Comedy Goldsmith, you do know he was a Ski Club rep once upon a time? (Source: some bloke I met down the pub)
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:
But we really ought to be talking about the epic story of Nevica, not ponds or mice running around cinemas.
I can't beleive that you haven't been here long enough to realise that this IS SH's and this^^^^^ is thread drift!
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Summit Lodge is a rather naff place backing onto the top of Branch Hill but on Lower Terrace. It's got a 360 degree viewing tower plonked onto the top so that the owner could say they had the highest building in London. The place was constantly in the local news over something or other back in the day. I think the viewing tower was actually not in the original plans and it caused some sort of furor when either the council or the neighbours tried to get it taken down. It's not very nice and I don't think it was built very well having seen it go up. Seemed to take a long time to build as well.
I have owned some Nevica gear years back but I did not really rate it. It sort of did the job but always seemed to lose it's dye a bit too easily and fade. Not a brand I would miss if it disappeared although I am sure it was appreciated in its day at the price point.
Having just purchased a Nevica ski jacket for my 12 year old and a pair of ski pants (gave in to temptation) for myself I have gone from sceptic to a bit of a fanboy. They have yet to be tested in action of course but so far I would give top marks for value (both items were about £45) and high marks for specification (lots of pockets! and most features required in a snow specific garment together with 10K waterproofing and 10K breathable). The colour scheme on some of the jackets leaves a bit to be desired perhaps.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Good morning, readers
Firstly, I've had an email from a Mr Trellis of North Wales, who complains "There's a very significant bit of history missing from this thread".
Trellis makes an extraordinary allegation: that Nevica ".... started by importing Anzi Besson, but then shipped some samples out to the Far East and had some local sweat-shops produce a range of knock-offs under the Nevica brand name."
Obviously I'm not going to reproduce this kind of slur - clearly a pack of lies - on a respectable ski forum, without saying exactly that. Furthermore, I've run the allegation past snowHeads' media lawyers Whiplash & Sue and they say "You'd be well advised to publish nothing of the sort".
Let me state quite categorically, therefore, that all Nevica skiwear at all times has reflected the original design genius of Paul Goldstein. I know this, because I saw the early skiwear (late 1970s) with my own eyes and it led the fashion world with its radical racy styling. I saw Goldstein with his own scissors, his own sewing needles and paper templates, slaving into the early hours, composing garments that astonished my ski friends with their originality.
Finally, there were no "Far East sweat shops" because Goldstein insisted at all times on the highest standards of air conditioning and deodorants at his suppliers and factories.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Sat 2-02-13 10:21; edited 2 times in total
... and some exciting Nevica trading news on this sunny morning:
The brand new Nevica ladies ski jacket, featured on page 1, has now attracted an eBay bid of £4.70.
This trend should remind us of the wisdom often repeated by auctioneers in Bond Street and neighbouring estates that "quality remains, long after price has been forgotten"
There are 5hrs 17mins in which to bid for this striking historical relic.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Comedy Goldsmith, Nevica made a brilliant smock-style ski Jacket with one of the first Gore-Tex fabrics to be used in ski clothing. A slight style-hommage to the SOS smock style jackets of the same period, but rather more noticible with their fluorescent colours.
FYI............ Ebay has shed-loads of Nevica at rather ridiculously low prices being sold off by Sports Direct (aka a major high street trader).
BTW........... love this thread.
After all it is free
After all it is free
skimastaaah, To put SOS and Nevica in the same sentence I find distressing, the colour palette of SOS was amazing to the ski world with their use of cotton fabrics, Nevica was a competitor to C&A for the masses in a later era.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Bode Swiller wrote:
Comedy Goldsmith, you do know he was a Ski Club rep once upon a time? (Source: some bloke I met down the pub)
If you really heard that in a pub, I'd like to know the name of the pub.
I do know that Goldstein once published a Nevica ad in the SCGB magazine Ski Survey, featuring a totally naked (and very beautiful) model. SCGB members across Surrey opened that edition, and apparently dropped dead with shock.
There is, incidentally, a story about the photo shoot ... which is taxing my memory.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Bode Swiller wrote:
fatbob, you may have noticed how toned-down the logo is on GB's jacket on Ski Sunday. I think it's going to be more subtle/understated/clean looking. The swing tags will big up the technical story and the price will be almost irresistible. Also SD have no middle-men agents and distributors to worry about (because they own the brand) so I reckon they will seriously stir things up.
On the multi-coloured zip jacket the Nevica logo was worn by Belly was black, the version you buy in the store is bright blue plus logos on the cuffs and sleeve.
Quote:
I do know that Goldstein once published a Nevica ad in the SCGB magazine Ski Survey, featuring a totally naked (and very beautiful) model.
Post the pics or it never happened
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
halfhand, sorry, I think that was very slightly incorrect. From memory, the nude goddess's feet were not naked. They were clipped into ski boots, which may have been locked into ski bindings. My archivist is currently searching for the magazine, but this may take some time.
I can't recall the commercial message of the ad, but I took it to mean 'why wear skiwear at all, when your skin is perfectly breathable and waterproof?'
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Comedy Goldsmith, Not fully naked!! Well I'm just not interested in seeing those pictures harrumph
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Comedy Goldsmith, and, another bit of trivia, the Nevica model at the trade shows in the 80s was... wait for it... none other than a very young smiley smiley Carol Smillie before she was famous.
... and, yes, I tried everything. Fail.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
The look nearly everyone once aspired to:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Bode Swiller, they look nice and relaxed
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Masque, strike a pose, vogue. Although they are more vague.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Comedy Goldsmith, I know some of the people you obtusely diss by inference. They have bigger fish to fry but if I was one of them, Id sue your back bottom off .. even if it did give you 30 seconds of undeserved infamy.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Cynic, NOT "cotton"!!!!!!!!!!!!! -------- Cordura!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jacket finally sells for fifty quid Seller name is encyclopedia52. Comedy G has encylopedic info on Nevica and UK ski history. Comedy G promotes this thread massively to increase awareness on his ebay sale. Comedy G has massive stash of new/vintage Nevica skiwear. Comedy G is Encyclopedia52.
I claim my thruppence.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Agenterre wrote:
Comedy Goldsmith, I know some of the people you obtusely diss by inference. They have bigger fish to fry but if I was one of them, Id sue your back bottom off .. even if it did give you 30 seconds of undeserved infamy.
On the contrary ... I think you'll find that it's perfectly legal to "obtusely diss by inference", had I been so criminal to have done so. There is no 'law against dissing' or 'law against obtuse dissing' or 'law against dissing by inference.' There is, of course, defamation law, which you can Google to your heart's content.
It is also perfectly legal to "take the piss". Fortunately, in this country, despite draconian libel laws which arm the rich and powerful, we all enjoy the liberty to satirise, mock and ridicule. Indeed, there is a centuries-old tradition of doing so.
Meanwhile, while Paul Goldstein made megabucks with Nevica, I chanced a little importing of the first snowboards and monoskis into the UK. Goldstein called me "an importer of obscure and unsaleable ski products". Can't deny it - the first snowboards were 7 years ahead of any chance of success, back in 1978. Didn't make any money out of that little lark, which I proudly called Snow Motion (with a Barclays chequebook, to boot).
Of all the crimes to snow lovers everywhere you have caused, you kept this one quiet!!! Did you attend SCGB AGM's in a balaclava through the late 70's
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
andrew e, I didn't start going to SCGB AGMs until the late 1980s, thankfully!
As a further response to Agenterre, and any other 'agents of the judiciary' ... here is the most hilarious satire of a judge ever performed ... by the genius Peter Cook ...
By the way: anyone know why it's called Telegraph Hill? Look it up ... More historical education on this uniquely educational snowThread.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I feel I must write as this is a subject close to my ars*, er, heart!
I purchased my first Nevica, a Gore-tex smock, in 1985/6 for the princely sum of £140. Fully taped seams, et al, this was a 'serious' technical jacket and somehow fitted in with the era. It's so good, I've still got it!
In 1993-4, I purchased another Nevica, this time in Entrant fabric with a Recco locator. At this time I think Nevica got the deal with the ESF in Val D'Isere. Obviously a coup for the brand.
A hiatus followed for me, hobnobbing around in Schoffel until 2013! For the princely sum of £40 I have another one and seemingly rather good too!
Nevica's taken a battering in the last few years or so and I guess our younger or more discerning skiers may take a pejorative view of the brand, especially when they look at the lurid Snow and Rock stills from 1982 onwards or the Sports Direct link. But context is everything: this was a manufacturer taken very seriously, regarded highly and put British ski apparel production on a level that Vielhaber failed to achieve with its skis.
Telegraph Hill 7-bedroom detached house: £12,950,000
Telegraph Hill 5-bedroom detached house: £7,950,000
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Me outside L'Arbina in Tignes last week, in my fluoro blue/pink Entrant fabric Nevica 18, circa 1988
No vent zips means it is hot on the slopes and cold on the lifts, but the smiles it put on everyone's faces made wearing it for a day an absolute hoot.
This beauty is now the property of Ellie at Melezes, so should be visible on Palafour on special occasions.
ETA... Crystal reps are all now sponsored by Nevica. Bet they loved my onesie
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
If you're thinking of headbutting a tree, do it with a brand you trust: "80% off" from Sports Direct (£18)
So ... continuing these occasional jottings about the phenomenon that was Nevica ... the future seems clear. Direct retailing from factory to high street.
Indeed, at the principal international sports trade fair earlier this month - ispo, Munich - there was no sign of the once stratospheric brand ... but its prominence at Sports Direct in the UK will open a new chapter. I lost touch with Nevica in the 1980s (being involved in hardware) but it seems that the brand continued to thrive until (I'm told) the mid-1990s.
Neon and high-viz Nevica vamoosed from the slopes many many moons ago, but the wardrobes and lofts of the nation will continue to glow from these ageing fabrics.
Please think of donating your Nevica to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Mon 25-02-13 16:59; edited 1 time in total
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
It must be hilarious for Italians when some Brit snowploughs by wearing a helmet that proclaims "It's snowing".
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
But what of Paul Goldstein, founder and owner of Nevica since 1975?
Volumes could be written, but he popped up in leathers in 2000 in this Daily Telegraph article. "I fell out of love with driving on the road" he explains. "It was so tedious".
Well, it certainly wasn't tedious as a passenger in his Porsche 911 in 1979 ... Munich-bound in the dead of night, on an empty autobahn. Comfortably carving a long bend at 136mph - this was at around 3am - we were suddenly confronted by a stationary car in the middle lane. It had spun 180 degrees and there were people running around it, wondering what to do.
We missed that vehicle and its occupants by a very narrow margin, thanks to the driver's precision-driving skills. Goldstein and Goldsmith lived to see another winter.
Haven't seen the bastard since about 1987, yet it seems that we remain
fellow north-Londoners. On different planets.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Bode Swiller wrote:
It must be hilarious for Italians when some Brit snowploughs by wearing a helmet that proclaims "It's snowing".
Yes, any Englishman with any class would do this with a Nevica umbrella.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Another eBay Nevica exclusive, from Aberdeen:
99p starting price for the onesie in purple. "I am also selling the orange one" says the vendor.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Interesting thread...punted for Tenson and then White Stuff myself which I think was conceived in Val d'Isere , if I remember rightly. Nevica was far too garish for my taste even then and remarkable how the C&A gear looked so similar!! For me Nevica is a bit like my old Timex watch but then again there are generations of folk out there who have never knew that Timex had 95% of the UK watch market and doubtless Nevica would have had a sizeable chunk of the ski clothing market at the time.
I had a Next onepiece in the '90's (also used in 2001 IIRC) - black with subtle red trim. Really comfy! Had lessons one year I used it and was nicknamed 'The Black Knight'! If he saw me from afar (e.g. if he was on a lift) - the cry of 'The Black Knight' could be heard thundering around the Milky Way
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Spinout wrote:
...and remarkable how the C&A gear looked so similar!!
I think Goldstein's brother was the brains behind C&A production. Loads of that stuff was produced in the same factory.
I hovered over the 'Buy it Now' button, compelled to 'Add [myself] to Basket'.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I bought a Nevica Bobble Hat for £4 for my trip to Alpe D'Huez last month much to my daughter's disgust. I wore it all week but I must admit it doesn't really suit me at all although there's nothing really wrong with it.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Comedy Goldsmith wrote:
Wonder just how close to passing off that is.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Meanwhile ... news from Hampstead that No.4 Telegraph Hill (of the 4-house Nevica-financed development) has been sold.
This one features 7 bedrooms, pool, massage+steam rooms and cinema with bar. Sale price unknown. Prices range up to £12,950,000 for these dwellings.
'An Englishman's home is his castle, but an Englishman's one-piece neon skisuit is his cathedral'
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
