Early skiers used animal and seal skins on the bottom of their skis to give them grip when going uphill. One of the first recorded notes on the use of wax instead of skins comes from the author, Johannes Scheffer, in his History of Lapland in 1673, where he advises skiers to use a mixture of tar pitch and resin on the base of their skis. Fast forward three hundred years or so and a company called Swix was formed in 1946 by a Swede, Borje Gabrielson. Swix later became Norwegian based, fast becoming one of the world’s leading ski wax manufacturers. As usual with big companies, there are promotional products; in this case a fine Swix ski jacket probably used by one of the waxing teams that travel with International Ski Racing Teams. We acquired this one for a few pounds on the internet in 2021. Check our Swix waxes and Swix Racing box elsewhere in the collection.