Athlete's Foot vs Challenger sports Franchise Comparison

Robert and David Lando had a unique vision in 1971--to open a store specializing in athletic footwear. That year they opened the first The Athlete's Foot in Pittsburgh. The first franchise opened in 1972 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the first international location opened in 1978 in Adelaide, Australia. The Athlete's Foot now operates company-owned and franchise locations in more than 40 countries. The company develops stores in malls, shopping districts and as freestanding locations. Each store sells name-brand athletic footwear and apparel. There are also The Athlete's Foot For Her stores, which specialize in athletic footwear and apparel for girls and women.

The Athlete’s Foot is more than just a retail store; it’s a destination for athletic street style. At The Athlete’s Foot, we want to be known for encouraging our customers to break the rules and explore the unexpected. So we’re transforming into a place with a pulse on the street that offers them the chance to craft their own story through clothing and style.

Challenger Sports is a multi-faceted international sports company who provide a wide variety of player development programs, coach education clinics, tournaments, tours, and uniform and equipment supply to hundreds of thousands of players, parents, and coaches across the globe. Operating originally as ‘British Soccer Camps’ Challenger Sports began running summer soccer camps in the US in 1985. Each year the company grew and the founders of Challenger diversified and expanded their range of services and products in response to the increasing demands of the rapidly growing North American soccer population. In 1997 the “Challenger” brand was created along with a vision of duplicating the highly successful soccer services and products model into multiple sports. Within two years, company owners Ron Matsch, Peter Arch, Alan Jones, Paul Lawrence, Derek Shoare and Andy Bennett had established a network of regional offices serving soccer communities in every US state and 7 Canadian provinces. Challenger Sports  also invested heavily in the United Kingdom and were the first US based soccer company to set up a full-time recruitment and training operation in Britain.