Park City, UT – Germany’s Reusch gloves has signed a four year renewal through 2015 to provide gloves to the U.S. Alpine Ski Team, the team announced Monday.nThe renewal of Reusch came on the heels of a World Championships held in Germany that saw the U.S. Ski Team win three medals, including a spectacular gold medal performance by Audi FIS Alpine World Cup leader Ted Ligety in the giant slalom. Julia Mancuso opened the Championships with silver in super G, followed by Lindsey Vonn’s silver in downhill before Vonn bowed out of the remaining Championships races over lingering effects of a concussion suffered in a training crash.

The Reusch partnership with the team is based on both athletic performance and marketing. Reusch is a strong merchandising partner, taking Team-logoed gloves to the U.S. marketplace.

“Reusch is a noted industry leader and has seen the merchandising benefits of our U.S. Ski Team logo,” said the Team’s Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Andrew Judelson. “Reusch has seen that value over time and is stepping up its partnership.”

Reusch has a long and storied history in sport, dating back to 1934. The company branched into support of ski teams in the 1980s and has had a relationship with individual athletes or the U.S. Ski Team since then.

“Our partnership with the U.S. Ski Team helps to underline our goal of keeping our cutting edge products in line with the results of the team,” said Reusch Managing Director Erich Weitzmann. “Providing quality products to the team gives us the best field test possible year after year, which sharpens our understanding of the effectiveness of gloves.”

Gloves play a vital role in competition – not just for warmth, but for performance and protection. Reusch’s high performance gloves provide an exacting fit for athletes around their ski pole grips and provide much needed protection when banging gate poles at speeds in excess of 70 mph.

A forum like the World Championships in its home country allowed Reusch to gain valuable firsthand feedback from U.S. Ski Team athletes.

“Reusch is at the forefront of gloves and racing,” said downhiller Steven Nyman. “It will be great to continue working with the company.”

“It has been a real honor to share some incredible moments with the U.S. Ski Team all over the world, especially being a part of medal winning events,” said Weitzmann.

While the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, it does contain an innovative approach with additional performance payouts to the team based on its results.