Our roots

Marcela and Ivan Hilgert met while paddling, in the late eighties both were members of the national team in water slalom. In communist Czechoslovakia, sport was a ticket to travel abroad. Participation in world competitions and especially the fact that they were part of the national team brought them an advantage in the form of equipment. The members of the national team bought equipment mainly from Germany, but most rowers in the Czech Republic, which at the time were under the strict control of the Communist Party, were not so lucky. Everyone helped each other as best they could. Syringes made from tablecloths and hand bags made from milk bags sound like a joke to us these days, but back then it was a reality.

It all started in a small block of flats in Jižák. Ivan went to work, Marcela was on maternity leave, and at night they sewed vests for their water friends. The first fabric arrived from America from their friend. "Dana assigned the head coach to an American rep, who flew here with three rolls of special fabric for the vests. He was half off, and so were we, because it was just before the revolution. The material was really a problem," says Marcela. During the communist era, everything was controlled by state-owned enterprises and a central system. No one could afford to import materials without state control, let alone make and sell things from them. Fortunately, in 1989, the communist regime fell and the door was opened for Marcela and Ivan to fulfill their dream - the path to entrepreneurship was free and nothing stood in the way of the creation of Hiko.

The name of the company dates back to the last century, when Marcela and Ivan's fathers (Luboš Hilgert and Zdeněk Košťál) met in the Czechoslovak national team. They both passed on their love of sports to their children, and from the first syllables of their surnames, the Hiko boating brand was born.

Vests, jackets, syringes, domestic production expanded, products increased and with them also the concern for premises and production machines. "I remember when Natálka was born in 1991. All women received gold chains and earrings in the maternity ward, and Ivan brought me our first jacket with neoprene armbands. She went to her knees, it was beautiful. The other mothers did not share my enthusiasm at all," says Marcela with a smile.

Originally the slalom portfolio has expanded to white water, sea kayaking, rafting and other paddling disciplines. From a sewing machine in the kitchen, through rented premises in Prague and in Mníšek pod Brdy, Hiko has reached its own premises in Jíloviště, from where it clothes boaters from all over the world.