JOOLA was founded by Karl Frey, the former owner of the department store group, Fr. Th. Jooss, located in Landau, Germany. The sports department of Jooss was involved in the production of the first table tennis tables in 1952. By 1954, table tennis production became an independent department within the group. In the 1950’s, it was common to combine the names of companies and cities, which is how the JOOLA brand name came to be – a combination of Jooss and Landau.