Karhu

Founded	1916
Headquarters	Helsinki FI - Beverly MA, Finland
Industry	sport footwear, apparel,skiis
Website	http://www.karhu.com/

Karhu is a Finnish sports brand. KARHU, meaning “bear” in Finnish, is a leading running brand in Europe and has provided technical running and outdoor gear for nearly 100 years. KARHU shoes have been worn on the feet on some of the greatest Finnish runners, including Boston Marathon champion Olavi Suomalainen, and Paavo Nurmi, giving rise to the Flying Finns.

The company was originally formed to make discuses and javelins, and went on to make ski gear and running shoes. By the 1970s Karhu had sold over one million pairs of running shoes worldwide.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early success 1.1.1 Three stripes and Adidas 1.2 Tougher times 1.3 Relaunch 2 Karhu Running 2.1 Runner's World Award 2.2 Sponsorship 2.2.1 Finland Track & Field Team 2.2.2 Helsinki Marathon 2010 3 Karhu originals 4 Recognition 5 Marketing 5.1 Slogans 5.2 Sponsorships 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early success

The brand was started in Finland in 1916 as Ab Sport Artiklar Oy and used a bear as its logo, before changing its name to Karhu (Finnish for Bear) in the 1920s. Karhu provided javelins that filled the first four places at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. Also in Antwerp the "Flying Finns" took five gold medals on the track, wearing Karhu spikes.

“	The Karhu brand name shot to prominence at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, where it outfitted all of the Finnish javelin throwers. The brand's triumph was complete four years later, at the Paris Games, where Paavo Nurmi took five gold medals wearing a conspicuous pair of white Karhu running spikes.	”
—Barbara Smit , Pitch Invasion[1]

[edit] Three stripes and Adidas

Karhu survived WW2 by making military goods and clothing and shortly after the war sold the three stripes trademark to a then little known German brand called Adidas for (the equivalent of) 1600 euros and two bottles of Whiskey. ^[1][2]

[edit] Tougher times

By the 1980s the brand started to struggle and sold off its outdoor shoe division to Merrell. However, a collaboration of research and design with the University of Jyvaskyla led to the development of Fulcrum technology.

[edit] Relaunch

The brand is taken over by industry veterans Huub Valkenburg and Jay Duke in early 2008 and began transforming in to a global running brand based on strong Finnish tradition.^[3][4]

[edit] Karhu Running

Karhu's main running line is based on their Fulcrum Technology, developed with the University of Jyvaskyla since the 1980s. There are several models in the line, although no off road or trail shoes.

[edit] Runner's World Award

Karhu Fulcrum Strong won "Best Debut" in Runner's World March 2009. ^[5]

[edit] Sponsorship

[edit] Finland Track & Field Team

In 2009 Karhu took over from Nike as official outfitter of the Finnish National Track & Field Team.^[6]

[edit] Helsinki Marathon 2010

Karhu was an official partner of 2010 Helsinki Marathon, which took place on Saturday, August 15th 2009. Andreev Pavel won the men's race in 2:22:32 and Margarita Planksina led the women with 2:45:25.

[edit] Karhu originals

Karhu Originals are a range of retro inspired Nordic style footwear.

[edit] Recognition

Karhu Originals were nominated for "Sneaker of the Year 2005" at the Global Sports Style Awards in Munich 2005.^[7]

[edit] Marketing

[edit] Slogans

• Karhu is every runner's right
• Creating momentum
• Finland's legendary running brand

[edit] Sponsorships

• Maine Telemark Film Festival^[8][9]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Hannu Teider (2006) (in Finnish). Karhun aika 90-vuotis juhlakirja 1916-2006. Karhu. ISBN 9529212062. 

[edit] External links

Look up karhu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official website
  • Official website in Finnish language
  • Karhu on twitter
  • Karhu Originals on Facebook
• Karhu Ski Co.
  • Karhu Ski Co. on Twitter
• Karhu Sports
  • Karhu Outdoors
  • Karhu Skiing
  • Karhu Running
  • Karhu Originals
• wherewillyouski.com, Karhu Blog
• Interview with Jay Duke of Karhu Sports