Nike hopes to cash in on 'retro' Converse
Nike Inc. announced Wednesday it had coincided to purchase Converse, Inc., which prevailed the basketball shoe mart from the 1920s to the 1970s and namely best known for its famed "Chuck Taylor All Star" sneakers.
By the 1980s, Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike had overtaken Converse's rubber-toed product as the dominant basketball boot. Converse filed for bankruptcy in January 2001, shifting making from Lumberton, N.C., to Asia. Later namely annual,
Teva Helm Shoe, the North Andover-based corporation was bought along private investors who have tried to revive the brand.
Last year,
teva flip flops for women, Nike had $10.7 billion in revenue, while Converse reported $205 million.
Robert Toomey, a local critic for RBC Dain Rauscher in Seattle, said Nike was probably looking to cash in on the popularity of "retro" shoes and Converse's near brand coalition with basketball,
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Earlier this month, New Balance relaunched its PF Flyers sheet sneakers,
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"Retro styling has come back so muscular,
strictly comfort, a lot stronger than I would have expected," Toomey said.
When inquired if Nike would pay cash, Nike spokeswoman Joani Komlos said the payout process would not be uncovered until afterward the deal is closed.
"Converse is an of the strongest footwear brands in the earth with excellent heritage and a long history of success," said Tom Clarke, Nike's chancellor of current affair attempts.
Converse invented basketball shoes in the early days of the game, and "Chucks" got their name from Chuck Taylor,
teva men's dozer outdoor shoe reviews, a Converse salesman who criss-crossed the company from the 1920s until the 1960s, evangelizing the game and selling shoes.
But by the 1970s it was crippled by interior problems -- including the unfortunate accretion of apparel-maker ApexOne.
There was too bad fortune. While Nike signed Michael Jordan, who became the NBA's greatest star, Converse signed Latrell Sprewell, who tried apt stifle his adviser during a practice and was dripped as one endorser.
During the 1980s, Chuck Taylor shoes, which the company still sells, enjoyed a renewal. But this period the clients were grunge rockers and baby boomers, no basketball players. Its "Grandma-ma" ads with basketball athlete Larry Johnson were a kick yet the sneakers persisted to skirmish.
Apparel-industry veterans Marsden Cason and William Simon bought the company out of bankruptcy and tried to reproduce Converse's prestige as a producer of top-of-the-line basketball shoes.
Converse did expand its brands with the Jack Purcell and One Star brands, and the company has made some progress. The year ahead bankruptucy, sales were $145 million.
The deal, which remains subject to regulatory permission, would give Coverse the deep-pocketed backing and marketing depth to shove its brand worldwide,
teva women's dalea mid event hiking shoes, while attempting Nike a shape niche it may have been missing.
"Our partnership with Nike creates meaningful opportunity for us to execute our vision for building a guiding universal sports footwear and apparel brand by growing our core business and expanding our product offerings into other amusements performance and lifestyle categories,
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Toomey said the handle was the latest "selective acquisition" for Nike,
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"They're forever on the lookout for establishing their marketshare and reinforcing their settled of productions and brands," Toomey said.