Chester County Sneakers - Reebok, Nike, New Balance, Timberland and More
KEDS
In 1916, the Keds brand was introduced by the US Rubber Company as the first national athletic and lifestyle footwear brand. At this time, the shoes were called "sneakers," a term invented in late 1916 by Keds advertising agency because the rubber soles made the shoes quiet.
Worn by Olympic soccer players, scores of National and International Tennis champions, and many college athletes, Keds was coined the "shoe of champions" because of its reputation as America's premier athletic sneaker brand... Not only was Keds a leading athletic brand, it was also the brand of choice for cool style icons due to its classic, stylish, and authentic characteristics.
Rich in heritage, strong in performance, and revered in style, the last 88 years have proven that Keds is a champion brand in every way. The future of Keds will continue to bring authentic classic style with innovative advancements in performance and materials to meet the needs of athletic and lifestyle leaders in the 21st century.
www.keds.com
NEW BALANCE
The story of New Balance begins at the dawn of the 20th century in Boston, Massachusetts when William J. Riley, a 33-year-old English immigrant, committed himself to helping people with problem feet by making arch supports and prescription footwear to improve shoe fit.
In 1934, Mr. Riley went into partnership with his leading salesman, Arthur Hall, who was highly successful selling arch supports to "policemen and other folks who were on their feet all day."
In 1954, Arthur Hall sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law, Eleanor and Paul Kidd. Arch supports and prescription footwear remained the cornerstone of their business until 1961 when they manufactured The Trackster, the world's first performance running shoe made with a ripple sole and available in multiple widths. The Trackster soon became the shoe of choice for college running coaches and YMCA fitness directors.
During the 1960s, New Balance's reputation for manufacturing innovative performance footwear available in multiple widths grew through word of mouth and grassroots promotions.
When Jim Davis bought the company from the Kidds on the day of the Boston Marathon in 1972, he committed himself to uphold the company's founding values of fit, performance, and manufacturing
www.newbalance.com
NIKE
Our mission has always been to provide a competitive edge, to help athletes perform better. We climb inside the athletic mind. We feel every beat of the athletic heart. We flex, bend, twist and torque every inch of athletic sinew and muscle. It's not easy, but it's natural for us. We're athletes.
Ever since the fateful day in 1971 when a University of Oregon track coach named Bill Bowerman poured rubber into his wife's waffle iron, technological innovation has been the spark that lights Nike's fire. This guy used to count grams when hand-building shoes for his athletes. He even weighed the ink on U of O singlets. Everything was an opportunity in his mind. His thinking became the foundation of Nike.
www.nike.com
PUMA
.The history of PUMA is a journey through the greatest sporting achievements of the last fifty years. PUMA has accompanied Pele through World Cup finals, Boris Becker to the grass courts of Wimbledon and Linford Christie to an Olympic gold. It is a history of the constant search for improved performance through technological innovation and symbiotic work with top sports performers. Rudolf Dassler founded PUMA in 1948 in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Direct business competition from his brother Adolf created the environment that was to charge the modern sports trade for decades
www.puma.com
REEBOK
.Aerobics
By 1981, Reebok's sales exceeded $1.5 million, but a dramatic move was planned for the next year. In 1982, Reebok introduced the first athletic shoe designed especially for women; a shoe for a hot new fitness exercise called aerobic dance. The shoe was called the Freestyle™, and with it Reebok anticipated and encouraged three major trends that transformed the athletic footwear industry: the aerobic exercise movement, the influx of women into sports and exercise and the acceptance of well-designed athletic footwear by adults for street and casual wear.
The Beginning of a Classic
Explosive growth followed, which Reebok fueled with product extensions - new categories in which it also became a leader. The Freestyle is now a "Classic" and is Reebok's best selling athletic shoe of all time. Reebok's performance aerobic shoes have progressed through several generations
Fitness to Sports
In 1992, Reebok began a transition from a company identified principally with fitness and exercise to one equally involved in sports. It created a host of new footwear and apparel products for football, baseball, soccer, track and field and other sports. It signed numerous professional athletes, teams and federations to sponsorship contracts.
Signing Pro Athletes
In the late 1990s, Reebok made a strategic commitment to align its brand with a select few of the world's most talented, exciting and cutting-edge athletes. For several years now, the company has focused on those athletes who represent the top echelon of sports and fitness, among them Allen Iverson and Venus Williams.
Allen Iverson - When Reebok studied the deep and talented roster of prospective National Basketball Association draft selections in 1996, guard Allen Iverson was clearly the person it believed would generate the greatest excitement on the court and in the marketplace. After five successful years as on and off-court partners, Reebok and the NBA's MVP in 2000 signed a lifetime contract in November 2001. The deal guarantees Iverson remains a Reebok endorsed athlete throughout his professional career.
www.reebok.com
SAUCONY
We've spent years studying the biomechanics of top athletes. Our goal? To develop creatively engineered systems that maximize your performance in your specific activity, allowing you to focus on the activity instead of the equipment. From our studies have come many innovative Saucony concepts. Advanced technologies-like Grid, the first sole-based stability and cushioning system—provide an advantage to athletes of all types.
http://www.saucony.com/
TIMBERLAND
Here at Timberland, things are different from other companies. At our corporate headquarters, employees work hard to make some of the world's most innovative products, then use paid time-off to make a difference in the community. Children play in our in-house day care center. The committed young people of City Year New Hampshire, a national youth corps that recently set up shop within Timberland's walls, are hard at work. And throughout the entire company, it's evident that doing well and doing good are inextricably linked.
Our story began in 1918, in a small Boston, Massachusetts shoe company where Timberland founder, Nathan Swartz, began his bootmaking career as an apprentice stitcher. With his own hands, he cut leather, stitched seams, attached soles and learned how to craft fine leather boots. In 1952, he bought half an interest in The Abington Shoe Company. Three years later, he bought the remaining interest and welcomed his sons into the company. Together, they made shoes for leading manufacturers for nearly 10 years. In the '60s, waterproof leather boots as we know them didn't really exist. The Swartz family helped change all that by introducing injection-molding technology to the footwear industry. This technology fused soles to leather uppers without stitching, producing one of the first truly waterproof boots.
www.timberland.com
WIGWAM
Ironman Strong! These ultra-light Wigwam Ironman Ultimax Performance Mini-Crew socks have a patented moisture-control system for incredible comfort. Check out these amazing features!Reinforced achilles cradle Cushioned instep and ankle Ultra smooth toe closure Cushioned sole
Wigwam, a traditional manufacturer that's been in the foot business for a long time, has incorporated the latest in textile science into their new products. These are our best sellers, and there's one for every circumstance.
www.wigwam.com
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