LEKI Lenhart GmbH was a spin off from the wood processing plant of Karl Lenhart created in Dettingen under Teck in 1948, which produced the wooden letters for lettering used by bakeries or butchers. LEKI's unique development started as a result of the founders' personal dissatisfaction: Karl Lenhart, an avid skier himself, was less than impressed by the quality and functionality of the ski poles of the time. Therefore, he used his own machine park to manufacture grips and baskets for skiing poles. These went into mass production in the 60s. On the other hand, Lenhart was familiar with aluminum and composite processing on account of his aircraft manufacturing experience. In 1970, he used these raw materials to produce his first ski poles to be sold under the LEKI brand, which stands for the owners and the company headquarters, i.e. Lenhart in Kirchheim.