Ugg boots are a unisex style of sheepskin boot originating in Australia. The boots are typically made of twin-faced sheepskin with fleece on the inside, a tanned outer surface and a synthetic sole. The term "ugg boots" originated in Australia, initially for utilitarian footwear worn for warmth, and which were often worn by surfers during the 1960s. In the 1970s, the boots were introduced to the surf culture of the United Kingdom and the United States. Sheepskin boots became a fashion trend in the U.S. in the late 1990s and a worldwide trend in the mid-2000s. In Australia, they are worn predominantly as slippers and often associated with daggy fashion sense and bogan culture.
Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, started in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the company has been the primary sponsor of the annual Vans Warped Tour traveling rock festival.
Saucony is an American brand of athletic footwear and apparel. Founded in 1898, the company is owned by Wolverine World Wide. Products commercialised by Saucony include footwear and clothing ranges, such as athletic shoes, jackets, hoodies, t-shirts, sweatpants, shorts, and socks. Accessories include hats and backpacks.
Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide, is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan. The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush Puppies and Merrell. The company also manufactures licensed footwear for other firms, such as Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson. In 2012, Wolverine World Wide added Saucony, Keds, Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider to its list of brands, after acquiring the Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands in a $1.23 billion transaction that also involved the sale of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International to private equity firms Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital.
Bob Evans Restaurants, also known as Bob Evans, is an American chain of restaurants owned by Golden Gate Capital based in New Albany, Ohio. After its founding in 1948 by Bob Evans (1918–2007), the restaurant chain evolved into a company with the corporate brand name "Bob Evans Farms, Inc." (BEF), and eventually established a separate food division to handle the sale of its products in other markets.
Payless is an international discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez, Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capital, and Golden Gate Capital. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with The May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro Wings line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless became an independent publicly held company. In 2004, Payless announced it would exit the Parade chain and would close 100 Payless Shoe outlets. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired the Stride Rite Corporation and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. The company had a total revenue for 2011 of US$ 3.4 billion. The company also has a stunt premium banner, Palessi Shoes. Payless is currently owned by a group of investors led by Alden Global Capital and Axar Capital Management.
PF Flyers is an American brand of lifestyle shoes owned by Kassia Designs, LLC. Founded in 1937 by B.F. Goodrich, it is one of the original American sneaker brands.
Keds is an American brand of canvas shoes with rubber soles. Founded in 1916, the company is owned by Wolverine World Wide. The original shoe design, the Champion, was the first mass-marketed canvas-top "sneaker."
Sperry or Sperry Top-Sider is an American brand of boat shoe designed in 1935 by Paul A. Sperry, older brother of writer and illustrator Armstrong Sperry, whose books often featured a sailing theme. Sperrys, or Top-Siders, were the first boat shoes introduced into the boating and footwear markets. Today the Sperry brand is owned by Wolverine World Wide and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Golden Gate Capital is an American private equity firm based in San Francisco. The firm makes investments in a number of select industries, including technology, financial services, retail and industrial, through leveraged buyout transactions, as well as significant minority purchases and growth capital investments. As of April 2018, it had over $15 billion in assets under management.
Vision Street Wear is an American apparel company focused on skateboarding. Started in 1976 by Brad Dorfman, the company sponsored early skateboarding greats such as Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, and Mark Gonzales.
Pro-Keds is an American athletic footwear line, primarily intended for basketball, established by Keds in 1949.
Frank J. Aquila is an American corporate lawyer. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance matters.
Stride Rite, formerly the Stride Rite Corporation and stylized in all lowercase, is an American children's footwear company. The company markets Stride Rite products globally through brand licensee Vida Shoes International.
Matthew E. Rubel is an American entrepreneur and investor. Formerly he was chairman, CEO and president of Collective Brands, Inc., the parent company for Payless ShoeSource, a footwear, accessory and lifestyle brand company; Collective Brands' Performance + Lifestyles Group ; and Collective Licensing International.
Xtep International Holdings Limited is a Chinese manufacturing company of sports equipment based in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. Established in 2001, the company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 3 June 2008.
Blum Capital Partners, L.P., also known as Blum Capital, is an American private equity firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm is focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital and PIPE investments in small cap and middle-market companies. Blum Capital became known for pioneering a hybrid strategy for investing in public companies, combining private equity and strategic block investment.
Arnold Hiatt is an American businessman notable for having been the president of the Stride Rite footwear company. In addition, he is notable for having been a large contributor to political campaigns for the Democratic Party as well as being a voice calling for money to get out of politics. He has called for serious electoral reform and public financing of elections. Hiatt has been consistently praised by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig for his stance on electoral reform.
Altra Running, commonly known as Altra, is an American manufacturing company engaged in the design, development, marketing, and sales of athletic shoes for road running, trail running, and general footwear. Altra has been ranked in the top 10 brands in “run specialty” and number 4 for trail running.
Post Holdings is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. It operates in the center-of-the-store, foodservice, food ingredient, refrigerated, active nutrition and private label categories. Its Post Consumer Brands business manufactures, markets and sells both branded and private label cereal products. Its Michael Foods Group business supplies value-added egg products and refrigerated potato products to the foodservice and food ingredient channels.
