topic Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball in Community Chat

Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Caaareful Shopper — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:05:59 GMT

Interesting trivia, [that has little to do with the 10/24 TSV boot].

I'm always interested in background company news. Again, this has nothing to do with the TSV.

Last year, October 2023, Vionic was sold to Caleres, Inc.

Caleres owns Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Vince, Franco Sarto, Dr. Scholl’s Shoes, LifeStride, Via Spiga, Diane von Furstenberg, Blowfish Malibu, Bzees, Carlos by Carlos Santana, Fergie and Ryka.

The Vionic CEO at the time, Chris Gallagher, left Vionic after the acquisition, and subsequently took Liam Bourke with him. They have now formed their new company, PB5Star, a pickleball apparel and footwear company this year.

QVC has recently become very involved in pickleball as well. They've partnered with USA Pickleball to sponsor the supply of equipment, apparel, and more. Also, QVC+ & HSN+ is the exclusive broadcast partner for the 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championship.

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

CANDLEQUEEN — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:41:22 GMT

Well we just might be seeing Liam again in the near future, I think!

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

lynnie61 — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:55:37 GMT

@Caaareful Shopper Thanks for sharing. Always liked Liam. Good he has a new endeavor. Hope we see him on the Q.

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Kachina624 — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 15:50:26 GMT

@Caaareful Shopper. Very interesting. I just wish I was MRS. Caleres with my pick of my choice of all those brands of shoes.

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Caaareful Shopper — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 16:02:57 GMT

@Kachina624

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Bookplate — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:06:54 GMT

Thanks for this interesting piece of business news. It did seem odd that Liam was no longer the rep since he was clearly very good at his job

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Zaimee — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:38:34 GMT

@Caaareful Shopper

If you remember cute host Elise Ivy . She left QVC a few years ago, came to Miami, got married, and started a picketball racket company. Rockne Picketball!

Picketball is the rage here!

Re: Vionic / Liam Bourke / Pickleball

Still Raining — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 13:53:19 GMT

Thanks for the update on Liam. He was a well spoken presenter. Good to know he has another job.

But had to chuckle about the Biofreeze sponsorship.