Gola

General information

1905. On the 22nd of May the Gola brand was born. To date no one is entirely sure how the great name came about, it is said to have been an anagram of the word Goal. 1930. Gola’s first Ad campaign was ‘Gola means Goals’ this was used on the sides of buses. 1939-1944. Gola did its bit for Britain by making boots for the army during World War II. 1965. Shankly’s famous Liverpool team stopped off at the Gola factory on their way to the FA Cup final at Wembley for some free boots. Adidas approached the team at Wembley and paid them to wear their boots. The cheeky scousers took Adidas’ money but did not wear their boots, instead they painted Adidas stripes onto their Gola boots and went on to win the cup. 1968. The birth of Gola’s flagship ‘Harrier’ training shoe. 1970. Footballing legend Sir Alf Ramsay joined Gola’s board of directors and acted as an ambassador for the brand. In this decade Gola football boots were worn by the likes of Tommy Smith, Emlyn Hughes, Gerry Francis, Trevor Brooking and Peter Shilton. 1974. Mark Cox tennis shoe range is launched, which was quickly followed by the Barry John rugby range and the Alan Knott cricket range. 1975. Gola supplies training kits to Manchester United. 1977. Stan Bowles walks out for England vs. Netherlands wearing one Gola and one Adidas boot, having accepted money from both companies. He scored in the game and rumour has it that the ball was struck by the Gola boot. 1981. Gola sponsors popular boy’s football comic hero Roy Race and his team Melchester Rovers, of the comic Roy of the Rovers. Player/manager Roy was shot JR style the same month. 1984-1986. Gola sponsors the Conference league, it was known as the Gola League. 1999. The Gola Classics range is launched and Noel Gallagher calls Gola to request a pair of ‘Harrier’ trainers for himself and ‘r kid’. 2003. Gola developed the striking Kaleidoscope ad campaign! 2004. The Gola Classics Taxi sets out on its mystery world tour, where will it stop nobody knows. 2005. Gola celebrates its 100th birthday. 2008. Marks the 40th anniversary of the 60’s best-selling urban Gola model, the Harrier. To celebrate this iconic trainer, Gola has reverted back to the original styling and construction. 2009. Gola announces collaborations with eBoy and Christian Lacroix. 'Classics With a Twist' ad campaign launched reflecting Gola ethos of producing classic styles with a modern twist.