Meet the challenger: Noble Heist, the Indonesian padel brand competing for local courts

Local padel racket brands are competing for Indonesia’s more than 400,000 amateur players, many of them beginners. Jakarta-based Noble Heist is one of them.

Founder Kenneth Gouw said most of the brand’s demand comes from long-stay tourists in Bali, who are looking for a healthier lifestyle through exercise, not just leisure. Many rent rackets, and some buy local models priced at around IDR 2 million (€100), less than brands such as Babolat and Adidas. Bali is now Noble Heist’s biggest market, ahead of other Indonesian cities.

Noble Heist sells its rackets through Holywings Padel Club, an Indonesian lifestyle and racket sports network that combines padel courts with wellness and social amenities. Gouw, who spent more than a decade in the creative industry, said finding consignment stores willing to stock the rackets has been difficult, especially around Jakarta.

The secondhand market is flooded. According to Gouw, prices in the segment have crashed, and secondhand rackets from major brands such as Adidas and Babolat now sell for half their original price.

Many events also let players trade in their rackets and pay only half the original price. The offer has proved attractive, especially to newcomers who took up the sport out of fear of missing out (FOMO).

 “At that time, I bought my Adidas Cross It Light Martita Ortega for around IDR 5 million [€250] and was able to sell it for 7 [million]. But now the market is flooded with secondhand rackets, so selling local rackets isn’t easy,” he said.

“So our rackets can be found at Holywings Padel Club in Jakarta and also in Bali, which has been our biggest market so far,” Gouw said. He plans to build more engagement through social media content and to keep improving the racket to make it more comfortable for players.

Survival depends on brand recall. Gouw said a small padel equipment business in a niche market is up against the major brands, so it has to be remembered. Unlike shoes, a category where Indonesia has export experience, padel rackets are not an established industry in the country.

As a brand owner, Gouw relies entirely on a manufacturer for design and technology and can’t order in large volumes. That leaves community trust as his main tool, which he builds by partnering with many padel influencers.

“I want to make our racket affordable compared to many other [brands], while also being able to improve the gameplay,” he said.

The market has already cooled in places. Indonesia’s padel business has faced setbacks, with many players switching to tennis. A padel crash has also been predicted in other countries, and in Sweden some padel courts have already gone bankrupt. Those conditions led Gouw to look at the bigger picture and to focus on partnerships with courts and padel influencers in Indonesia.

Gouw said understanding the market is the key to survival. Noble Heist sits between beginner and pro rackets. He wants to grow beyond Bali, because many players still don’t recognize Noble Heist as a racket brand.

“We have to understand that the reality is, having a business in a completely niche market won’t do well. A lot of them aren’t surviving, thus I want to create a more versatile racket,” he said. He added that the racket’s weight, design and feel could play a significant role in getting consumers to remember the brand.

Gouw hopes the partnership with Holywings Padel Club will remain a priority. Many stores now focus on the retail experience and let customers try products before they buy, and the same applies to padel rackets.

The road ahead won’t be easy. Indonesia currently has an oversupply of padel courts, and some have already been converted into tennis courts. For now, building the market and customer trust remain the priority.

Bali still offers room to grow. Tourism on the island has been recovering since the pandemic (GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 2022), and sports tourism is bringing visitors to sporting events as participants or spectators, making sport a new draw for tourists in Indonesia. That could widen Noble Heist’s market, although Gouw hopes growth will extend beyond Bali.

“So, I just have to be patient with the current Jakarta market, wait it out, then move on,” he said.

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