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Does the name LA Gear ring a bell? Maybe you had a pair in middle or high school, maybe you remember seeing an advertisement for it in a comic book or a commercial while watching Saturday morning cartoons. You might even see them still on sale in a Ross Store! What's the image that comes into your head when you think about the brand? Was it the logo or the design of the shoe? Was it a party or event you went to rocking them? Believe it or not, the brand is still around, and still trying to make a comeback with partnership with stores and rappers. Let's go back and see where LA Gear came from.
LA Gear was founded by Robert Greenburg from Los Angeles, California. He was an enterprising man having owned businesses in the hairdressing industry and later selling wigs and electric tweezers. Roller skating started becoming popular in the late 70's, especially after the release of the movie, Xanadu and wanting to cash in on the rising popularity, he bought small shop for roller skate rental. The shop received much success... until the roller skating trend died out. He then started to venture into a shoelace company, and after the successful run of that, Greenburg ventured into women's apparel. He stocked ready-to-wear apparel at his store, but eventually started to sell clothes and shoes which he designed himself. And so, LA Gear was born in 1982.
He created a pair of women's workout shoes made of canvas, and with his experience in marketing his product, he started to sell out his shoes to women buyers. His business started to rise, and in 1986, he took the company public. He took to the flashy, neon, studded designs which were popular in the 80's and early 90's and his sales began to skyrocket. In 1990, his sales amounted to $818 million and he was third behind Nike and Reebok.
LA Gear's commercial in 1989, using Michael Jackson's song, 'The Way You Make Me Feel'One of the first athletes to endorse LA Gear was NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Following shortly after was Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon. San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Joe Montana and ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky soon followed suit. Singers Belinda Carlisle, Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul (who's shoe became the most successful in the 90's) were also endorsed. Their newly released designs were (if some of you may remember) named Catapult, Regulator, LA Lights, LA Tech and Flak.
But all good things must come to an end, as the company started to sell their products to higher-end department stores, their shoes were getting harder to acquire. In 1994, they stopped production on their men's line of shoes and focused aggressively on the women's and children's department. By 1995, Wal Mart and LA Gear signed for a three-year contract, but by then, it was already too late. People were already starting to lose interest. LA Gear signed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998.
The company's licensing was sold to ACI International, and after several attempts to make a comeback through the 2000's with both retro and newer designed, they never managed to become the brand they were in the late 80's and early 90's. In 2015, the company released a L.A. Lights Liquid gold edition and the T Raww Runner which were endorsed by rapper Tyga.
F21 x LA Gear campaign 2018. Source
Presently, Forever 21 collaborated with the brand to bring back their retro style, dubbed F21 x LA Gear or #f21xlagear. You can purchase from their online store here. And that's all for now, what do you think? Should LA Gear have a comeback now, that sneakers and throwback fashion has been a trend for several years now?
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