In our vegetable garden in Bolzano, we help integrate around 10 young refugees by teaching them the basics of farming. We give them the opportunity to do meaningful work, learn how to cultivate organic fruit and vegetables from professional horticulturists, and get in touch with the locals.

Our employees can also take home the produce on a weekly basis in exchange for a donation to the project. In 2019, we also sourced organic fertilizer for our garden from our recycled down supplier. They use the lower quality down that can no longer be recycled to make 100% natural and organic fertilizer. A way for us to close the loop!

The vendors are mainly migrants from Africa and the social project currently enables 60 people who are in precarious life situations to pursue a dignified task, until they manage to enter the world of work. The vendors have been equipped with Salewa jackets three years ago, which they have been wearing almost every day. This year, Oberalp arranged for the jackets to be repaired and donated some new jackets.

The “Villnösser Brillenschaf” is the oldest breed of sheep in South Tyrol. In 1997, the spectacled sheep was officially recognised as a breed, after local farmers launched a conservation initiative. For a long time, the wool was considered worthless and was discarded; today, it contributes to the preservation of the breed and regional value creation. 

Founding the “Furchetta cooperative”, Oskar Messner and Kurt Niederstätter build a base for the long-term preservation of the breed and promotion of regional development. Support from the European Social Fund enabled guaranteed purchase quantities and stable prices for meat and wool - and the sheep population rose from around 250 to over 600 animals. 

Salewa has supported the community, shepherds and their sheep (and sheepdogs) for several years, giving products and time (such as going up there with a team to help with the fence dismantling in fall or its set-up in spring). As reported in previous editions of Contribute, part of the funds raised through the Green Friday initiatives in 2020 and 2021 - totalling €54,000 - were earmarked for the restoration of the valley's main alpine pasture hut, located at 2,120 metres. When bureaucratic delays beyond the community's control stalled construction, the funds were redirected, helping to cover shepherd wages and animal feed to keep the alpine pasture operational. A total of €28,500 was transferred to the local farming association during this period; the remaining funds are still available and will be used for construction as soon as needed. Progress has been slow. In 2025, the structural shell of the new hut was finally initiated. It is a small but meaningful milestone for a project that has always been about more than infrastructure: keeping traditional alpine farming alive in a valley where people are willing to do the hard work to make that happen. Our role in this has been a supporting one: financially modest relative to the overall project costs, which are largely covered by the provincial authorities, but consistent and long-term. 

The snow leopard is Dynafit's brand symbol and embodies its values and characteristics. Unfortunately, it's been in danger of extinction, with an estimated 4,000-6,500 cats remaining worldwide. Dynafit organises annual ski touring events to raise money and awareness for the protection of snow leopards. For every vertical meter climbed by each participant, Dynafit donates 1cent to Snow Leopard Trust, an organisation that works to protect the endangered cat through community-based conservation projects. In 2022, €20.000 were donated!

In August 2022, WWF was happy to welcome Benedikt Böhm, WWF Germany’s Eastern Himalaya goodwill ambassador, and his climbing partner Prakash Sherpa for a project visit.

Excerpt from Sustainability Report “Contribute 2022” (p.126), by Dr. Arnulf Köhncke, WWF Species Conservation Expert:
“WWF is really grateful about the financial support of Oberalp group to WWF Nepal’s Snow Leopard programme, the emblem of Dynafit outdoor sports company – to ensure a better co-existence between these big cats and communities in the very remote areas.”

“Flamingo Loophole” is a therapeutic climbing gym in Biha, Bosnia. It is run by Mediterranean Hope, Migrant and Refugee Programme of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy. Wild Country donated 52 pairs of shoes and equipment to the project.

The most inclusive event in the Dolomites in 2022 was Nicolle Boroni, a mountaineer with a hand amputation, climbing to the top of the mountain Brenta.

This year Brian, product manager of Evolv, accompanied the group in the heart of Brenta Dolomites, taking his personal view and commitment to support the athletes with amputation, using the adaptive equipment created and made available by Evolv.

In an effort to reduce educational gender gaps in remote mountain villages of Bolivia, LaMunt has teamed up with Keller Sport and the charity Caritas South Tyrol.

10% of all sales made through our online shop in December 2022 were donated to the “ABC: Learning for a better future” project providing education to young girls. We collected 4.000€ and doubled the amount, donating 8.000€ in total.

In May 2025, Oberalp supported IRECOOP, a cooperative project run in partnership with FABLAB at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

Eight refugees, seven women and one man, aged between 26 and over 50, from Pakistan, India, Morocco, Nigeria, Georgia, and Kosovo – participated in a programme combining Italian language courses with hands-on training in textile and clothing repair.

Oberalp's contribution was both practical and institutional: enabling Tanja, a tailor from the Salewa store, to lead sewing courses as a tutor, and lending the company's name to officially support the project's application for European funding.

The programme's goal extends beyond skills training – giving participants tools for social integration and economic independence, whether through employment in the textile industry or setting up their own small business.

Pomoca's climbing skins are produced in close collaboration with the Fondation Polyval, a Swiss not-for-profit foundation based in the canton of Vaud. 

Founded to support the professional integration of people with disabilities or social difficulties, Polyval operates sheltered workshops across French-speaking Switzerland, offering manufacturing services to businesses while providing meaningful, supported employment to people who cannot easily access the standard labour market. With over 900 employees across ten sites, the foundation combines industrial expertise with a clear social mission. At Pomoca's factory, Polyval teams are fully integrated into the production floor – working side by side with Pomoca employees on assembly lines, skin roll production, and the assembly of semifinished components. The collaboration is hands-on and practical: front and back stitching, packing, quality control, preparing production lots, and assembling parts such as hooks into straps. In practice, Polyval and Pomoca staff work so fluidly together that the boundary between the two teams largely disappears on the factory floor - which is exactly the point.