Emidio Lazzarini's first love was wrestling. So one of the first things he did when he took over his father’s cobbler shop in Italy in the 1950s was to make himself a more comfortable shoe for his matches. Those shoes caught on, and soon he was making customized boots for the local soccer team. One early customer was the legendary footballer John Charles, who said of his shoes, “These aren’t boots, they’re slippers—golden slippers.” The name stuck—“Pantofola d'Oro” is Italian for “golden slipper”—and the brand has become virtually synonymous with top-quality soccer boots as well as sneakers.