Stride Rite, formerly the Stride Rite Corporation and stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing systems ...

, is an American children's

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

company. The company markets Stride Rite products globally through brand licensee Vida Shoes International.

History

Founding and early years

Stride Rite was founded in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in 1919, as the Green Shoe Manufacturing Company (“Green Shoe”) by Thomas LaLonde ,Jacob A. Slosberg and Philip Green. After founding the company, Thomas LaLonde, who owned the name Stride Rite, and Philip Green sold his interest to Slosberg twelve years later and Slosberg's sons Samuel and Charles led up the company as the heads of sales and manufacturing respectively. Green Shoe became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

in 1960 and was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. In 1966 Green Shoe adopted the Stride Rite Corporation name to emphasize the brand name of one of its best-known products. The name was purchased from Tom Lalonde in 1933. In 1968 Arnold Hiatt, the son of a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n immigrant, became president of the firm and sales were $35 million. Hiatt pursued a policy of acquisitions to keep the firm in tune with consumer preferences.

Acquisitions and expansion

Stride Rite's first retail store was opened in 1972. The

Sperry Top-Sider Sperry or Sperry Top-Sider is an American brand of Boat shoes, boat shoe designed in 1935 by Paul A. Sperry. Sperrys, or Top-Siders, were the first boat shoes introduced into the boating and footwear markets. Until January 2024, the Sperry brand ...

and Keds brand names were purchased from Uniroyal in 1979. Stride Rite purchased Toddler University in 1994. During 2005 Stride Rite completed its acquisition of Saucony and in 2006 Stride Rite purchased Robeez. Hiatt was instrumental in bringing in socially conscious business methods such as opening a day care center in 1971, as well as a Senior Day Care center for parents of employees, banning smoking in 1986, and sponsoring 40 inner-city youth to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Hiatt's alma mater. In 1992, Hiatt stepped down as chairman to pursue

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

through the company's foundation, and he has become a staunch advocate for electoral reform.

Collective Brands

In 2007, Payless ShoeSource of

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

acquired Stride Rite. On August 16, 2007, the company changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. By 2009, it was announced that Stride Rite would operate under the further-revised name of ''Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group''.

Wolverine World Wide

In May 1, 2012, Stride Rite, Keds,

, and Saucony became part of

Wolverine World Wide Wolverine World Wide, Inc. or Wolverine Worldwide, is a publicly traded American footwear manufacturer based in Rockford, Michigan. The shoemaker is known for its eponymous brand, Wolverine Boots and Shoes, as well as other brands, such as Hush ...

after a joint agreement with Blum Capital Partners and

Golden Gate Capital Golden Gate Capital is an American private equity firm based in San Francisco. The firm makes investments in a number of select industries, including technology, financial services, retail and industrial, through leveraged buyout transactions, as ...

acquired the Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands for US$1.23 billion.

Stride Rite stores

Stride Rite retail children's stores are located primarily in larger regional

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

s, clustered generally in the major marketing areas of the U.S.. The number of retail stores, as of 2012, by type for the Stride Rite Retail segment is represented in the table below.

In popular culture

It sponsors ''

Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written and illustrated by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original ...

'' on

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.striderite.com/ Companies based in Lexington, Massachusetts Clothing companies established in 1919 Wolverine World Wide American companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in Massachusetts