You might be wondering who are the inventors of shoes, because we know shoes are part of our daily basic needs. Still, without anybody responsible for creating and designing them it will be impossible for humanity to use them.
Have you ever gone to an occasion or for a special outing and seen different designs and new shoes that you haven’t seen for once? What will first come to your mind? Two to three questions will come to your mind at once.
1. Who designed these shoes?
2. Where can you get them from? (if you like them) and
3. Which brand is responsible for this design?
But above all, the shoe that brings all of these questions and impressions to your mind was created by an individual and had its brand name, logo, or tag on it for easy identification
Gone are those days when people usually made shoes by themselves to wear, but it took a lot of time and process to make a pair of shoes at that time thanks to the advance in technology and the visualization of Jan Ernst Matzeliger for it, a shoe lasting machine for effortless production of shoes.
Jan Ernst Matzerniger was the first among those who invented shoes and the shoe-lasting machine for easy manufacturing of shoes.
But with the advance in technology, technology companies can make it easier by producing other easy shoe manufacturing equipment.
As we proceed, let’s look at some shoe brands, those who invented them, and how they came about their brand.
1. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight (NIKE):
Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight came up with the idea for Nike, for as they were known at the time of the company’s establishment, Blue Ribbon Sports. Bowerman was the University of Oregon’s track and field coach.
After a while, Knight and Bowerman decided to design and produce their shoes. To that purpose, in 1971, the now-famous Nike line of shoes started in this manner.
The business formally changed its name to Nike in 1978, and in 1980 it went public. Nike has become one of the most valuable brands in the world by the turn of the millennium.
The Greek Goddess of Victory is where the company name Nike comes from. Victoria, from whence we get the word triumph in English, is comparable to the Roman Pantheon if you’re more familiar with that structure.
Over 170 nations already have distributors and retail locations for it. One of the most popular logo in the entire world is its now widely recognized curved mark, or “swoosh.”
2. Adolf Dassler (ADIDAS):
Adidas was established by Adolf Dassler on August 18, 1949, in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
Adidas AG, formerly known as Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory, is a worldwide company that makes athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories.
With its base in Germany, it started by making the best soccer shoes before quickly expanding into various sports, including tennis, basketball, and soccer.
It serves as the parent corporation of the Adidas Group. This football-related holding firm also owns 8.33% of Bayern Munich’s apparel brand Reebok.
3. Rudolf Dassler (PUMA):
Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory was established in Herzogenaurach, Germany, by the Dassler brothers, Rudolf and Adolf. They unknowingly lay the cornerstone for the global center for athletic footwear.
They are just one shoe manufacturer in the community. The town is filled with additional, smaller factories. However, many did not make it past the 1950s and 1960s.
The brothers opened their factory in 1919 at their parents’ house before relocating it to its current location in 1924.Both become well-known during the first several years.
The vast majority of German competitors wore Dassler spikes in Amsterdam in 1928. Soon after, top athletes won further medals using Dassler footwear: seven gold and five bronze.
Also broke two world records and five Olympic records were also broken. It is their breakthrough on a global scale.
The Dassler brothers broke up and started separate businesses 28 years after starting their business. Rudolf Dassler relocated to a different home that belonged to the family.
He established his own business and converted this storage building into a factory with the aid of 14 workers:
The “Schuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler (RUDA)” was set up as a corporation in January 1948. It started operating on June 1 of that same year.
The birth of the PUMA brand took another four months. On October 1, 1948, “PUMA” was officially registered at the German Patent and Trademark Office.
Rudolf Dassler chose to call the business “PUMA Schuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler,” known in a letter to business associates and clients in December 1948.
Germany’s commercial register received the new company’s information on January 14, 1949.
4. Joe and Jeff Foster (REEBOK):
Joe and Jeff Foster, two brothers from England, started Reebok in 1958 to carry their family’s legacy of producing athletic footwear.
One of the first track spikes was created by their great-grandfather, Joseph William Foster, who founded an organization named J.W. Foster in 1895.
JW Foster and Sons, founded in 1895, was the first forerunner of the Reebok brand. It has a long track record of excellence.
Although they produced shoes in the UK, their brand was not well known. At the 1924 Summer Olympics, participants used shoes provided by the Foster firm.
The grandchildren of JW Foster, who desired to open their store, provided the leadership and motivation for the founding of the Reebok corporation. They gave it the name Reebok.
5. Ettore and Giansevero Fila (FILA):
Ettore and Giansevero Fila In Biella, Italy invented Fila. It was first established in 1911. But Fila entered the sports sector and established itself there in 1973.
Several tennis pros have supported and worn Fila, which has genuinely built a reputation in the tennis market.
Fila’s first “Fila Sport.Life Store” opened in Milan in 2001. Afterward, shops started to open in Tokyo and Paris. The history books will keep containing references to the Fila brand.
Additionally, Fila was the first business to produce apparel lines in colors rather than the prevalent all-white designs.
A line of High Top Fila shoes was just introduced, with the New York rapper Nas as its brand ambassador.
6. William J. Riley (NEW BALANCE):
In 1906, William J. Riley created New Balance as the New Balance Arch Support Company.
Riley got the idea for his first product while observing hens roam around his property.
Riley created a flexible arch support with three support points after being fascinated by how the chickens’ three-pronged feet allowed them to balance so precisely.
Riley employed Arthur Hall as a salesman in 1927; he later joined Riley as a partner in the 1934 establishment of the New Balance Arch Support Company.
Hall concentrated on marketing arch support to workers whose occupations needed them to stand up for extended periods because New Balance had yet to create a sneaker.
By 1960, young athletes were embracing New Balance arch supports, and some even approached the company to order custom-fit sneakers.
Eleanor and Paul Kidd used this inspiration when creating the Trackster, the original New Balance sneaker.
Conclusion:
There are numerous shoe inventors and shoe brands. Still, those discussed in this article are based on the top brand so that the reader can easily recognize them.
All the names of those inventors mentioned in this article are those who invented individual shoe brands and how the journey of their shoe brand started.