Wilson Sporting Goods Company

"The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1989, it has been a subsidiary of the Finnish group Amer Sports, since 2019 itself a subsidiary of the Chinese group ANTA Sports. The company traces its roots to the "Schwarzschild & Sulzberger" meatpacking company (later changed to "Sulzberger & Son's") based in New York, that operated meat packing slaughterhouses. Sulzberger & Son's founded the "Ashland Manufacturing Company" in 1913 to use animal by-products from its slaughterhouses. It started out in 1914, making tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon expanded into baseball shoes and tennis racquets. In 1918, Wilson left to concentrate on the beef-packing business, changing the Sulzberger company to Wilson & Co. (...). Under new president Lawrence Blaine Icely, it acquired the "Chicago Sporting Goods Company" and struck a deal to supply the Chicago Cubs. In 1931, it renamed itself "Wilson Sporting Goods Company". " -- Wikipedia