Heritage
1974
Hi-Tec Sports is founded by Frank van Wezel in the appropriately named village of Shoeburyness, England. Frank's love for sport leads him to build an innovative, lightweight and instantly comfortable Squash shoe.
1978
Hi-Tec is established in the USA with the introduction of the world's first lightweight hiking boot, the Sierra Sneaker, a sports shoe for the mountains.
1981
The Silver Shadow is launched to conquer the running category and in this year 23% of the runners in the London Marathon wear it.
1982
The MAGNUM brand is born following a direct demand from the FBI to Hi-Tec for lightweight, athletic and comfortable uniform boots.
1988
Hi-Tec was floated on the London Stock Exchange and became a public limited company.
1990
The Altitude IV becomes the number 1 hiking boot in the US.
In July 1990, mountaineer Adrian Crane climbs the 50 highest peaks in each of the 50 states in the USA in a record time of 101 days. The 50 Peaks brand is born out of Adrian's astonishing accomplishment and the first collection is introduced with his support.
1992
In the first season of England's world famous Premiership Football competition, Hi-Tec's dominant position in sport was confirmed with the best selling Kings Cup boots featured on 52 Premiership players.
1995
Hi-Tec becomes the Official Shoe of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
1996
Combining its roots of sport and outdoor, Hi-Tec introduces a revolutionary new multi-activity event in the USA, The Adventure Racing Series.
During this event each team has between 4 and 5 hours to complete the race which includes trail running, kayaking, mountain biking as well as a series of tests such as blindfolded puzzle solving, knot tying and mud crawling.
2000
Frank privatises the company. Still today Hi-Tec is a wholly owned family business.
2007
Golfer Padraig Harrington wins 3 major Championships wearing Hi-Tec's technologically advanced CDT Golf shoe, the world's first game improvement performance golf shoe.
2010
Hi-Tec releases the Liquid Mountaineering video which becomes viral with over 15million views and wins the 2011 Cannes Lions award at the Creativity Awards in France.
2011
Ed van Wezel, son of Frank, becomes CEO and the Global Headquarters is moved to the Netherlands, the country of origin of the van Wezel family.
2013
Hi-Tec wins Footwear Product of the Year at The Great Outdoors Awards with the introduction of the popular 'Zuuk', an incredibly lightweight multisport shoe.
The same year, Hi-Tec also wins The Outdoor Footwear Brand of the Year at the UK Footwear Industry Awards.
2014
To celebrate its 40th anniversary Hi-Tec debuts the Classic74, inspired by the design of the company's original Squash Classic.
Hi-Tec becomes the official sponsor of the "The Walk of the World" also known as "De 4 Daagse". This multi-day walking event is the world's largest with more than 45,000 participants each year walking up to 200km around the vicinity of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
2015
Hi-Tec sponsored athlete and three-time World Squash Champion, Nick Matthew is officially awarded his Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne.
Today
Hi-Tec Sports is now a global brand generating global sales of more than US$250 million with distribution in more than 85 countries and subsidiaries in UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Spain, France, Germany and the Benelux.
