Jofa, originally short for ''Jonssons Fabriker'' (Jonsson's Factories) is a maker of sporting equipment for sports such as

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

, bandy, and horseback riding, based in

Malung Malung is a locality and the seat of Malung-Sälen Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,126 inhabitants as of 2010. Overview Malung is home to Malungs Folkhögskola, two kilometers south of the town centre. Specialized courses include fo ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

History

Niss Oskar Jonsson founded Jofa in 1926. It can be considered an offspring of the hide industry in Malung; the company's first products were made out of leftovers from the hide industry, and the first factory was located in an old

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Jofa grew because of large orders on tents and

uniforms A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, s ...

from the Swedish military. Jofa was a subsidiary of

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

1973-1985 and in 1989 the company was bought by Karhu Canada Inc. Since 2004, Jofa is a part of

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

. Niss Oskar Jonsson, the founder of Jofa, died in 2002 at the age of 92 years.

Bandy

Jofa manufactures bandy equipment such as bandy sticks, bandy balls, clothes and helmets.

Hockey

The first step towards their most successful product was taken in 1963, when they started making hockey helmets. They have also manufactured other ice hockey equipment, such as ice skates and hockey sticks. Known NHL players who used Jofa helmets include such stars as

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Pengui ...

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006, and he assumed ownership of the ...

Jari Kurri Jari Pekka Kurri (; born May 18, 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. In 2001, he became the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017 Kurri was named ...

, Marty McSorley, Claude Lemieux,

Mats Sundin Mats Johan Sundin (; born 13 February 1971) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), retiring in 2009. Originally drafted first overall in 1989, Sundin played ...

, Markus Näslund, Peter Forsberg, Phil Housley, Teemu Selänne, Esa Tikkanen,

Daniel Sedin Daniel Hans Sedin (born 26 September 1980) is a Swedish professional ice hockey executive and former professional ice hockey winger who played his entire 17-season National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks from 2000 to 2018 ...

and his brother Henrik Sedin. In Roller Hockey, Daniel Campoverde and other players also used Jofa helmets. Reebok has phased out the use of the Jofa brand on its hockey equipment, in favour of its core CCM and Rbk brands. The Rbk brand has subsequently been changed to Reebok Hockey.ReebokHockey.com
/ref> Despite not producing hockey equipment since the 2004 Reebok buyout, Teemu Selänne was the only player in the NHL that continued to wear a Jofa helmet: a Jofa 366 with the Jofa logo blacked-out due to an expired licensing agreement with the NHL. Subsequent to Selänne's retirement after the Ducks' elimination in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, there are no longer any NHL players that wear a Jofa helmet.

References

External links

{{Commonscat, Jofa
Home page of Jofa
Sportswear brands Sporting goods brands Swedish brands Ice hockey brands Bandy brands Sporting goods manufacturers of Sweden