Kickers is a youth brand created in 1970 in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

that produces a wide range of

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...

and clothing. Kickers was bought in 2007 by the Royer group. Kickers are primarily popular amongst British school children, with Kickers 'Lo' style shoes being a popular choice of school shoes for British boys attending

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

History

On the French scene in 1970, Daniel Raufast came across a poster advertising the musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

''. Interested by all the barefooted youngsters wearing jeans, he developed a new shoe concept which he believed to be more compatible with the blue-jean generation. The designer Jacques Chevallereau then created the first 'jean boot'. This new shoe was very different: the use of

nubuck Nubuck (pronounced ) is top-grain leather that has been sanded or buffed on the grain side, or outside, to give a slight nap of short protein fibers, producing a velvet-like surface. It is resistant to wear, and may be white or coloured. Nubuck i ...

; shapes that looked more like short boots than regular shoes; tough crepe soles made with natural rubber, eyelets, contrast stitching, panels and appliqués all obviously referencing denim. The success was such that, within one season, Kickers production capacity grew from 300 to 12,000 pairs per month. Immediately successful in France, then Germany, by 1974, Kickers were selling in over 70 countries.

United Kingdom

During the 1980s Kickers shoes became very successful in Britain. So much so in some case, children were queuing up until 10 o'clock at night waiting upon deliveries, and when the delivery did arrive the stock would be gone in a flash. Many children also collected the ''flower shape'' tag and did not believe the shoes were real Kickers unless this tag was included.

School shoes

A variety of Kickers shoes, primarily the Lo and Hi top styles, have proven to be popular amongst British school children, mostly boys attending secondary school, as use of school shoes.

Kick Hi

The Kick Hi boot was released in 1975.

Music industry popularity

It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that Kickers really gained popularity when Kick His were heralded by icons on the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

music scene. The Kick Hi then became popular in the

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

scene, first with

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...

and then later with

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...

. Many fans of the shoe came from diverse and contemporary musical backgrounds including

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

RnB Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

and hip hop.

In popular culture

Over the years, Kickers has been associated with the music industry, including

Ms Dynamite Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born 26 April 1981), better known as Ms. Dynamite, is a British singer and rapper. She is the recipient of the Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards. Early years She was born Niomi Arleen Mc ...

So Solid Crew So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from the area on and surrounding the Winstanley and York Road Estates in Battersea, London which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many m ...

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

, Noel Gallagher, Mike Skinner, Arctic Monkeys, Craig David and

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop group ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

wore a pair of Kickers on the set of

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" is a Christmas song performed by English singer-songwriter David Bowie and American singer Bing Crosby. Recorded on 11 September 1977 at ATV Elstree Studios near London for Crosby's television special ''Bing C ...

alongside Bing Crosby in 1977. He was also photographed by Clive Arrowsmith in that same year, as well as appearing on the front cover of

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

on February 18, 1978, resplendent in the brand.

Ian Brown Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses from their formation in 1983. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, re ...

wore a pair of Kick His to The Haçienda as a cheeky retort to the strict 'no trainer policy'.

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

wore them in their video for ' Fools Gold'. A sheep sported a pair of Kick His on the cover of the '

Stepping Stone Stepping stone(s) may refer to: * Stepping stones, stones placed to allow pedestrians to cross a watercourse Places * Stepping Stone, Virginia, US, an unincorporated community * Stepping Stones (islands), Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Buildings ...

' 12-inch single by '' The Farm''. Kickers sponsored the Urban Music Awards (UMA) 2007 and had an advertorial with

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

which ended in September 2007.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.kickers.com/ Clothing companies of France Clothing companies established in 1970 Shoe brands Shoe companies of France Sportswear brands 1970 establishments in France Cholet