The Bally Shoe company was founded as "Bally & Co" in 1851 by Carl Franz Bally (1821-1899) and his brother Fritz in the basement of their family home in Schönenwerd in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. In 1854, a shoe factory was set up in the village but Fritz Bally left the fledgling business and Carl Franz Bally carried on under the corporate name "C.F. Bally."
By the 1860s Bally employed more than 500 people. Within another decade it had built an international reputation for quality and design in both men's and women's shoes and expanded operations outside of Switzerland to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Paris, France.
In North America, Bally has boutiques in Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Boston, Costa Mesa, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Ledyard, McLean, New York City, and Panama City.
Carl Franz Bally died in 1899 and his sons carried on with the business. Although the Bally family maintained voting control, in 1907 "C.F. Bally & Co. Ltd." went public, their shares listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. The added capital allowed massive expansion for their much-in-demand shoes and by 1916 they employed more than 7,000 people.
The company survived the Great Depression of the 1930s and the difficulties of World War II to expand globally with great success in the post-War era including a successful entry into the North American market. In 1976 they added clothing, handbags and other leather accessories. The following year the Bally family sold their interest in the company. Numerous difficulties followed and the company struggled under poor management against a tide of low-cost products from developing countries flooding the global market. In 1999 Bally was sold to the American investment fund Texas Pacific Group. On 22 April 2008 it was announced that Bally International AG is to be sold to Labelux Group Inc.[1].
Today the company is headquartered in Caslano, Ticino, Switzerland.
References
- ^ Labelux Group acquires Bally International AG from Texas Pacific Group Inc - Thomson Financial Mergers & Acquisitions - AlacraStore.com
Cultural references
In the late 1980s Bally shoes attained cult status among rappers. Famous members of the rap scene, such as Jay-Z, Dana Dane, and Slick Rick mention Bally in their Songs. Jay-Z does so in "Ain't No Nigga" where he raps about his "flavor suede Bally's". Slick Rick included 1985 following lines in lyrics of "The Show/La Di Da Di": ""Put on the Bally shoes and the fly green socks". Bally shoes are iconic within the Old School scene. Tupac Shakur, however, was not a great fan of Bally shoes, as he mentions in the song "California Love", "In L.A we wear Chuck's, not Bally's"
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: BALLY Shoe |
- Official website The bally.com domain name was originally registered to the Bally Gaming Company systems division, and one of the first registered .com's. Bally Gaming sold the bally.com domain to Bally Shoes in the 1990s
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