How it started
Founding and early years
Stride Rite was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1919, as the Green Shoe Manufacturing Company (“Green Shoe”) by Thomas LaLonde, Jacob A. Slosberg, and Philip Green. After founding the company, LaLonde—who owned the name Stride Rite—and Philip Green sold their 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 in 1960 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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 Lithuanian immigrant, became president of the firm. That year, annual sales totaled $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. In 1979, Stride Rite purchased brands Sperry Top-Sider and Keds from Uniroyal. Stride Rite purchased Toddler University in 1994. During 2005, Stride Rite completed its acquisition of Saucony, and purchased Robeez a year later.
From Wikipedia’s article on Stride Rite Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2