Voit (official name: "Industrias Voit S.A. de C.V.") is a

sports equipment Sports equipment, sporting equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear used to compete in a sport and varies depending on the sport. The equipment ranges from balls, nets, and protective gear like helmets. ...

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...

based in Mexico. The company was founded by

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

entrepreneur William J. Voit (1880–1946) of

Worthington, Indiana Worthington is a town in Jefferson Township, Greene County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,463 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Bloomington, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The Worthington post o ...

. Current range of products by Voit includes mainly balls (for

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and volleyball), and also

goalkeeper glove In association football, kit (also referred to as a strip or uniform) is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sport's rules specify the minimum kit which a player must use, and also prohibit the use of anything that is dangerou ...

s, tennis rackets, football uniforms,

shin guard A shin guard or shin pad, is a piece of equipment worn on the front of an athlete's shin to protect it from injury. These are commonly used in sports including association football, baseball, ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, cricket and moun ...

s, and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

equipment ( suits,

goggles Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and ...

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, and

fins A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

) and accessories (

backpack A backpack—also called knapsack, schoolbag, rucksack, rucksac, pack, sackpack, booksack, bookbag or backsack—is, in its simplest frameless form, a fabric sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders ...

s, bags).

History

Voit began in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1922 as a

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

retreading products factory. In the late 1920s Voit developed and patented the first full-molded, all-

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

inflatable An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since inflata ...

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

and the first needle-type air retention

valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

s. They also developed highly accurate pocket and wrist watches during this period. In 1931, Voit developed and patented the first all-rubber athletic balls, including the process of

vulcanization Vulcanization (British: Vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to include ...

which allowed a material to be fixed onto a separate rubber bladder. In the same year, it changed names from the ''W. J. Voit Corporation'' to ''Voit Rubber Corporation''. Later in the 1930s, Voit developed the process of

icosahedron In geometry, an icosahedron ( or ) is a polyhedron with 20 faces. The name comes and . The plural can be either "icosahedra" () or "icosahedrons". There are infinitely many non- similar shapes of icosahedra, some of them being more symmetrica ...

winding, which allowed balls to be machine wound with

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

threads over the bladder, providing both strength and consistency in shape and permitting mass production by a machine process. Those Voit patents and products made possible greatly increased athletic and recreation activity in the school systems, and led to universal use of a new type of product that now dominates sales in its field. In 1957, the company was purchased by AMF. Other developments and patents later in the 1950s and 1960s included: * The Swimaster line of professional dive equipment. Voit was one of the five original USA diving gear makers:

U.S. Divers Air Liquide S.A. (; ; literally "liquid air"), is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...

Healthways Tivity Health, formerly Healthways, is a provider of health improvement, fitness and social engagement solutions. Tivity Health is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee and has campuses in Franklin, Tennessee and Chandler, Arizona. The company wa ...

, "Voit", Dacor, Swimaster. Voit scuba gear had been featured in television, such as in an ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

'' ("Lucy Meets Orson Welles"), where Voit basketballs and sports equipment are displayed prominently in a department store scene where Lucy appears in Voit scuba gear (obviously an early 'placement ad') when she meets

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

- - and in the movies ''

Underwater! ''Underwater!'' is a 1955 adventure film directed by John Sturges and starring Jane Russell and Richard Egan (actor), Richard Egan. Plot synopsis Johnny and his wife Theresa, along with mercenary Dominic Quesada, priest Father Cannon and Gloria ...

'' (1955); the TV series ''

Sea Hunt ''Sea Hunt'' is an American action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced. It stars Lloyd Bridges as ...

'' (1958–61); and movie and TV series versions of ''

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...

'' (1961; and 1964-68 respectively) where it was included in the series' closing credits; and both got a

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...

in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

movie ''

Thunderball (film) ''Thunderball'' is a 1965 spy film and the fourth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, w ...

'' * The Equi Staff line of professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

equipment (which included the innovation of the "Power Plugs" or screws to adjust the balance of

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class ...

s). * The first rubber-bodied

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

ball (which was adopted as the official ball of college, international and Olympic competitions). V-Shock, introduced in the late 1990s, was Voit's inexpensive alternative to the

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...

G-Shock watches. They have since been discontinued.

Sponsorships

Voit has sponsored the following association football events and athletes: *

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

– official game ball and

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

kits *

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

– official game ball * Liga Nacional *

Óscar Pérez Rojas Oscar or Oskar is a masculine given name of Irish origin. Etymology The name is derived from two elements in Irish: the first, ''os'', means "deer"; the second element, ''car'', means "loving" or "friend", thus "deer-loving one" or "friend of deer" ...

References

External links

Voit USA
{{Sports equipment brands Sportswear brands Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States Sporting goods manufacturers of Mexico Manufacturing companies established in 1922 Diving engineering Greene County, Indiana Manufacturing companies based in Mexico City Mexican brands 1922 establishments in California Diving equipment manufacturers