A lot of footwear companies have some interesting stories on how they began but non of them involve a former priest and Mitsubishi (yes, the car guys.). Kaepa Inc (launched in 1975) was founded by a priest named Thomas Adams. The story goes like this: Thomas Adams (a priest from 1958 to 1964) left the priest hood because of failing health at the age of 34. His outlet was tennis and during a tennis match in Milwaukee in 1962, he broke his right shoelace. For a quick fix he took the remains of the lace and tied a couple of eyelets at the bottom and a couple on top while leaving the middle unsupported. After finishing up the match he noticed that the right shoe felt better than the left and knew he was on to something.
He went on to patent this two lace system and wrote letters to every athletic shoe manufacturer in the United states. Four years passed and no one took any interest. Eventually he started his own company (with help from friends and his own earnings) and Mitsubishi stepped in to offer an unlimited line of credit in exchange for the rights to manufacture the shoe. Dream come true right? Nope. This dream turned into a nightmare when poor quality and bad business decisions on behalf of Mitsubishi landed Thomas two million dollars in debt. With nothing but faith (sounds corny but its true) he had recently read that Wolverine purchased Brooks and figured he would make a call to see if they would be interested in his company. After several meetings and sleepless nights Wolverine finally agreed to invest and the rest is multi million dollar history. Who would have thought that a shoe company known for Cheerleading and volleyball footwear involved a former priest and Mitsubishi? Today, Adams is managing director of New Life footwear and Kaepa is still pumping out the volleyball and cheerleading footwear goods. To read more about the story behind the brand check out the Evening Independents 1984 article on the company and check out Thomas Adams holding the original Tennis shoe that paved the way for the historic design above!