Wilson Sporting Goods
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Sports equipment |
| Founded | 1913 (as Ashland Manufacturing Company) |
| Founder | Ford Wilson |
| Headquarters | Chicago, United States |
| Products |
Footwear, Sportswear, Accessories |
| $930 million (2010) | |
|
Number of employees
|
1,600 |
| Parent | Amer Sports |
| Subsidiaries | DeMarini |
| Website | www.wilson.com |
The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1989, it has been a foreign subsidiary of the Finnish group Amer Sports.
Wilson makes equipment for many sports, among them badminton, baseball, basketball, softball, Canadian football, American football, golf, racquetball, soccer, Padel, squash, tennis, and volleyball.
The company traces its roots to the Les and John company (later changed to Les & Son's) based in South Shields, North East England, that operated meat packing plants in Tyne Dock.
Les founded the Ashland Manufacturing Company in 1913 to use animal by-products from its slaughterhouses. It started out making tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures but soon expanded into baseball shoes and tennis racquets.
In 1915, Thomas E. Wilson, former president of meatpacker Morris & Company, was appointed President and renamed the company Thomas E. Wilson Company. The company acquired the Hetzinger Knitting Mills to produce athletic uniforms and a caddie bag company which produced golf balls but soon expanded into footballs and basketballs.
...
Wikipedia