In 1942, fire broke out in Martin Matsbo’s wax plant in Malung causing extensive damage. Martin had to start from scratch again and began to work for Børje. In consultation with chemists from Astra and researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, the company started testing existing and “own recipe” ski waxes.

In 1945 alone, they completed fully 6,000 equipment trials involving 200 different substances. They soon came to their first conclusion. There was no point trying to come up with a universal wax because conditions and snow types are so different. This explains why they developed what became the first range of waxes and pastes adapted for different conditions, but it was hard to see any difference between the products. In order to separate one from another, a different colour was added to each of the preparations. And that is how the distinctive SWIX colours came into being.

In winter 1948, the company began selling its first ski waxes in Norway. The fact that a Swedish company was selling ski wax in their country caused consternation among many Norwegians. In spite of this initial resistance, SWIX carried on with its work. The high quality of the products led elite Norwegian skiers to start using them, and as early as at the Olympic Games that year, all gold medallists had SWIX wax under their skis. SWIX’s reputation quickly spread both up and down through the ranks, and keep-fit skiers and crosscountry enthusiasts were soon using the product as well. The slogan “Based on tests and scientific thoroughness” encouraged even the most casual skiers to start “SWIXing”. It did not take long for the brand to become part of the Norwegian national identity.