Fila went from Alpine underwear to a Korean-owned sportswear and golf empire
The brand on those chunky 1990s basketball shoes began in an Italian wool mill making underwear for people living in the Alps. A century later it belongs to a company in Seoul that, through a single deal, also owns the makers of Titleist golf balls and FootJoy shoes.
The Fila brothers, Ettore and Giansevero, joined a wool mill in Coggiola, in Piedmont's Biella area, in 1906. When the founding Regis family pulled out in 1911 the business took the name Fratelli Fila, and it was formally established in 1923. For decades it made clothing, mainly underwear, for Alpine communities. The turn to sport came in 1973 with an endorsement deal with the tennis star Björn Borg, and popularity followed.
Ownership passed from the Italian chemical company SNIA to the Fiat-controlled holding company Gemina in 1988. In 1991 Fila switched its emphasis from European clothing to American footwear and bought out its US licence. Sponsoring basketball players Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse helped make it the fastest-growing footwear brand in the United States by 1995.
Expensive athlete deals became a burden as margins tightened, and in 2003 the owners sold to the American fund Cerberus Capital Management. Fila Korea, until then a licensee running the brand locally, turned the tables in January 2007 by acquiring the brand and all its international subsidiaries. It listed on the Korea Exchange in September 2010, and in May 2011 paid $1.23 billion for Acushnet, owner of Titleist and FootJoy.
In mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao the brand rights went to Anta Sports in 2009, bought from Fila's former Chinese joint venture partner Belle International, though Fila Korea kept a 15% share in the venture. The parent, now called Misto Holdings, is chaired by Gene Yoon, whose company Piemonte, named after the brand's Italian home region, holds around a fifth of it.
Source: Fila
