The History of LA Gear

Founded by Robert Greenberg in 1983, LA Gear was the LA-themed brand that every 80s kid and teen knew and loved. It’s even starting to make a comeback as one of the 80s fashion trends back in style today.

The LA Gear shoes were wildly popular because they blended right in with the 80s wild style, and they were comfortable! Many were flashy and colorful while others had studs and even laced with lamé fabric. It didn’t take long before the brand grew to dominate the shoe market throughout the 80s and early 90s.

Robert Greenberg: From Hair to Skates

While Robert Greenberg is considered a legend in the fashion industry, he wasn’t always in the shoe business. He was originally a hairdresser who moved to Los Angeles to sell wigs and electric tweezers. But this wasn’t enough.

Quickly seeing the popularity of skating (trended by the film Xanadu), he purchased a small store in the 1970s to rent out roller skates. At first, he made a huge profit, but just as all good come to an end, things skated downhill along with the trend. Robert quickly had to adapt, so he moved to selling shoelaces, which was another success.

With additional funds to expand, he moved into the women’s clothing industry, selling various items from other manufacturers. Eventually, he decided to start his own fashion line, which included a lot of shoes. Thus, came the birth of LA Gear in 1983.

The Start of LA Gear

Robert first came out with canvas workout shoes for women. With the aggressive marketing approach, LA Gear went viral and became public in 1987.

Driven by the success of his new brand, Greenberg wanted to keep his line of shoes diverse. This is when LA Gear had really set trends with its shiny, flashy, colorful and studded shoes.

Just over the course of 8 years, the profits of LA Gear had multiplied, with sales shooting up to $818 million, just behind Reebok and Nike.

The Success and Decline of LA Gear

Expanding its market share, LA Gear quickly became a major competitor with Nike and Reebok in the men’s athletic shoe market. Realizing it had to expand into other markets to stay strong, the company branched out to more economical stores in the early 1990s, such as J.C. Penny and Sears.

But in 1991, it had made a major mistake by signing with Abdul-Jabbar, a retiring basketball star, as its endorser. This had cost the major league brand everything it had. Nothing against Abdul, but he was too old to appeal to the brand’s young target market.

LA Gear had also suffered when it signed with Michael Jackson to endorse a new line of footwear to accompany the release of Jackson’s Greatest Hits album, which never actually released. This mistake had cost them about half of their previous year’s sales.

Finally, in 1994, the company was forced to end their men’s sports shoe line and return to the women’s market. But the age of the LA Gear shoe was already gone.

Failed Attempts to Come Back

Even Wal-Mart tried to bring the brand back in 1995, selling the shoes at a fraction of the cost, but it still didn’t revive the company. It was over for LA Gear, and they filed for bankruptcy in 1998.

By then, Robert Greenberg had already resigned from LA Gear to start another shoe company, Skechers, which of course continues to thrive today.

Since the 90s, LA Gear has made several attempts to come back, even under the new ownership of ACI International, which began to produce its own line of LA Gear footwear for both men, women and children called LA Lights in 2009.

More recently, the company has entered several contracts with other stores, including Sportie LA, that sold LA Gear shoes. Since then, LA Gear was trying to revive many of its styles with a new modern touch.

LA Gear Today

As for today, LA Gear is still awaiting its comeback, desperate to revive its former glory. In 2019, John Greenberg, also the founder of Skechers, began selling a line of shoes called “LA Gear X Skechers”. The shoe line’s target market are both men and women, which are reissues of past LA Gear brand, but are not connected to the current lines available today.

LA Gear is still a well-known, iconic brand, which is what its people have thrived on for so many years. Hopefully its long days of sitting on the sidelines will be over soon.

Do You Own LA Gear?

What do your LA Gear shoes look like? We’d love to see! Please let us know in the comments below.