J.W. Foster and Sons

Established by Joseph W. Foster in 1895, the company was a pioneer in the use of track spikes for runners and athletes, producing most of the highly-regarded running shoes in the 1920s.

At the age of 14 in 1895, as a member of the local harriers, he started work in his bedroom above his father's sweet shop in Bolton, and designed some of the earliest spiked running shoes.

[2] For pioneering the use of spikes, the company's revolutionary running pumps appear in the book, Golden Kicks: The Shoes that changed Sport.

Foster was also supplying most First Division (now English Premier League) Football teams with trainers and signed a contract for distribution in the United States by Frank Ryan and Bob Geinjack, coaches at Yale University.

Upon their return to J. W. Foster & Sons, they saw a business failing to react to the growth of rival manufacturers such as Adidas and Puma, which had successfully entered the market after World War II.