Why it belongs in ORBIS
French footwear house founded in 1936 in Paris's Belleville district by Georges Grimmeisen, who combined tennis experience with rubber-industry know-how to create the first canvas tennis shoe with a four-hole ventilated vulcanized rubber sole; still family-run.
Spring Court was launched in 1936 in the Belleville district of Paris by Georges Grimmeisen, a tennis enthusiast with a background in the rubber industry. His innovation was a breathable cotton-canvas tennis shoe fitted with a vulcanized rubber sole punctured by four ventilation holes, later adopted widely after 1960s counterculture embraced it. The company remains headquartered at Passage Piver in Paris and is today led by three sisters descended from the founder. In 2026 the brand marked its 90th anniversary with the campaign 'It's Good to Be Old.'