running-shoes
(10)
Deckers Brands made comfort a $5.5 billion business
A sheepskin boot and an oversized running shoe have more in common than you think. Inside the company that turned two niche ideas into UGG and HOKA at global scale.
The Ex-Vibram Boss Who Bet Runners Wanted Room to Wiggle Their Toes
Tony Post spent 30 years selling other people's shoes. Then he built one shaped like an actual foot - and turned a run-specialty cult following into a DSW acquisition.
The Brazilian Shoe Giant That Learned to Run Three Brands at Once
Vulcabras owns Brazil's homegrown running champion and operates two global names. Its real product is the machine behind them - research, factories, retail reach and a feel for the Brazilian athlete.
Brooks Running
Brooks Running is a Seattle-based company that designs and sells performance running shoes, apparel, and accessories, and does nothing else. A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, it narrowed its focus to running in 2001 and turned a near-bankrupt shoe maker into a category leader, closing 2025 with roughly $1.5 billion in revenue and its ninth straight year of growth. Its core franchises - the Ghost, Glycerin, and Adrenaline GTS - anchor the No. 1 position in U.S. specialty running retail, built on cushioning and support technologies like DNA LOFT, BioMoGo DNA, and GuideRails.
Mizuno USA
Mizuno USA is the North American arm of Mizuno Corporation, the Osaka-founded sporting goods maker established in 1906. Headquartered in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, it designs, manufactures and distributes running, baseball, fastpitch and slow-pitch softball, golf, volleyball, and tennis equipment, footwear and apparel for the U.S. market. Known for its RunBird logo and signature Wave and Enerzy cushioning technologies, Mizuno serves everyday athletes, collegiate and professional teams, and specialty retailers across the region.
New Balance
New Balance is a privately held, family-owned athletic footwear and apparel company founded in Boston in 1906. Originally a maker of arch supports and orthopedic shoes, it grew into one of the world's largest sportswear brands, known for its running shoes, the iconic 990 and 574 sneakers, its unusual commitment to domestic manufacturing in the US and UK, and a strategy of being 'the best, not the biggest.' The company reported roughly $9.2 billion in 2025 sales and competes globally with Nike, Adidas and others across running, lifestyle, basketball, tennis, baseball and soccer.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and his former runner Phil Knight, it was renamed Nike in 1971 after the Greek goddess of victory. Nike designs, markets and sells footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories under the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands, reaching consumers through wholesale partners and a growing direct-to-consumer business of retail stores, apps and Nike.com. With roughly $46.3 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and about 80,000 employees, Nike sits at the center of global sport culture, backed by decades of athlete endorsements, the Swoosh logo and the 'Just Do It' slogan.
NOBULL
NOBULL is a Boston-based direct-to-consumer athletic brand that designs minimalist, durability-focused footwear and apparel for training and daily life. Founded in 2015 by two former Reebok executives, it built its reputation on no-nonsense CrossFit trainers before expanding into running, lifestyle apparel and nutrition. Now co-owned by entrepreneur Mike Repole and Tom Brady, the brand carries a reported $1 billion valuation.
On
On is a Swiss performance sportswear company founded in Zurich in 2010 that designs premium running shoes, apparel, and accessories. Built around its patented CloudTec cushioning - a sole of hollow rubber pods engineered to feel like 'running on clouds' - On grew from a specialty-running startup into a NYSE-listed brand (ticker ONON) with roughly $3.3 billion in projected 2025 revenue. Backed by tennis great Roger Federer since 2019, it competes with Nike, Adidas, and Hoka through design-led innovation, a fast-growing direct-to-consumer business, and manufacturing bets like robot-sprayed LightSpray uppers.
Saucony
Saucony is one of America's oldest athletic footwear brands, founded in 1898 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and named after the nearby Saucony Creek. A subsidiary of Wolverine World Wide, the company designs performance running shoes and apparel for runners of every level, from race-day carbon-plated racers to everyday trainers and rugged trail shoes. Known for cushioning technologies like PWRRUN, PWRRUN PB and EVERUN and for the popular Endorphin, Triumph, Kinvara and Peregrine franchises, Saucony pairs a 125-plus-year manufacturing heritage with modern biomechanical design, while heritage models like the Jazz and Shadow have crossed over into streetwear and lifestyle fashion.