The company's first factory was founded in 1898 at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, on the high banks of the Saucony Creek by four business men. In 1910, Russian immigrant A.R. Hyde started a shoe company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, called Hyde Athletic Industries. Over the years, Hyde became known for making athletic footwear including brands such as SpotBilt and PF Flyers; Hyde Athletic Industries bought Saucony in the late 1960s, and moved it to Cambridge. In 1979 two of Saucony's running shoes were selected in the top 10 by Runner's World magazine and by the following spring the demand for the product had gone up 20 fold. In the late 1980s, when Saucony became Hyde's dominant brand, the name of the company was officially changed from Hyde Athletic Industries to Saucony. Saucony's shoe boxes once had the phrase "sock a knee" printed on them, which represents the correct pronunciation of the company's name. The Saucony brand logo represents the Saucony Creek's constant flow, and the boulders lining its creek bed. The company is a popular racing shoe producer, making track spikes and cross countryracing flats. Saucony also makes shoes for specific track and field athletics events. In 2005 Saucony was acquired by Stride Rite Corporation for $170 million. Stride Rite Corporation was then acquired in 2007 for $800 million by Payless ShoeSource and the combined company became known as Collective Brands. In 2012, the Performance Lifestyle Group of Collective Brands, which included Saucony, along with Keds, Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider, became part of Wolverine World Wide in a $1.23 billion transaction that also involved the sale of Payless ShoeSource and Collective Licensing International to private equity firmsBlum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital. In 2016, Wolverine World Wide relocated Saucony and its other Boston-area brands to a new regional headquarters location in Waltham, Massachusetts. Wolverine World Wide sources a majority of its footwear from numerous third party manufacturers in Asia Pacific and South America.
Footwear
The company offers a variety of shoes, such as running, trail running, racing, walking, and a college collection. Each of these types of shoes utilizes specific technology relevant to the type of targeted activity. The shoes are designed for 3 main purposes: racing, running, and walking. Shoes are also made by focusing on the runner's foot size, type of running, arch type, pronation, and running location. On April 3, 2018, Saucony teamed up with the Massachusetts-based doughnut and coffee company, Dunkin' Donuts to produce a strawberry-frosted donut themed running shoe to commemorate the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon. The Saucony X Dunkin’ Kinvara 9 comes in a donut box and the heel of the shoe is covered in rainbowsprinkles. The company again released a Dunkin' themed running shoe inMarch 2019 on the successor to the Kinvara 9, the Kinvara 10.
Originals
Originals are Saucony's heritage range, which includes reintroduced older shoe styles produced by the company, which have been improved with better materials and different colorways. These include the popular Shadow model and Jazz model, the latter of which remains the company's biggest selling product of all time.
