Wilson Sporting Goods
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary of Amer Sports |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sportswear and Sports equipment |
| Headquarters |  Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Products | Footwear Accessories Sportswear |
| Website | http://www.wilson.com/ |
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.
Tennis
Wilson tennis racquets have been very popular among tennis players, and became even more famous after Pete Sampras used them to win 14 grand slams. Currently (2007) the top tennis players using Wilson racquets are Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Nicolas Kiefer, Gastón Gaudio, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Ana Ivanović, Venus Williams, and Lindsay Davenport. Pete Sampras' racquet was characterised by the small head (85 sq in) and the heavy weight(350+ grams). This type of racquet was also used by Roger Federer, though he now (according to Wilson) uses a different 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 racquets so that even if the model is the same, they play differently. Also, many have racquets painted to look like their racquet sponsor's, but are customized for that player (Federer employs this strategy).
In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open, and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls. The Australian Open reported using more than 450,000 Wilson Tennis Balls during the tournament.
Beyond tennis racquets, Wilson also produces a variety of other tennis products. The products they produce include shoes, strings, apparel, racquet bags, and others.
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
The Ripper is a racquetball racquet made with titanium.[1] 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.[2]
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. Wilson has been the exclusive provider of footballs for the National Football League since 1941. The official NFL footballs are sold exclusively to the NFL franchises and are labeled with the model number F1010. 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. The F1000 model is commonly used for the collection of football player autographs.
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.
External links
Official
Other