LANGE PLASTICS COMPANY

LANGE PLASTICS COMPANY. Pioneering manufacturer in Dubuque. Started in 1954 in the garage of the company's president, Robert B. Lange, the firm in sixteen years achieved an unparalleled success when eight of the medal winners in the World Ski Championships in Val Gardena, Italy, used Lange skis, and nine wore Lange boots. Many boot innovations came from active skiers. Robert Lange, on location in the European skiing region, would send the suggestions back to the Dubuque plant that would develop a new model by the next weekend. The Lange company also marketed a standard model ski boot and a "custom fit" model. This model featured a special plastic mixture that the skier put into the boots before lacing them to their feet. The hardened plastic in the exact shape of the skier's ankle, provided extra protection on the mountain slopes.

Lange began his company by molding plastic parts for signs and displays. His first important contract came from the Eska Toy Company to manufacture bodies for toy automobiles offered by General Motors as premiums with its Chevrolet Corvette sports car. Later contracts included the manufacture of freezer door liners for the Amana Company and "chip and dip" trays for the Red Dot Potato Chip Company. This product and the manner in which it was sponsored won second place in competition among premium promotions.

In February 1970, the Grand Theater featured "Lange Night" as a salute to the company that produced much of the ski equipment used in the film Downhill Racer starring Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, and Camilla Sparv. Although the company had moved its headquarters to Bloomfield, Colorado, in November 1969, to be in the midst of the ski country, much of the manufacturing had been done in the company's plant in the Brunswick Industrial Park. The firm later expanded its manufacturing capabilities in Colorado and Trento, Italy.