Just Pesko

A modern interpretation of the good old ski pullover.

Pesko. JUST PESKO

Just Pesko: that’s all the son of the famous sports equipment dynasty from Lenzerheide wants to be. After all, the family has taken the proverb, telling a cobbler to stick to his last, more than literally for the last 104 years. Text: Dörte Welti. Photos: Nico Pesko

Nico Pesko is from Lenzerheide, a very traditional ski resort that is not as ostentatious as the resorts where the champagne flows faster than the cable cars can scale the mountains. Nico Pesko’s grandfather made his fortune in this village in the Grisons. The shoemaker of the Hungarian royal court went to Bad Ragaz, travelled to England, and then returned to Switzerland, which is when the concierge of the Grand Hotel Kurhaus summoned him to Lenzerheide. A man who is familiar with the feet of the rich and famous is, after all, perfect for a store that manufactures and adapts new-fangled skiing boots. Grandfather Pesko founded the aforementioned business in

Third generation retailer: Nico Pesko. 1911, thereby starting a success story that still relies on sensitiveness towards the customers to this day. Great-grandson Nico says: “Retail is detail, as cheesy as that may sound.” He himself was trained within the family business. He always admired his grandmother, who brought fashion to Lenzerheide to complement the store’s shoe range. Nico Pesko still remembers the style-conscious Grand Dame standing at the cash register in front of a shelf displaying identically cut cashmere sweaters in 30 different colours. He also still remembers his grandfather, a dashing ski instructor who always wore such racy sweaters. As is so often the case, one thing leads to another. Ultimately, Nico decided that he would like to try to establish his own fashion collection under his own name.

Price-Performance Ratio is Vital Honesty is paramount. Nico Pesko attaches great importance to what he calls the “made by” factor. His items are produced in

a small factory on the outskirts of Shanghai, which is run by a Swiss businesswoman. Sweaters cost between 290 and 390 Swiss Francs, while a double-face cashmere jacket sets you back 1,200 Swiss Francs. The crown prince sold his debut collection in the family’s store. “I grew up on the sales floor”, the 35 year old muses. “It always was - and still is - essential for me to get clear feedback from the customers and, when necessary, to implement changes accordingly.” He also has an open ear for the buyers. “They know their customers best”, the businessman argues. “How could I ever tell them which models they should sell in the city, the countryside, or the mountains?” His approach even allows customers to order individual colour schemes. Doesn’t that make the Nico Pesko brand a service provider? “No, it’s not like everyone can come and order whatever they feel like. The small production scale allows a modular system, which means that a specific cut can be ordered with a range of necklines or trims.” The brand currently offers 20 men’s styles and 15 women’s styles. Nico Pesko attaches great importance to consistency in terms of fit: “Life is complicated enough as it is!” He recently decided to add jeans in six colours to his repertoire: “We offer Selvedge Raw denims, which are manufactured on old Selvedge machines. Seeing that the jeans can include a percentage of wool or cashmere, they have a completely new feel. We also add a stretch element to guarantee a perfect fit.”

Reduced to Essentials In 2014, Nico Pesko teamed up with two colleagues and opened a store in Zurich (as reported in sip 115), which also stocks his eponymous label. In the fourth year of production, Gorsuch, a ski clothing retailer with branches in Aspen, Vail, and Park City, fell in love with the Swiss brand. “That was when I allowed my baby to leave the house”, Nico Pesko recalls. In Austria, Strolz, a renowned upscale retailer in Lech am Arlberg, recognised the quality of the items; the same applies to a number of boutiques in Switzerland. Incidentally, the brand only launches one collection per year in winter. Nico Pesko started testing a few items made of summer fabrics, a lighter quality of merino wool. The newlywed muses: “I have a dream. In 20 years, I want to meet a young man wearing one of my pullovers and hear him say that his father bought that sweater when he was his age many years ago.” The brand is comparatively inexpensive (“Why should we add a huge markup because of a name or an image?”) and its items have a long half-life period. Nico Pesko’s principal business remains the management of Pesko, the successful family business with 104 years of experience and inherited values. These values will be reflected in the next collection. The men’s sweaters for 2016/17 are very similar to the jumpers the grandfather wore as a ski instructor. That range is called “Ski 60s and 70s” and will be complemented by “new basics” and “carry overs”. The latter are models that were already part of previous collections.

Pesko Sport AG Voa Principala 56, Lenzerheide/ Switzerland www.nicopesko.com