Ariat International, Inc.

Who owns Ariat International?
Ariat International is majority-owned by the Fisher family, founders of Gap Inc., together with company management. The Fisher interests acquired their stake in 2012. Co-founder Beth Cross remains CEO.

Is Ariat a public company?
No. Ariat International is privately held and does not publish financial statements. It has no stock listing.

When was Ariat founded?
Beth Cross and Pam Parker founded Ariat in 1992 after working together at Bain & Company. The company shipped its first boots in 1993.

How much revenue does Ariat make?
Ariat does not disclose financials. Industry estimates place annual revenue above $1 billion, up from roughly $300 million at the 2012 Fisher family acquisition.

Where is Ariat headquartered?
Ariat is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, operating a one-million-square-foot campus of offices and distribution that it is expanding with a $72.6 million investment. It originally operated from the San Francisco Bay Area.

How is Ariat connected to Gap Inc.?
The Fisher family, founders of Gap Inc., holds the majority ownership of Ariat International through a 2012 acquisition. Ariat operates entirely independently of Gap Inc. as a separate private company.

Beth Cross and Pam Parker founded Ariat in 1992 after meeting at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and working together at Bain & Company on a strategy project for Reebok. Their idea was to put athletic footwear technology into equestrian boots. Reebok passed, but executive Angel Martinez became an early investor and board advisor, helping shape the brand's product strategy.

The company shipped its first boots in 1993 under the tagline "The New Breed of Boot," taking its name from Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Initial focus was performance English and western riding boots, which won over equestrians who had suffered through traditional rigid footwear.

Expansion followed through the 1990s and 2000s. Ariat moved into western fashion boots, apparel and work boots, adding flame-resistant technology that found demand among energy industry workers. The company built distribution through specialty retailers and invested in sports marketing, becoming official boot sponsor of the Professional Bull Riders in 2009 and signing a partnership with the International Federation for Equestrian Sports in 2015.

Private equity owners LNK Partners and Brentwood Associates held stakes through the growth phase. In 2012, the company was sold to its management and the Fisher family, the founders of Gap Inc., in a deal Reuters reported likely valued the business at $350 million to $400 million on roughly $300 million in revenue. The Fisher purchase installed the patient family capital structure that has supported expansion ever since.

Under Fisher ownership, the company scaled into the largest equestrian footwear and apparel maker in the world, with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Mexico and Japan. In 2020 it established a one-million-square-foot regional headquarters and distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas, and in December 2025 announced a $72.6 million expansion of that campus, adding a second distribution center and approximately 250 jobs through 2032.

Ariat operates a supplier compliance program covering its contract manufacturers, with standards on labor practices and materials. The company emphasizes product durability as its core environmental position, designing boots intended for long service life rather than disposable turnover.

As a private company, Ariat does not publish a standalone sustainability report, and its disclosures are limited relative to public peers. Its community engagement runs through equestrian and western sports sponsorships, including athlete programs and industry organizations.

Ariat has maintained a low controversy profile through more than three decades.

Product recalls. The company has issued occasional recalls on footwear and apparel through the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a normal feature of large footwear manufacturing with no unusual frequency.

Supply chain scrutiny. Like all major footwear importers, Ariat faces periodic attention to labor conditions in its Asian and Mexican contract factories, though no major violations have been publicly attached to the company.