Fila (company)
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| Private | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | Biella, Italy 1911 |
| Headquarters | Seoul, South Korea |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | |
| Parent | Fila Korea |
| Website | www |
Fila was founded in 1911 in Italy, and is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies.
Since a takeover in 2007 by Fila Korea, Fila is now owned and operates from South Korea. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila has offices in 11 countries worldwide.
Contents
History
Fila was created in Biella, Piedmont, by the Fila brothers in 1909. 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".[2]
On May 2011, Fila Korea Ltd. acquired global golf equipment maker Acushnet Company, becoming the new owner of leading golf brands such as Titleist for $1.23 billion.[3][4]
Clothing
Women
The women's Fila line of sportswear includes clothing for such sports as tennis, running, cross training, golf, swimming, and Fila's own line of vintage clothing.
Kids
Fila has everyday footwear for children of all ages, from infants to youth.
Branding
The corporate logo of Fila features the company name using snakelike letters.[5]
Past and present sponsorships
These include:
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Grant Hill- Jerry Stackhouse
- Chris Webber
Juan Sebastian Veron
John Barnes
Boris Becker
Björn Borg
Korean Olympic Committee- Daejeon Samsung Fire Bluefangs
- Incheon Korean Air Jumbos
- South Korean men's national sepaktakraw team [6]
- Park Tae-Hwan
- Son Yeon-Jae
Australian Cricket Team
Avaí Futebol Clube (since 2013/2014)- West Ham United F.C.
- Bournemouth F.C. (since 2013–15)
- Farnborough F.C.
- Morecambe F.C. (since 2014)
- Notts County F.C.
- Luton Town F.C.
Mohun Bagan A.C.- Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
- Rochdale A.F.C
- Stevenage F.C.
Deportivo Quito- Mark Philippoussis
- Jelena_Dokic
- Jennifer Capriati
Janko Tipsarević- Jelena Janković
Kim Clijsters
Andreas Seppi- Fiorentina
Arturo Gatti- Dusty Hernández-Harrison
Vitali Klitschko
Philippine Centennial Team- Philippine Volcanoes
- Miss World Philippines 2013
Kolossos Rhodes B.C.- AEK B.C.
- Panathinaikos V.C.
- Virender Sehwag: On July 2012 Fila signed up with Sehwag as its first ever brand ambassador in India. This contract is for a period of three years ending on 2015.[7]
Tina Maze
Spokesperson
- Robert Smith
- Hurricane Chris
- Diamond
- Nas[8]
- Percee P
- Big Bang (Korean pop group)
- Beast (Korean pop group)
- 2NE1 (Korean pop group)
- Jung Il-woo (2012 F/W collection)[9]
- Infinite (Korean pop group)[10]
- Son Yeon-jae
- B1A4 (Korean pop group)[11]
- Kim Soo-hyun[12]
Fila in pop culture
- The brand Fila was heavily featured in the 1986 film Soul Man.
- Ben Horne was wearing a Fila tracksuit in the 16° episode of second season of Twin Peaks
- The brand Fila was heavily featured throughout the entire run of HBO crime series "The Sopranos."
- The Fila logo is presented in the Super Famicom video games Super Final Match Tennis[13] and Dream Basketball: Dunk & Hoop.
- The Fila Store is one of the drop off points in the video game Crazy Taxi.
- Fila Decathlon (2002) is a European-exclusive title published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. Fila World Tour Tennis (2002) was released for the Xbox and Windows, while Fila Tennis Champions (2003) was released for the Windows.
- Toji Suzahara from Neon Genesis Evangelion wears a track jacket with the word FILA stitched on the front.
- Fila clothing was also very popular in the 1980s rap scene (today often called Old school hip hop). Examples are the song "Do the Fila" by Steady B, "Put your Fila's on" by Schoolly D or even a whole group labeled Fila Fresh Crew. Also the cover of Just-Ice's first album makes use of Fila signs.
- On the other hand, in their 1989 song "The Sounds of Science", the Beastie Boys exhorted listeners to "Rock my Adidas; never rock Fila."[14]
- However, in a dramatic reversal five years later, Mike D tried to mount a Fila revival, only to encounter considerable resistance[citation needed]: "Step into the party with the Fila fresh gear, people looking at me like I was David Koresh here" ("The Scoop", Ill Communication, 1994).
- In (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) by the same, Mike D wears a FILA T-shirt throughout.
- The main character of Prince of Tennis, Echizen Ryoma wears Fila sportswear for everyday use. His Fila cap and shoes are his trademark.
- Lisa Left Eye Lopes raps a line about Fila shoes in the group TLCs song No Scrubs "T-Boz and all my senoritas, are steppin' on your Filas, but you don't hear me, though"
- Alan Garner in The Hangover II is seen wearing a white Fila tennis vest in the scene that takes place in his bedroom.
See also
Excludes articles found in Category:Sporting goods manufacturers of Italy.
References
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- ↑ Fila Logo (Super Final Match Tennis) at GameFAQs
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fila (company). |
- Articles containing Thai-language text
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- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2012
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- Biella
- Clothing brands of Italy
- Clothing brands of South Korea
- Clothing companies of Italy
- Clothing companies of China
- Companies established in 1911
- Italian brands
- South Korean brands
- Shoe brands
- Sporting goods manufacturers of Italy
- Sporting goods manufacturers
- Sportswear brands
- 1911 establishments in Italy
- 1980s fashion
- 1990s fashion
- 2000s fashion
- 2010s fashion
- Watch manufacturing companies of Italy
