K-Swiss was founded in 1966 in Los Angeles, California, by the two Swiss brothers Art and Ernie Brunner who became interested in tennis after immigrating to the United States, where they introduced the first leather tennis shoes.
In 1986, Steven Nichols, while working at Stride Rite, was so impressed with the K-Swiss tennis shoe that he tried to convince his bosses to purchase the K-Swiss company. When his superiors passed on the opportunity he headed a group of investors that bought the company for $20 million. Mr. Nichols called the K-Swiss white stripes on white leather tennis shoe a "classic 50-year shoe", and in 2005, global sales passed $500 million. The company has grown internationally and passed $100 million in revenue in Europe in 2006. It acquired the Royal Elastics shoe firm in 2001, but sold it off to a management-led investment group in 2009. |
