The Mega-Brands That Built America

Two sneaker companies become industry titans through a decades long battle for global dominance, as they unleash iconic footwear that will bring sneakers mainstream and make them part of the fabric of American culture.

A down-on-his-luck car salesman has the visionary idea to start the first rental car company in America, and when he joins forces with cab company owner John Hertz, they spread their revolutionary business across the country. But when WWII veteran Warren Avis starts his own rental car company, fierce competition between the two gives rise to a new industry with a $100 billion annual market.

A game designer named Steve Jobs starts a personal computer company in his parents' garage on his way to bringing computers mainstream. But when he commissions the help of a software design company run by Bill Gates, it's the beginning of one of the biggest rivalries in the history of American industry.

In the 1950s, rival electronics companies aim to make music portable for the first time ever. What follows is a decades-long rivalry that prompts the creation of iconic products like the Pocket Radio, Cassette Tape, Walkman and the CD, alongside the rise of two of the biggest companies in the world.

In the 1800s, when Americans barely bathed and deadly diseases were commonplace, James Gamble and Harley Procter invent a new soap that revolutionizes America and opens up a market to entrepreneurs. This includes King Gillette and Jacob Schick whose bitter rivalry will birth the billion-dollar shaving industry as we know it, and changing Americans daily lives forever.

The evolution of America's most beloved sports of baseball, basketball and football are made possible by the innovations of sporting goods pioneers named Spalding, Wilson, and the Rawlings brothers.

A century ago, shipping packages was slow and shipping overnight was impossible, until two Seattle brothers risk everything to reinvent shipping packages for all; a tenacious Yale graduate creates a world-famous express delivery service.

Founding fathers of the biggest retail stores in the world battle to be the first to innovate, build, and revolutionize the industry. And one of the top businessmen of the 20th century, Sam Walton, will construct the world's largest retail empire.