Wilson Sporting Goods (or simply Wilson) is a sporting goods company that is based in Chicago, Illinois. It is currently a subsidiary of the Finland-based company Amer Sports, which also owns Atomic, Suunto, and Precor. Wilson makes equipment for a variety of sports, including badminton, baseball, basketball, softball, football, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis, and volleyball.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary of Amer Sports |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sportswear and Sports equipment |
| Headquarters |  Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Products | Footwear Accessories Sportswear |
| Website | http://www.wilson.com/ |
Tennis
Wilson tennis racquets have always been extremely popular among professional tennis players. Pete Sampras used them to win 14 grand slams and some of the top players currently using Wilson racquets include Roger Federer, Novak Đoković, Serena Williams, Nicolas Kiefer, Gastón Gaudio, Justine Henin, Guillermo Canas, Venus Williams, and the Bryan Brothers. Former players who have used Wilson rackets during their careers include Jack Kramer (an eponymous model as well), Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Stefan Edberg, Lindsay Davenport, and Steffi Graf (who also used Dunlop). Pete Sampras' racquet, the original Pro Staff, was characterised by a small head (85 sq in), heavy weight(350+ grams), and Graphite-Kevlar contruction. The same racquet was also used by Roger Federer, though he now uses a newer model, the KSix-One Tour, which has a 90 sq. inch head and weighs 354 grams. It should also be noted that many professional players use specially-made, customized racquets so that even if the model is the same, they play differently. Also, many have racquets painted to look like new models but are in fact older models no longer being maufactured (Lleyton Hewitt employs this strategy with Yonex).
In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open,[citation needed] and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls.[citation needed] The Australian Open reported using more than 450,000 Wilson Tennis Balls during the tournament.[citation needed]
Beyond tennis racquets, Wilson also produces a variety of other tennis products including shoes, strings, apparel and racquet bags.
nCode
Wilson released a line of racquets called the nCode.
[K] Factor
Wilson's newest line of racquets are called the K Factor.
Racquetball
Ripper
Ripper is a racquetball racquet. It is labeled with the word titanium, the slogan "Crushing power", the registered trademarks "Wilson", as well as the "U.S.Pat.No.6,935,975".[1] According to the online United States Patent and Trademark Office as of May 11, 2007 there were only two "live" trademarks for the full mark, "Ripper".[2] The racquet is also labeled with "Ripper" followed by the trademark symbol "TM". Wilson Sporting Goods claims that this racquet is made in China, has a:
- weight of 215 grams,
- head size of 108 square inches,
- string tension of 33 to 35 lbs., and
- an even balance.[3]
Footballs
The Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio is the only dedicated football factory in the world and the only place where footballs are manufactured in the United States.[citation needed] Wilson has been the exclusive provider of footballs for the National Football League since 1941.[citation needed] The official NFL footballs are sold exclusively to the NFL franchises and are labeled with the model number F1010.[citation needed] The official NFL football sold to the general public, which is labeled with the model number F1000, is essentially the same ball which has passed less stringent quality control checks.[citation needed] The F1000 model is commonly used for the collection of football player autographs.[citation needed]
Golf - Wilson Staff
Wilson Staff is a popular golf brand which has being recently (2004) brought back as the name of Wilson's line of golf equipment. The Wilson Staff brand dominated the game fifty years ago but since then it seemed to vanish. To mark the 90th anniversary of Wilson sporting equipment, the golf department decided to re-launch as Wilson Staff.
Goods such golf balls, gloves, caps and clubs are all found with the Wilson Staff logo. The clubs inparticular have proved successful with ranges for all levels of players. The most recent clubs to take the golf world by storm have been the Fi5, Pi5, Ci6 and Di6 ranges. Wilson is also recognised for their series of OS irons including the Fat Shaft series and the Augusta irons both created to provide ultimate forgivness for higher-handicap players.
Famous users of Wilson Staff equipment include Padraig Harrington, Jesper Parnevik, and Ben Crenshaw.
In popular culture
Wilson the Volleyball
One of its products, a volleyball, "co-starred" alongside Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away. After the success of the film Wilson Sporting Goods actually created and marketed volleyballs with Wilson's face on it for a short time.
References
- ^ U.S. patent 6,935,975
- ^ "Trademark Electronic Search System." United States Patent and Trademark Office. 11 May 2007, URL Link,(Database search for term: "Ripper")
- ^ Ripper. Chicago: Wilson Sporting Goods Co., 2005. (Promotional information with racquet)
External links
Official
Other