The Michelin man pointing to product in a storage space - Karolis Kavolelis/ShutterstockMichelin is a name many enthusiasts recognize, whether we're talking about gearheads or or gourmets. But along with its popular tires and restaurant rating guides, the company also has expanded its business beyond those frontiers. Indeed, it now offers a small range of other products and services for helping to keep folks on the move, including footwear, hotels/tour packages, and common car accessories. And to think, it all started with a bouncing rubber ball.That's because the person ultimately behind the Michelin/rubber connection was Elisabeth Pugh-Barker. Her uncle was Charles MacIntosh, a famed 19th-century Scottish chemist who himself was working on uses for rubber, and one of them was making rubber balls for his niece to play with. When Pugh-Barker eventually married Édouard Daubrée, she brought her rubber knowledge with her and began making rubber balls of her own. Her husband, and his cousin/partner Aristide Barbier, started building agricultural machinery with an emphasis on rubber parts. Barbier's daughter would marry Jules Michelin and, in the end, with the business faltering, she convinced her sons André and Édouard Michelin to take over and found the Michelin Company in 1889.The brothers were behind the original Michelin Guide, too, transforming what had been their free book of travelers' tips into one of the world's most respected rating guides for not only restaurants, but hotels as well. The latter get awarded Michelin "keys" instead of the restaurants' traditional red stars — remember, the company got rid of its eco-focused Green Stars earlier this year.AdvertisementAdvertisementRead more: Why Did Automakers Stop Making Cars With Pop-Up Headlights?Where the rubber meets the roadSole of a Babolat professional tennis shoe - Galina-Photo/ShutterstockNow, just to be clear, Michelin's tire empire has expanded beyond its namesake rubber to include brands like BF Goodrich and Uniroyal. In addition, it still sells the "Tweel," a one-piece setup that combines an airless tire and a wheel into one package for vehicles such as commercial mowers, side-by-sides, golf carts, skid steers, and the like (actual cars don't have airless tires yet).Michelin then uses the same kind of materials expertise behind its tires' performance to support another application that puts the grip and durability of rubber to the test: tennis shoes. Michelin has a longstanding partnership with Babolat — dating to 2003 — to help develop soles for court shoes used at the highest levels of competition. The legendary Rafael Nadal is among those who've been sponsored by the brand.Nor is tennis the only sport where you'll find Michelin soles. For instance, skateboarding shoe company Etnies, has a dedicated Michelin collection, and brands including Dolomite, Garmont, and Salewa all showcase Michelin-soled hiking and trail shoes.AdvertisementAdvertisementAnd Michelin can help get you to the trailhead, or just about any other destination, with its line of automotive accessories. Here the brand puts its name on air compressors/inflators, car mats, wiper blades, tire chains, and even portable refrigerators, among others. On the topic of fridges, Michelin has even integrated one with a tool chest. It's a uniquely cool advantage you won't find from rivals like Harbor Freight's revolutionary storage system, for example.Other travelling benefitsSelection of Michelin maps in a rack in a store - EQRoy/ShutterstockMichelin also operates some businesses that are sort of guide-adjacent. A case in point is the ViaMichelin website that combines navigation, sight-seeing/trip advice, a reservations interface, and a global mapping system to create a one-stop shop for your next adventure. As an extra benefit, it can help track tolls and fuel costs so you can plan out your travel budget.Prefer an old-school approach to route guidance? Michelin continues to publish a full line of hard-copy atlases and maps. Indeed, the company has owned Streetwise Maps — which is known for its durably laminated, accordion-style folding maps of major U.S. cities — since 2017. Michelin bought Tablet Hotels the year after, extending its role as a travel tastemaker yet further.To be sure, Tablet Hotels are nothing like Japanese capsule hotels, where folks stay in tiny sleeping pods designed to save space and money in crowded cities like Tokyo. Those setups are typically small boxes — without bathrooms or showers — that are about 4 feet x 6 feet x 3.2 feet in size. Tablet Hotels, however, is an exclusive travel agency that offers you entree to a curated selection of "soul-stirring" luxury hotels around the world, each of which must follow strict guidelines to be part of the program — much like restaurants earning their Michelin stars. Plus, the program provides "artisanal, expert-led" tours for guests, with one highlight being an exploration of farm-to-table dining in Puglia, Italy.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe brand naturally ties it all together with an extensive collection of swag from the L'Aventure Michelin shop. You can show off your Michelin mania with apparel, stationery, toys, and other tchotchkes, but beware: Some Michelin-branded merch doesn't technically qualify as "made by" the company. Its pickup-truck bed mats, for one, are made by a company called Tread Auto.Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.