Tennis is a sport that often traps itself in its own traditional boundaries. The sport has always been a bit obsessed with a clean dress code. In fact, it isn’t even overstating to call it rigid.

Local Roots, Global Ambitions: The History of Fila - Cult Edge Local Roots, Global Ambitions: The History of Fila - Cult Edge

Basketball explodes onto the scene as more than just a sport. The 90s, too many consumers, are the years when the game’s visual appeal – the style, the athleticism – really took a leap forward. The early 1970s see Frachey hit the ground running. Fila makes their entry into major sports endorsements by taking on the tennis world. Choosing this route as your entry into the sportswear world makes a lot of sense for a few reasons. Though the signing of Grant Hill is arguably the brand’s most impressive achievement here, there is more. Fila becomes so popular among basketball circles in the 90s that names such as Chriss Webber – a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee – also join their roster.

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Tennis, much like soccer, offers a naturally global fanbase. Since the beginning of the Grand Slam era, tennis brands often have a chance to meet the eyes of consumers in several continents, from the United States and the United Kingdom to Japan and Australia.

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Hill spends his early years with the lofty comparisons to Michael Jordan. Webber spends his career adding remarkable excitement and dynamism to an often boring and immobile position in the sport. Both are titans in basketball, contributing to the history of Fila shoes. A New Relevance + The Future Borg’s appearance means a lot to the visual development of the sport. His combination of undoubtedly European styling and the clean reputation contributes a special presence to the game. Moving into the early 70s, Fila steps in to change this. After their official entry into the sport, the brand begins to release signature gear and accessories. Eventually, they go on to release the White Line collection.As such, this collection introduces to tennis a splash of color and flamboyance. Importantly, the whole collection features in relatively conservative finishes.

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That love, that ambition to live up to lofty standards seems often to remain with brands. It guides their future, all the way from their past. The history of Fila is no different. Of course, the numbers only get wilder from there. After decades of massive sales numbers, the staff total climbs to over 250 people. More importantly, Fila works their way to revenues numbering in the equivalent to nearly a billion euros.That stretch of time sees massive success as the years go by with the family brand managing to maintain a focus on the highest quality standards. For the purposes of understanding the company’s history, this is also an important time for Fila’s transition into a more specific section of the global sportswear market. New Leadership Throughout the sport’s existence, most Grand Slam events expect and encourage participants to be in all-white attire. Though the clothing these athletes wear focuses intensely on freedom of movement and ventilation, tennis officials found themselves equally concerned with the sport’s image.

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The tongue-in-cheek nature of this collection is evident from its name. Anyone who knows what the Fila logo looks like understands that limiting to White isn’t quite the brand’s style. Pouring investment into tennis sponsorship is almost a no-brainer. Yet, Fila makes sure to make quite the splash in this effort. Status Quoproves to be an important year in the history of Fila. The brand takes full advantages of the global tennis stage – and all of its audiences – by doing something quite clever. Fila’s reputation to anyone under the age of 30 has more to do with a sort of vague relevance in the fashion world. Today, it hangs on to the accidental success of a retro wave.