How did a company founded to process a cork flooring substitute create not just one but two of the most amazing sports models the United States has ever seen? We can tell you this: it didn’t happen just overnight. The story, in fact,  was some 70 years in the making.

Synthesized cork business a failure

It all started  in the midst of World War I when several Japanese investors formed Toyo Cork Kogyo, which processed an alternative  for cork that was harvested from Abemaki trees. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but when the war was over  and Japanese could get real cork again, Toyo Cork Kogyo fell on hard times and the bank that had lent it capital reorganized it–something that would happen at least twice more in its checkered history. Read more . . .