Sneakers are often designed for men by men. So track star Allyson Felix built her own

Allyson Felix is the most decorated Olympian in track and field history. But a few years ago, she had a problem: She had no shoes to wear.

In 2019, she publicly cut ties with Nike, her main sponsor, when she asked the company for maternity protections and was stonewalled. A few months later, she signed a new sponsorship contract with women’s activewearAthleta, which vowed to support her as both an athlete and a mother. But Athleta didn’t make sneakers. So what would she wear to her next race? “We hated the idea that she would go and offer free advertising for a brand that didn’t want to sign her,” says Wes Felix, Allyson’s manager and brother. “One day, I looked at her, and said: ‘What if we built our own shoe company?’” Read More