Gola The Classic Sneakers

TimeLine..

1905
On the 22nd of May the Gola brand was born. To date no one is entirely sure how the great name came about, it is said to have been an anagram of the word Goal.

1930's
Gola’s first Ad campaign was ‘Gola means Goals’ this was used on the sides of buses.

1939-1944
Gola did its bit for Britain by making boots for the army during World War II.

1965
Shankly’s famous Liverpool team stopped off at the Gola factory on their way to the FA Cup final at Wembley for some free boots. Adidas approached the team at Wembley and paid them to wear their boots. The cheeky scousers took Adidas’ money but did not wear their boots, instead they painted Adidas stripes onto their Gola boots and went on to win the cup.

1968
The birth of Gola’s flagship ‘Harrier’ training shoe.

1970's
Footballing legend Sir Alf Ramsay joined Gola’s board of directors and acted as an ambassador for the brand. In this decade Gola football boots were worn by the likes of Tommy Smith, Emlyn Hughes, Gerry Francis, Trevor Brooking and Peter Shilton.

1974
Mark Cox tennis shoe range is launched, which was quickly followed by the Barry John rugby range and the Alan Knott cricket range.

1975
Gola supplies training kits to Manchester United.

1977
Stan Bowles walks out for England vs Netherlands wearing one Gola and one Adidas boot, having accepted money from both companies. He scored in the game and rumour has it that the ball was struck by the Gola boot.

1981
Gola sponsors popular boy’s football comic hero Roy Race and his team Melchester Rovers, of the comic Roy of the Rovers. Player/manager Roy was shot JR style the same month.

1984-1986
Gola sponsors the Conference league, it was known as the Gola League.

1999
The Gola Classics range is launched and Noel Gallagher calls Gola to request a pair of ‘Harrier’ trainers for himself and ‘r kid’.

2003
Gola developed the striking Kaleidoscope ad campaign!.

2004
The Gola Classics Taxi sets out on its mystery world tour, where will it stop nobody knows.

2005
Gola celebrates its 100th birthday.

2008
2008 marks the 40th Anniversary of Gola’s oldest training shoe, the ‘Harrier’. To celebrate this iconic trainer, Gola has reverted back to the original styling and construction.