter of 1950 they had a design that not only stayed together, but made turning dramatically easier.

The Head Standard would rapidly grow in sales through the 1950s, until it and other Head designs were capturing over 50% of the US market during the 1960s, making them the leading ski manufacturer in the U.S. and the UK. Head resisted the change to fibreglass construction and was known for interfering in day-to-day operations. In 1967, Howard Head hired Harold Seigle as company president, and became the Chairman of the Board and CEO. Bored of the results, in 1969 Head sold the company to AMF in 1969, and took up tennis. He later bought a controlling interest in Prince Sports.