If you grew up in the eighties, you probably remember owning a pair of Kangaroos shoes. I had a pink pair and back then they featured a small velcro bag on the side of each shoe where you could keep your secret treasure. Today the bag remains but has been replaced by a zipper instead of velcro. Nike says, “Do it,” but Kangaroos wants to know, “What do you have in your pocket?”
The Kangaroos brand started in 1979 when an avid runner named Bob Gamm decided he needed a place to keep his house key and a small amount of money while he was out for a run. There is no glamorous or fabulous story here. These simple and fun shoes may have grown from small beginnings, but their popularity has lasted 30 years. In the 1908s, Kangaroos shoes began to gain popularity as professional athletes such as Walter Payton, Clyde Drexler, and Ozzie Smith began to endorse them. As sales increased, Gamm was able to reinvest some of the money to further improve its running shoes. It even partnered with NASA to develop a shoe technology known as Dynacoil, a proprietary energy system that involves an improvement in the suspension and cushion located in the sole of the shoe. Many other shoe companies have started using this technology in their own shoe lines.
For a few years in the late 1908s, kangaroos disappeared from the market after their popularity waned, but they reappeared in the late 1990s. During this time, the shoes became very popular in other countries, especially in Europe. Even during these difficult times, Gamm remained dedicated to making kangaroos synonymous with serious athletic footwear and worked on the development of his shoes at a testing center located at the University of Illinois. During this time, he was able to perfect his shoes for use in many different sports, including basketball, tennis, track and field, and American football.
Now Kangaroos shoes are better known for their role in fashion and lifestyle footwear than for performance sports. Today they are sold in more than sixty countries around the world. You will probably find Kangaroos shoes in all kinds of styles, shapes, and colors. Most still have pockets and others have a larger ankle-length side pouch that can hold a small wallet.
