Today, the sporting shoe industry is dominated by shoe companies that just make shoes. Shoes for boating, running, cross training, golf, football and the like are all in the domain of sportswear brands. But during the early 20th century, a key element to sporty shoes was the rubber that wasMORE HERE
A BrandlandUSA reader asked about the history of America’s Number One Heel. The heel brand was O’Sullivan; it was the invention of Humphrey O’Sullivan, of Lowell, Mass., in 1896. O’Sullivan attached pieces of rubber to his shoes to ease leg fatigue. From then on, consumers have sought tech solutions toMORE HERE
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Crocs, Inc. (NADSAQ: CROX), the footwear company, said in a press release today that it had filed lawsuits against 21 companies alleging infringements of its registered trademarks. The lawsuits, filed in multiple U.S. District Courts, seek monetary damages for violations relating to Crocs’ three-dimensional trademark rights. Defendants namedMORE HERE
GOLETA, Calif. – The shoe brand Hoka One has hired two for key design positions. Evie Moe is the brand’s first senior director of apparel. Moe has 20 years of experience in apparel, ranging from performance running to lifestyle and swimwear and most recently served as the vice president of designMORE HERE
Tretorn. The Swedish brand still has that country club allure, made even more exotic by the fact that they are still a bit hard to find in U.S. stores, though now seem to be reappearing. Above, an old commercial for the brand that seems to date from a 1990s revivalMORE HERE
St. LOUIS – The walls of Cracker Barrel always have amusing signs, all real. One brand we saw along at one on I-95 in South Carolina were Alox Shoe Laces. Alox was founded by John Frier (1895-1974), who in 1919 invented a new way to make shoelaces by crimping aMORE HERE
Jack Purcells are one sharp looking shoe, and they make us remember the era of the rubber company sneaker. Jack Purcell was a Canadian badminton player; I always supposed that the scalloped toes of the shoes somehow allowed him to lunge into the bird better. Fascinating to me was thatMORE HERE
BrandlandUSA reader, Bill O’Neill of the St. Louis firm of Senniger Powers LLP, alerted us to this image from a 1930’s Cat’s Paw package. It was the image that was filed with the USPTO when the trademark was renewed in 2006. Shoes are much better (and less slippery) when theyMORE HERE
First used in 1904, Cat’s Paw is one of the great American brands. The cat, according to Hal Morgan’s book Symbols of America, was designed by Lucian Bernhard for the Cat’s Paw Company of Baltimore. Bernhard is a famed German graphic designer who is best known for the font Bernhard,MORE HERE