founded 1979 1979 founders jerry and don stubblefield parent sequential brands group website avia.com a pair of black and gray avia shoes . avia is an american footwear and clothing company that specializes in running yoga and lifestyle activewear shoes and accessories . avia was founded in 1979 by jerry stubblefield and is currently a subsidiary of the sequential brands group . history edit avia was founded in oregon in 1979 by jerry stubblefield . 1 2 stubblefield reportedly came up with the word avia derived from the latin avis meaning bird 3 4 while on a jet flight and decided to use it as a brand name for a sports shoe to suggest aviation . jerry stubblefield and his son don stubblefield developed shoe designs that revolutionized athletic footwear . the father and son tandem created designs such as the widely imitated cantilever sole which helped make avia an industry leader . in 1987 avia was acquired by reebok for 180 million 5 which later sold it to the american sporting goods corporation in the latter 1990s . 6 7 avia has since been acquired by the sequential brands group in the galaxy brands deal in 2014 . 8 products edit avia made its name as a leading brand in the 1980 s for its line of women s walking and aerobics shoes as well as men s shoes . in the late 1980s and early 1990s avia had a thriving line of basketball shoes ; among those who wore avia were scottie pippen john stockton john salley ac green and clyde drexler . 9 avia shoes are known for their performance durability and comfort . 10 former louisiana state university football head coach les miles wears avia shoes while on the sidelines of every game . the company is also known for some of the performance technologies built into their shoes including the cantilever heel heel support the arc anatomical rebound cradle comprehensive foot cushioning and arch support and avia s fom technology shock compression . 10 in 1991 avia filed a lawsuit against nike alleging that nike s air 180 and air force 180 running and basketball shoes infringed upon avia patents . avia accused nike of pirating its cantilever technology which uses a cushion to provide shock absorption and stability . the company contended the technology has been the basis of its products since avia was founded in 1980 . avia widened the suit in january 1992 11 and settled in december 1992 . 12 avia introduced its line of performance and lifestyle activewear in 2013 building upon its continued success within the active category and later came out with wearable technology in 2015 . 13 references edit textiles apparel and luxury goods american sporting goods corporation bloomberg businessweek jaquiss nigel green slime and a shareholder revolt poison the waters of lake oswego willamette week april 27 2005 entry for latin word avis charlton t. lewis charles short a latin dictionary via perseus entry for latin word avis charlton t. lewis an elementary latin dictionary giegerich andy june 2 2000 . snowboards like none other stir avia founder . portland business journal . retrieved april 18 2010 . american sporting goods to acquire avia brand 24 04 96 ny times archive . retrieved on 26 03 07 . brock kathy july 26 1996 . adidas has its eye on former avia group space in beaverton . portland business journal . retrieved april 18 2010 . sequential brands group signs definitive agreement to acquire galaxy brand holdings the carlyle group . www.carlyle.com . retrieved 2016 04 25 . footwear news . footwear news . august 3 1992 . a b avia shoes . shoeshoeonline.com . retrieved may 11 2015 . company news ; avia widens suit against nike . the new york times . 1992 01 30 . issn 0362 4331 . retrieved 2016 04 25 . shoe companies settle lawsuit . www.apnewsarchive.com . retrieved 2016 04 25 . group sequential brands . sequential brands group announces new category expansion for avia with the debut of wearable fitness accessories . globenewswire news room . retrieved 2016 04 25 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title avia shoes & oldid 744215859 categories shoe brandsshoe companies of the united statescompanies based in oregoncompanies established in 19791979 establishments in oregonhidden categories use mdy dates from february 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 20 49 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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