Zag

ZAG was founded in 2002 by Stéphane Radiguet, a snowboarder, ski instructor and former shaper for the snowboard brand Niedecker, who set out to build skis that carried a surfing-like feel through powder while still holding an edge on groomed slopes, borrowing design thinking from snowboard shaping rather than conventional ski construction. The company started in Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the French Alps.

Early models established the brand's reputation for rocker-profile skis: the 2003 Rocker model won an ISPO Brand New award, and the company followed it in 2008 with the first Double Rocker design, extending the upward-curved tip-and-tail profile that has become closely associated with ZAG's freeride skis.

In 2010, ZAG moved its headquarters from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Chamonix, positioning the company at the base of the Grands Montets massif, terrain the brand has described as one of the toughest available real-world testing grounds for its skis. The move came with the opening of ZAGLAB, an in-house research and development facility. The company continues to describe itself around two linked goals: producing hand-built, high-performance skis, and supporting mountain-environment conservation work through what it calls its ZAGreen program.