A K-Swiss History
In 1966 two brothers from Switzerland, Art and Earnest Brunner, moved to California and decided to make a tennis shoe. They founded K-Swiss, and that year at Wimbledon the two unveiled their shoe, the K-Swiss Classic. A simple tennis sneaker with an elegant preppy-ness, the Classic was all white save for a tiny Swiss flag stitched on the heel. Both tennis players and upscale consumers took to the Classic, and K-Swiss soon found itself enjoying a steady following. What K-Swiss didn’t do was advertise. They had no TV spots, radio or magazine ads. They did not put out new models every season. Instead, K-Swiss built its following on reputation and word of mouth. In the 1960s and 1970s this worked well for the company, however in the 1980s the athletic footwear industry exploded into a full blown fashion trend and K-Swiss found itself snubbed by newer and flashier companies with millions of dollars in marketing and advertising to propelling. Companies like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and even L.A. Gear pushed K-Swiss to the background and sales began to drop.
In the mid-1980s the president of Stride Rite, Steven Nichols, took a look at K-Swiss and thought it would be a great acquisition. The company disagreed with Nichols about purchasing K-Swiss so Nichols, in an incredibly shocking and risky move, quit Stride Rite and raised the money to purchase K-Swiss on his own.
Taking advantage of the sneaker’s country club appeal, Nichols began to advertise accordingly. In fact, it was the first time K-Swiss had ever advertised. K-Swiss kept its products highly visible to the consumer, but methodically limited the availability of the product, thus creating an exclusivity image for the brand. Nichols gamble paid off. K-Swiss’s sales grew exponentially and, at the close of the 1990s, the magazine Footwear News said that K-Swiss “epitomized the little athletic footwear company that could.”
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K-Swiss Sneak-Facts:
• Nike spends more on the salary of one of their athlete endorsers than the entire annual advertising budget for K-Swiss.
• Since 1990 K-Swiss has been publicly traded on the NASDAQ: KSWS
• K-Swiss, Inc. is one of the fastest-growing athletic shoe companies in the footwear industry.
• K-Swiss also owns Royal Elastics, and Australian-born footwear company focused on innovative shoes that require no laces.
• Through Royal Elastics, K-Swiss also produces footwear for L.A.M.B., a clothing line founded by singer Gwen Stefani.
• Also through Royal Elastics, K-Swiss is working on a forthcoming collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation.
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Notable Models:
The Classic
The original K-Swiss sneaker, the Classic, has been around since 1966. The Classic is the first all leather tennis shoe.
Gallium
Colorful and flashy—at least by K-Swiss standards—the Gallium is a more recent addition to the K-Swiss family.
Si-18 (Premiere and Rannell)
The Si-18 Premiere is the 4th tennis shoe made by K-Swiss, and it found its way to the courts in 1991. The Si-19 Premiere is emblazoned with the flags of Australia, Great Britain, France, and the United States—the four host of the tennis Grand Slam tournaments. The Si-18 Rannell, below, is the jogging cousin of the Premiere, above.
