Our History

1981

The Athlete's Foot commenced operations in Australia under licence from a
US-based master franchisor. As the years passed, The Athlete's Foot had less and less to do with the master franchisor, and its business model diverged extensively from that of The Athlete’s Foot stores in other countries.

2002

The business has a dedicated and experienced management team led by Michael Cooper, who has been Managing Director since 2002 and has been with the company since 1988. The six most senior executives in the business, who are all in their 40’s and 50’s,  have a combined tenure of over 80 years with the business and are as passionate about the business today as they have ever been.  

2004 - 2006

Since 2004 The Athlete's Foot has been owned by ASX listed company RCG Corporation Limited (“RCG”). In late 2006, RCG underwent a board transformation, and also now owns several different footwear businesses of which The Athlete's Foot is the largest.

2008

In October 2008, The Athlete's Foot opened the first of its new larger format stores. The new store format incorporates an extended product ranges in kids, comfort, lifestyle and work/duty footwear.

As with all existing The Athlete's Foot categories, the focus is on credible, proven footwear brands sold on function and fit. The new model has been an incredible success and there are now over 35 large format stores open. The larger format model is now the new standard for all The Athlete's Foot stores, and it is our intention to convert all stores to the larger format over time.

2009

The Athlete's Foot purchased a 249 year brand licence for Australia and New Zealand, effectively severing ties with the licensor.

Today

Today The Athlete's Foot Australia operates approximately 150 stores, most of which are franchised across Australia and New Zealand. It is the unequivocal leader in technical performance footwear in this region and is the largest retailer of athletic footwear in Australia.

The business is not solely athletic footwear focussed, however, with a growing percentage of its total sales now achieved in the comfort and lifestyle footwear categories.