The Bally Shoe company was founded as "Bally & Co" in 1851 by Carl Franz Bally (1821-1899) and his brother Fritz in the basement of their family home in Schönenwerd in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. In 1854, a shoe factory was set up in the village but Fritz Bally left the fledgling business and Carl Franz Bally carried on under the corporate name "C.F. Bally." 1852 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Carl Franz Bally (October 24, 1821 – August 5, 1899) was a Swiss businessman who founded the Bally Shoe company in 1851. ... Solothurn is a canton of Switzerland. ... Womens shoes on display in a shop window, July 2005 A shoe is an item of footwear. ...

Bally Shoe poster

By the 1860s Bally employed more than 500 people. Within another decade it had built an international reputation for quality and design in both men's and women's shoes and expanded operations outside of Switzerland to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Paris, France. Image File history File links www. ... Image File history File links www. ... Buenos Aires (BWEH-naus EYE-ress, literally Good Winds in Spanish, but more akin to Fair Winds, as in navigation) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest in South America. ... Montevideo, Minnesota, Montevideo is the capital, chief port and largest city in Uruguay (population 1. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

Carl Franz Bally died in 1899 and his sons carried on with the business. Although the Bally family maintained voting control, in 1907 "C.F. Bally & Co. Ltd." went public, their shares listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. The added capital allowed massive expansion for their much-in-demand shoes and by 1916 they employed more than 7,000 people. SWX Swiss Exchange is Switzerlands stock exchange. ...

The company survived the Great Depression of the 1930s and the difficulties of World War II to expand globally with great success in the post-War era including a successful entry into the North American market. In 1976 they added clothing, handbags, and other leather accessories. The following year, the Bally family sold their interest in the company. Numerous difficulties followed and the company struggled under poor management against a tide of low cost products from developing countries flooding the global market. In 1999, Bally was sold to an American investment fund. The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to 1941. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons—the atom bomb being the ultimate. ... Political highlights of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. ... A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Today the company is headquartered in Caslano, near Milan, Italy. Caslano is a small village located in Switzerland (Ticino) near Lugano and the Italian border. ... This is about the Italian city of Milan. ...

Bally shoes gained a popularity with rappers in the late 1980s (along with other high-end fashion lines such as Gucci) due to their luxury status. Bally shoes are specifically mentioned in songs by a wide array of rappers ranging from Jay Z to Dana Dane. Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew (featuring MC Ricky D aka Slick Rick) were probably the first to mention Bally shoes in a rap when they put the line, "Put on the Bally shoes and the fly green socks," into "The Show/La Di Da Di" (1985). Bally shoes are iconic of old-school hip hop.