Champion

American brand of sportswear, founded in 1919 in Rochester, New York. It came from an idea by the brothers Abe and Bill Feinbloom, who at first decided to name their business Knickerbocker Knitting Company and later renamed it Champion Knitting Mills. In 1930 Champion invented the plush fabric Reverse Weave: it is 100% cotton and worked horizontally to avoid losing its shape. Around that time the company also offered a distinctive fabric for the uniforms of football teams, the by-now classic grey mélange. Later, it introduced with great success the use of flocked prints on sweaters in order to personalize them with the logos of the various university teams. In the 1950s, Champion invented micromesh, a net fabric for basketball uniforms. In 1979 it established Champion Italy, which in 1984 sponsored Orlando Pizzolato in the New York marathon and Sara Simeoni at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. In 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, the Champion brand sponsored the Dream Team, the mythic basketball team with Michael Jordan and, in 1996, the entire American Olympic team.