K-Swiss

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K-Swiss, Inc. NASDAQ: KSWS is a footwear company. They design, develop, and market a range of athletic shoes and casual footwear (sneakers) under the K-Swiss brand, and also design and manufacture footwear under its wholly owned subsidiary Royal Elastics, Inc., which creates slip-on footwear.

It was founded in 1966 in Los Angeles, California, by two Swiss brothers who became interested in tennis after immigrating to the United States, where they introduced the first leather tennis shoes.

In 1985 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 classic K-Swiss white stripes on white leather tennis shoe a classic "50-year shoe". Last year (2005) global sales passed $500 Million.

In the 1990s, Steven Nichols boosted K-Swiss's marketing budget and hired a number of key individuals from large companies such as Procter and Gamble and began a large marketing blitz around the K-Swiss brand. Due to advertising campaigns (primarily one where K-Swiss encourages users to personalize the trademark stripes under the slogan "Put Your Spin on It"), K-Swiss's popularity has risen immensely in recent years. K-Swiss shoes are popular not only for their style, but also for their comfort. The brand has been one of the leaders in interactive footwear with the introduction of their successful color changing K-Swiss Tongue Twister in 2003, Stripe Shifter and most recently their Band Em footwear styles.

The company continues to grow internationally and will pass 100 million in revenue in Europe in 2006.

Steven Nichols owns a little over 22% of the K-Swiss company (2006). His son David Nichols is the company's Executive Vice President (since 1995).

In 1996 two Australian trend setters realized there was no need for laces. Royal Elastics® was born. K-Swiss acquired it in 2001.Royal Elastics® is a sneaker company purely focused on the use of innovative and simple elasticated / stretch-fit closure systems to fasten the shoe to the foot. Royal Elastics® Stretch-fit Closure Systems™ are built for fast slip in and out speed, comfort and support.

Through Royal Elastics the company also produces a line of footwear for L.A.M.B., with Gwen Stefani serving as Creative Director and a forthcoming collection in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Foundation.