History
Fila was created in Biella, Piedmont, by the Fila brothers in 1911. It originally started by making clothing for the people of the Italian Alps, now manufacturing sportswear for men, women, kids and athletes.
The company's primary product was originally underwear, before moving into sportswear in the 1970s, initially with the endorsement of tennis player Björn Borg. The brand got more popular after moving into sportswear.
The original Italian ownership shop Holding di Partecipazioni sold the company to US hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management in 2003, after the company over-committed itself to expensive athletic endorsements, at a time when margins were under pressure. Cerberus owned Fila through holding company Sports Brands International, which owned and operated all Fila businesses around the world with the exception of Fila Korea, which was a separate company operating the brand under licence. In January 2007, the global Fila brand and all its international subsidiaries were acquired by Fila Korea from SBI, which made it the largest South Korean sportswear company. Fila Korea currently holds all of the rights to the worldwide use of footwear and clothing brands of the parent firm.
In 2009, ANTA Sports acquired the rights to use the brand in China (the company "Full Prospect"), from Belle International, Fila Korea still owned 15% shares of the joint venture company "Full Prospect".
On May 2011, Fila Korea Ltd. has acquired global golf equipment maker Acushnet Company, becoming the new owner of leading golf brands such as Titleist for $1.23 billion.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)