The company was founded in the early 1900s by Geneva-based jeweller and alpinist enthusiast, Felix-Valentin Tricouni Genecand. Tricouni was most noted for inventing the modern shoe-buckling system, the arrêt-de-cordon (cord stop), and the Tricouni clou. The Tricouni clou was used by George Mallory and his team on his historic journey up Mount Everest. In recognition of his inventions, Tricouni Peak in Canada and Mount Genecand in Antarctica were named after Tricouni.