Olympic International – a proud heritage
The iconic Olympic International shoe brand trademark was registered in 1918. Inspired by the Olympic Games movement, the brand is still managed in Cape Town, by Bolton Footwear (PTY) LTD. Olympic launched with a focus on rugby and soccer shoes – the most popular sports of that era. Running spikes and road running shoes were soon added, followed by hockey, cycling and netball – the fastest growing sports in South Africa.
Olympic International is proud to be one of the only local brands supporting this growth with innovation in sports shoe design and technology.
The technical footwear era emerges
In 1994, South Africa’s exclusion from international sports ended and the country saw a surge of interest across various sporting disciplines. In the 90s, shoe technology grew exponentially, and the Olympic range became engineered to the very highest standards as a result. Today, Olympic includes all the latest internationally recognised “performance improving” attributes in its shoe ranges, backed up by an international quality assurance system. Every new project is rigorously tested and controlled before being launched into the market.
Olympic sporting greats
Olympic implemented a powerful marketing campaign during the 80s and 90s, competing with international shoe brands for sales volume and popularity. At that time, South Africa was isolated from world sport, and some international shoe brands were prevented from selling their product in South Africa. This further ingrained the brand in the psyche of local athletes and sports people across all codes. School sports and local club sports rapidly became the popular focus of attention, gaining many participants, due to our national teams being banned from world competitions.
Today, the legacy of Olympic continues to live on in each pair of shoes sold – in the sporting arena, lifestyle and fitness too.
Related posts
