Australian clothing company Pacific Brands has sold the classic Volley sports shoe brand, along with several other well known product lines.

The Volley shoe has been sold in Australia for 75 years and is strongly associated with the country's tennis heyday.

Volleys were worn by past Australian tennis champions including Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.

The shoes were developed in 1939 by Dunlop Australia employee and tennis champion Adrian Quist after he played in the Davis Cup and was impressed by the grip provided by boat shoes on court.

They subsequently became popular with everyone from bushwalkers to tradesmen.

Pacific Brands acquired the brand in 2004.

Having ditched the Dunlop logo so long associated with Volleys several years ago, Pacific Brands today confirmed it has sold the shoe line altogether.

The buyer is local private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners, and the deal also includes Grosby and Julius Marlow shoes, along with the local rights to brands including Clarks, Hush Puppies, Mossimo and Superdry.

In a separate deal announced at the same time, Pacific Brands has also sold the Australian arms of Dunlop and Slazenger.

Tennis champion Rod Laver wore Dunlop Volleys. ( Hulton Archive: Hulton Archive )

UK firm IBML has purchased the brands, which it already owns in every other global market.

Pacific Brands - best known as the maker of Bonds clothing - says the $39 million it makes on the sales will be used to write down debt, but it also expects to report a paper loss of $30 million on the deal.

The company's list of brands will significantly shrink as a result of the transaction, and it comes less than three months after Pacific Brands announced it had sold its workwear division, including Hard Yakka, King Gee and Stubbies.

Well known labels including Jockey, Holeproof, Berlei, Sachi and Razzamatazz will remain.

"The sale ... is consistent with our strategy to simplify and focus Pacific Brands on maximising the potential of our market leading brands such as Bonds and Sheriden," said the firm's chief executive David Bortolussi in the statement announcing the deal.

"While this has been a complicated divestment to execute, the transactions are all unconditional and should be completed within two weeks with minimal disruption to customers and our core business.

"From a pricing perspective, the divestment represents good value to our shareholders for an unprofitable division."

Investors seemed to agree, with Pacific Brands shares up more than 5 per cent by 3:15pm (AEDT).