Sneakers, what a passion! Comfortable shoes that can also be elegant, a sporty accessory that has often become a test bench for stylists and designers. Iconic shoes, such as the legendary Superga 2750, that are the most loved and imitated Made in Italy trainers in the world.
A shoe that has brought together generations of Italians for as long as it has existed, a story that began 112 years ago when, in 1911, the Turin entrepreneur Walter Martiny took over a shed to produce rubber items, including boots for rice-field workers, children’s toys and inner tubes for bicycles. Martiny names his company ‘Superga‘, after the hill that, with its Basilica, dominates Turin. In the 1970s, a communication strategy was created that was linked to the values of the territory on the one hand and to sports stars such as Dino Zoff and Adriano Panatta on the other.
Unity is strength
The production of green rubber boots for working in the rice fields, still produced and used today, started in 1913. But it was in 1925 that Martiny created sports shoes with vulcanised rubber soles for his wife, a tennis player, starting from a mould of the rope sole of the shoes used by tennis players at the time. And this is how the 2750, the legendary Superga still loved all over the world today, was born.
After the Second World War, which saw a forced interruption of production, the merger with another historic Italian company, Pirelli, caused production to grow exponentially until the 1970s when the company experienced a sales boom with peaks of 12 million shoes per year.
Afterwards, there were difficult years due to increasing competition in the market, which had become global.
Style does not age
Despite everything, the Superga 2750 model remains fashionable over time, thanks to a skilful and continuous reinterpretation of itself. The variant with the high sole, the glittered series, and the collaboration with leading figures in the world of fashion, even apparently far from the philosophy of trainers, make it an accessory that is always up-to-date, so much to be the protagonist of the Italian restart after Covid with the international initiative SupergaLab Home in collaboration with Carioca. The unprecedented project involved a series of artists and illustrators who, through their creations, personalised the white Superga 2750s by taking inspiration from the ‘Italy’ theme and using only the colours of the Italian flag.
Today, Superga (BasicNet SpA Group), CEO Alessandro Boglione, has dozens of employees, 63 single-brand shops in Italy and 285 abroad, is present in 100 countries, and has a turnover of millions of euros.
Congratulations to those who bring Italian timeless style to the world!
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