Fairtex History| 1958 |
The name "Fairtex" was registered as a trademark in Thailand. |
| 1971 |
Philip
Wong, Chairman and Founder of Fairtex, established Fairtex Garments
Factory Company Limited, the parent company of the Fairtex Group.
In the mid 1970's, Fairtex was a pioneer in introducing high quality
Fairtex branded T-shirts to the Thai department store market. At its
peak, Fairtex was the number one brand in Thailand. Mr. Wong expanded
the Fairtex business - exporting Fairtex products under private brands
worldwide |
| 1975 |
Mr.
Wong created Fairtex Muay Thai Camp Thailand, as a hobby to fulfill his
love and passion for Muay Thai. It was a way for Mr. Wong to give back
to the community by giving poor children and young men a second chance
at life through Muay Thai, thus keeping them off the streets and away
from drugs.
The Camp was initially established in central
Bangkok but later relocated to Banplee, about 25 km away. This location
was chosen specifically to create a professional training atmosphere
away from the distractions of Bangkok. The venue benefits from clean,
fresh air and the cooling ocean breeze from the gulf of Thailand - a
refreshing contrast to the noise and pollution of Bangkok. |
| 1978 |
Mr.
Wong became a Lumpinee Boxing Stadium promoter and Fairtex Promotions
was established. Mr. Wong was one of the first to help promote a
foreign fighter such as Don "The Dragon" Wilson to fight in Lumpinee
Boxing Stadium. He was also the first to invite ESPN2 to cover the
Fairtex sponsored World Muay Thai Council (WMC) world championship
title fights at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium with such fighters as Ramon
Decker, Ivan Hippolyte and Jongsanan “The Wooden Man" Fairtex. |
| 1980's |
Fairtex
Muay Thai would be one of the first Thai camps to train foreigners from
Europe Japan, USA, and also the first to train females athletes which
was viewed as a taboo by Thais at the time. |
| 1993 |
With
his dream of bringing Muay Thai to the USA, and wanting to dispel the
negative Hollywood images of Muay Thai and the people who practice it,
Mr. Wong established Fairtex Muay Thai Camp in Chandler, Arizona,
USA. This multi-million dollar Muay Thai camp facility was equipped
with fold-up bleachers to seat over 500 people, a full center ring,
over 24 heavy bags, 24 dormitory style rooms, shower rooms, sauna and
plenty of parking space… Nothing else like it existed.
Mr. Wong quickly learned that Muay Thai in the USA had a misperception
as a “dangerous sport”. He discovered that people were getting poor
quality training, while using poorly engineered equipment that
compounded the injury rate. Mr. Wong became determined to improve the
safety of Muay Thai by designing and developing equipment to meet the
standards of his Muay Thai champions and by providing top quality
training to his students. |
| 1994 |
Mr.
Wong began to manufacture equipment for his boxers at his Fairtex
Garments Factory in Bangkok. He then started to supply his equipment to
professional martial arts instructors and students throughout North
American. As word got out about the superior Fairtex quality, the
demand for Fairtex equipment quickly increased. |
| 1996 |
Fairtex
Muay Thai Camp, Chandler, Arizona was relocated to San Francisco and
Fairtex Muay Thai Camp, San Francisco, California was born. |
| 1998 |
Fairtex Gear, Inc. was established to sell and distribute the Fairtex equipment throughout North America. |
| 1998-1999 |
Demand for the Fairtex quality equipment outstripped manufacturing capacity.
Mr. Wong started to contract manufacture with several suppliers - only
to be disappointed by mediocre product and service quality. |
| 1999 |
Mr.
Wong and Anthony Lin, President and CEO of Fairtex Group, established
Fairtex Equipment Company Limited in Thailand. Fairtex manufacturing
capacity was increased and the company created the facilities required
to continually raise quality standards to meet demands of customers and
Fairtex professional fighters.
Fairtex Equipment
Company Limited became the Fairtex Worldwide Headquarters, fully
staffed with design, manufacturing and marketing teams to support
Fairtex equipment customers worldwide. Fairtex easily broke into
European market starting with United Kingdom.
Fairtex enters MMA with it’s sponsorship of UFC Champion Pat “The
Croatian Sensation” Miletich. Pat would be the first in a long and
continuing line of Fairtex supported MMA athletes. His sponsorship
marked the beginning of a new era, as Fairtex became a fixture in Mixed
Martial Arts Worldwide. |
| 2003 |
Fairtex
Muay Thai and Fitness, San Francisco, California, USA was incorporated
by Mr. Wong and Mr. Lin to continue the Fairtex legacy. |
| 2004 |
Fairtex
goes to Japan and formed Weerasack Fairtex Muay Thai starting off with
four gym locations throughout Tokyo metropolitan areas. |
| 2005 |
Fairtex
Muay Thai Fitness, Sports Club and Hotel complex broke ground in
Pattaya, Thailand. The facility is a 3.5 acre lot centrally located in
Pattaya within a walking distance to the beach. It is approximately 90
km Southeast from Central Bangkok. It is the Premier Muay Thai
training center in the world and has been awarded the title of “The
Best Muay Thai Gym in Asia” by Travel Magazine. It is a state of the
art facility with four boxing rings, fully equipped fitness center,
Olympic size swimming pool, basketball courts, two pro-tennis courts,
two squash/racquet courts, five Olympic badminton and soccer
gymnasiums, rock climbing wall, weights and aerobic gym, health spa,
club house, day care, dormitories, restaurants, and many other five
star amenities. |
| 2006 |
Fairtex,
LLC establishes its headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA to
serve as a new design center for Fairtex branded apparel. Fairtex
Muay Thai Fitness expands its second USA location at the heart of
Silicon Valley in Mountain View, California.
With limited opportunities for foreign athletes to compete in Thailand,
Fairtex purchases the only boxing stadium in Pattaya, Thailand to
promote both Thai and foreign athletes. Fairtex Muay Thai Thepasit
Stadium holds three fight night events per week, grooming the next
generation of world champions. Mr. Wong has visions of making Pattaya
a great city, a city that will host the best Muay Thai fighters from
Thailand and all over the world.
Weerasack Fairtex Muay Thai further expands in Japan with two more gyms. |
| Today |
Fairtex
is recognized as the gear of champions and endorsed by world champion
fighters, instructors, promoters and sanctioning bodies worldwide as
the leader and innovator in high impact combat sports. Fairtex
equipment is “Engineered for Top Performance”.
Under
Mr. Wong’s and Mr. Lin’s leadership and support from our distributors
and loyal customers, Fairtex has become one of the hottest brands in
the combat sports equipment industry with over 25 distributors
worldwide; recognized as the leader and innovator for high impact
sports equipment; and the leading authority in Muay Thai having
produced over 60 champions with titles such as Lumpinee, Rajadamnern,
WBC Muay Thai, WMC, ISKA and other world championship titles.
Since 1975 Fairtex has been dedicated to the training, management and
promotion of professional Muay Thai fighters, Boxers, and Mixed Martial
Arts athletes. This tradition is growing, as Fairtex has expanded with
two camps in Thailand, two gyms in USA and six gyms in Japan. Fairtex
has students from all over the world from Holland, Russia, China,
Brazil, USA, to Australia. Our champions consistently rank as the best
in the world.
Fairtex is the authority in Muay Thai. With our in-depth knowledge and
expertise, we have been developing and innovating premium fight sports
equipment since 1993. In recent years, Fairtex has been recognized and
gained international reputations both as the leader in the high impact
sports equipment industry, and also as the industry’s top innovator.
Our drive is innovation. Fairtex’s integral participation at every
level of fight sports has afforded us an unparalleled depth of
knowledge and intuition in the field. We have been translating our
ring-proven expertise into the engineering of superior equipment and
apparel for athletes since 1993. It is this combination of ring
experience and technical wisdom that have enabled us to consistently
develop cutting edge products. At Fairtex, our motto is to “Be
Inspired”. |
|
|
|