Brooks Running: the company that makes one thing

Brooks Running designs and sells performance running shoes, apparel, sports bras, socks and accessories - and, deliberately, nothing else. The company traces back to 1914, when John Brooks Goldenberg started a footwear operation in Philadelphia that at various points made ballet slippers, bathing shoes and ice skates. For most of the 20th century Brooks was a middling athletic-shoe maker that rode the 1970s jogging boom into the top three, then nearly collapsed.

The turning point was not a product. It was a decision. In 2001, incoming CEO Jim Weber refocused the struggling company entirely on running, dropping every other category. Where rivals chased the lifestyle-sneaker market, Brooks pointed itself at a single customer - the runner - and set out to earn the recommendation that happens at the local running store, after a gait analysis, when a shop employee hands someone the right shoe.

That focus compounded quietly. Brooks passed $1 billion in annual revenue in 2021 and closed 2025 up 16% year over year - its ninth consecutive year of growth - reaching roughly $1.5 billion. It now holds the No. 1 position in U.S. specialty running footwear and has kept around 20% U.S. adult performance running market share for eleven straight quarters, according to Circana.

In a category dominated by Nike's scale and energized by fast-rising challengers like Hoka and On, Brooks competes on a narrower promise: it is the brand entirely dedicated to running, sold and trusted at the specialty level. Rather than lead with hype cycles and limited drops, it leans on repeatable franchises, cushioning and support engineering, and the relationships built inside local running stores.

The ownership is unusual, too. Brooks is a wholly owned, standalone subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway - a structure that lets it invest for the long term without quarterly market pressure. It is, in effect, one of Berkshire's quietest compounding businesses.