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Mr. Roffe began his career in the garment
manufacturing business in 1933 as a cutter for Seattle Woolens, a
uniform manufacturer. After 25 years with Seattle Woolens, Mr. Roffe
left to start his own business as a uniform manufacturer.
In1960, his company outfitted the United States Alpine ski team for
competition for the Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif. In 1963, he added
ski parkas to his apparel line and decided to stop manufacturing
uniforms and concentrate on ski apparel.
Back in the day, when Sam Roffe created his beloved ski brand in
Seattle, the company, was a thriving American business. However, when
Roffe sadly passed away back in the mid-90s, the company was left in the
capable hands of his son, Robert.
The company was bought out by The Gerry Group, founder Jeff
Anderson had some difficult decisions on his hands. But ultimately, the
choice to move much of the company’s production to parts of Asia was
made. This resulted in more than 100 of the staff members losing their
jobs and a staggering 30% of the manufacturing of the products being
taken out of its home nation.
If you want to get your hands on some Roffe ski wear then this is still possible, even
though a Google search will yield far fewer shopping results than you
might have expected. The good news is that there are a lot of eBay
sellers with some pretty impressive vintage Roffe apparel that, while a little pricey, certainly holds a lot of nostalgic value for many skiers.
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