Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) is an American clothing company that specializes in

sneaker Sneakers (American English, US) or trainers (British English, UK), also known by a #Names, wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but are also widely used for everyday casual ...

s. Its first shoe, the APL Concept 1, was banned from the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) for providing an undue competitive advantage.

History

APL was founded in 2009 by Adam and Ryan Golston, identical twins, and is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The company was started when the Golstons were students and athletes at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. Its first shoe, the APL Concept 1, included eight compression springs to give extra

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

height to the wearer. After advertising the shoe in a double-page ''Slam'' magazine advertisement, many NBA players, agents, relatives, and the league itself reached out to the company to learn more. The NBA in 2010 banned the Concept 1 from all league functions, including games, for providing an undue competitive advantage; it was the first time the league had banned a sneaker model for performance reasons. Many NBA and WNBA players bought the Concept 1 shoes anyway, and the company continued to produce performance and luxury apparel from then on. APL has two flagship retail stores: one at

The Grove at Farmers Market The Grove is a retail and entertainment complex in Los Angeles, located on parts of the historic Farmers Market. The mall features Nordstrom and Barnes & Noble. History The complex fills space previously occupied by an orchard and nursery, ...

in LA, which opened in 2019, and one in

SoHo, Manhattan SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall (SoHo), and ha ...

, which opened in 2023. Their products are also sold at

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

Net-A-Porter YOOX Net-a-Porter Group S.p.A. is an Italian online fashion retailer created on 5 October 2015 after the merger between Yoox Group and Net-a-porter Group (NAP). Yoox was originally founded by Federico Marchetti (businessman), Federico Marchetti ...

Shopbop Shopbop is a US online fashion apparel and accessories shop opened in 1999. It has been a subsidiary of Amazon.com since 2006. History Shopbop was founded by Bob Lamey, Martha Graettinger, and venture investor Ray Zemon in November 1999 in Madiso ...

, Lane Crawford, and

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

Endorsements and sponsorships

Sofia Richie and members of the

Kardashian family The Kardashian family ( ), also referred to as the Kardashian–Jenner family, is an American family prominent in the fields of law, entertainment, reality television, fashion design, and business. Through different ventures, several members of ...

are fans of APL shoes.

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

named the APL Lusso Slides to her 2021 Oprah's Favorite Things list. The company has partnered with

Nastia Liukin Anastasia "Nastia" Valeryevna Liukin (; ; born October 30, 1989) is an Americans, American former artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 Olympic Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic ind ...

to release limited-edition sneakers in 2021 and 2024.

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

has been seen at

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

events and public appearances in APL sneakers. APL is the official footwear partner for

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

;

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver

Sergio Pérez Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Red Bull, and won Gr ...

has been seen wearing the company's sneakers.

References

External links

* {{Official site, https://www.athleticpropulsionlabs.com Clothing companies based in Los Angeles Shoe companies of the United States American companies established in 2009 Retail companies established in 2009