Running Shoe Companies

Those that know me, know I love my running shoes and I do have a lot of pairs of shoes in my current rotation. I am running in Skechers, Altras, Sauconys, Brooks, New Balance, Merrell, Inov-8s, Vibram FiveFingers and my most recent acquisition Hoka Mafate 3's. More on all of these later. This post is about the shoe companies, no not the names above but the real owners.

Take Hokas, they were acquired by Deckers Outdoors, they also own Teva and UGG's. You can read more if you like at Runners World or Competitor.

What about my Brooks shoes? Brooks owns Brooks right, wrong, Brooks is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Per the wikipedia post they were acquired first by Russell in 2004 and then Berkshire in 2006. Interesting, I guess Warren Buffett must be a runner at heart.

Ok what about Altras? They are a start up right and owned by the founders, right? Wrong, again per wikipedia they were acquired by Icon Health & Fitness in 2011, funny I have never heard them mention this. Oh well. Still good shoes.

And Skechers? Hey again in reading their history, they appear to be owned by their founders still. Oh by the way I do like their shoes. I found I really like the bionic trails but not for long trail runs. They don't offer me quite enough protection.for runs longer than 10 miles, it's more my issue than theirs, more about this later.

New Balance? They appear to be their own company and still make some of their shoes in the US and some in the UK, checkout Wikipedia for more info, so if buying American is your preference then they are your best choice.

Next up, Saucony? Although they were acquired by StrideRite (makers of Keds), per Wikipedia they are now owned by Wolverine World Wde. Think Wolverine boots and Hush Puppies and a few others.

Oh did I mention a few others, well guess who owns Merrell's? That's right Wolverine World Wide. Although (again per wikipedia) to be technically accurate they are a wholly owned subsidiary

Next up, Inov-8? It appears they are owned by Inov-8. They are a UK based company and I have found that they make some of the best trail shoes out there.

And Vibram FiveFingers, it appears they are still owned by Vibram and of all my shoes I have neglected these most of all.

Did I mention that Montrail is owned by Columbia SportsWear, Vasque is owned by Red Wing Shoes, Pearl Izumi is a subsidiary of Shimano (think cycling), Newton owns Newton but they did try to sell their technology to Nike, Saucony and Adidas but were turned down so they started their own company. And last but not least I think Nike owns Nike and Adidas owns Adidas and Asics owns Asics, I think that covers the brands I normally think about.

So does any of this matter, no but I found it interesting and I thought a few others might too.