Bally Shoe

Share of the C. F. Bally AG, issued 3. October 1907

Bally was founded as a shoe making business in 1851 by Carl Franz Bally and his brother Fritz, in the basement of their family home in Schönenwerd, Solothurn, Switzerland. Carl Franz Bally had joined the family business, a silk ribbon manufacture, when he was 17, but decided to go into shoe manufacture after a stay in Paris. At the time of Carl's death in 1899 the company was manufacturing about two million pairs of shoes a year and employed 3,200 people.[2] The business continued under the management of Carl's sons, Eduard and Arthur.[3]

In 2008 TPG Capital sold Bally International AG to Vienna, Austria-based Labelux Group, a luxury goods holding firm which also owns Jimmy Choo Ltd. and was founded by the German billionaire Reimann family as part of the family’s investment arm Joh A. Benckiser.[4]

Headquartered in Caslano, Ticino, Switzerland, the company announced that Frédéric de Narp, a former executive at Harry Winston, would become its chief executive officer in November 2013.[5] In February 2018 owner JAB Holding Company agreed to sell a majority controlling stake to Chinese materials conglomerate Shandong Ruyi.[6] In May 2019, Bally appointed COO Nicolas Girotto, who joined the company in October 2015 and sits on the brand's board of directors and executive committee, as CEO. [1]

According to Bilanz, as of January 2020, Bally's retail network includes 311 boutiques, with 500 multi-brand points of sale spanning 66 countries. [7]

• Documents and clippings about Bally Shoe in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW