Rise of the K-Swiss Shoe Company

K-Swiss was a company developed in the United States back in 1966 by two brothers from Switzerland. After immigrating to the United States, the Brunner brothers acquired the love of tennis and decided to design sneakers exclusively for tennis. What made these shoes unique was the fact that they were made out of leather. During the 1960's leather shoes did not exist and the Brunners were the very first people to introduce them to the general public. Canvas shoes for Tennis were not of decent quality at the time which gave them the opportunity to capitalize on the notion.

With shoe giants Nike and Reebok hogging the spotlight, K-Swiss wasn't very well known among consumers during the 1980s. K-Swiss was a struggling shoe manufacturer that was drowning in bankruptcy, but a man by the name of Steven Nichols saw something special in K-Swiss's Classic K-Swiss shoe. Mr. Nichols at the time was the Vice President of Merchandise for a shoe marketer called Stride Rite. The now famous K-Swiss Classic caught Nichols' eye because it was what he called a 50-year shoe which meant a shoe that has the ability to maintain a significant audience for many years to come. Nichols urged his bosses to purchase the lowly company, but they rejected the idea leaving him to make a life changing decision. The original founders (Art and Earnest Brunner) of K-Swiss were not very familiar with the shoe industry. Under their ownership, financial data showed that the company struggled among American consumers compared to those who were located overseas. Not capitalizing on K-Swiss's potential, the Brunners eventually sold their business to Nichols and his group of investors for 20 million dollars. Nichols understood the heavy baggage that was left by the now successful company during the 1980s, but the quality of their sneakers was just too good to pass on. With the right marketing techniques and right financial moves, K-Swiss became a booming large small business. Reaching young trendier "MTV" audiences (consumers) catapulted their success in the shoe industry with the help of larger companies such as Proctor and Gamble. Their success gave birth to their famous slogan "Put your spin on it" on some of their shoes.

Any information regarding K-Swiss was found at their official website at www.kswiss.com

Further details regarding Steven Nichols career was found at forbes.com