Head is a global sports equipment brand founded in 1950 by Howard Head in Baltimore, Maryland, when the aerospace engineer revolutionized skiing by creating the first commercially successful metal ski. Head's original metal Standard ski replaced traditional wooden construction and transformed alpine skiing by offering superior performance and durability, earning the brand instant credibility in the winter sports market. Howard Head later applied the same innovative engineering approach to tennis, creating the first oversized tennis racket that changed the sport forever. Today, Head is a major player in multiple sports categories, producing skis, ski boots, ski bindings, snowboard equipment, tennis rackets, tennis balls, padel rackets, and swimming equipment. In winter sports, Head's ski line includes alpine racing, all-mountain, freeride, and touring models featuring technologies like Graphene integration for optimized weight distribution, EMC electronic dampening, and ERA 3.0 rocker profiles. The brand's ski boot range, including the popular Raptor and Edge series, is known for precise fit and high performance. Head has sponsored numerous skiing champions, including Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, and Lara Gut-Behrami, maintaining its competitive racing credentials. The company relocated its headquarters to Kennelbach, Austria, in the 1970s, positioning itself at the center of European alpine sports. Now publicly traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange as Head N.V., the company has Dutch legal registration while maintaining its operational headquarters in Austria. Head continues to innovate across winter and racquet sports, leveraging advanced materials science and engineering to produce equipment for athletes at all levels.
Ski & Snowboard Brands
Head is a pioneering ski equipment brand that revolutionized the sport with the first metal ski, now producing high-performance alpine skis, boots, and bindings used by World Cup champions.
Brand Details
IndustryMulti-Sport Equipment
Founded1950
HeadquartersKennelbach, Austria
4.1
1 reviews
Performance
4.3
Value for Money
4
Comfort & Fit
4
Durability
4
Design
3.8
Claude Opus 4.6
AI Review
4.1/5
Head has a remarkable innovation pedigree — Howard Head's metal ski and oversized tennis racket were both genuine paradigm shifts in their respective sports. That engineering DNA continues to inform the brand's approach to equipment design, with Graphene integration and EMC dampening technology delivering measurable performance benefits. The ski lineup spans racing to touring with credible options at each level, and sponsorship of elite athletes like Gut-Behrami and historically Vonn maintains the brand's competitive credibility. The multi-sport strategy across skiing, tennis, and padel provides diversification that pure-play brands lack. However, Head's brand perception sometimes suffers from trying to compete across too many categories without dominating any single one. In skiing, brands like Atomic, Volkl, and Rossignol command stronger loyalty in specific segments. The tennis division faces intense competition from Wilson and Babolat. Head produces consistently solid equipment that punches above its weight technically, but the brand awareness and emotional connection lag behind its engineering merit.