Avoli, the first and only sports brand dedicated exclusively to the performance needs and demands of women’s and girls’ volleyball, has announced its official launch in the U.S. with the support of angel investors who recognized “the brand’s tremendous potential in the rapidly expanding landscape of girls’ volleyball.” The sport is currently the most popular team sport for girls in the U.S., but there was no brand to this date that offered high-performance volleyball products exclusively for women and girls.
“As fathers of daughters who play the sport, Rick and I couldn’t help but notice that many of these volleyball athletes were wearing men’s basketball shoes on the volleyball court,” said Mark Oleson, co-founder of Avoli. “Not only do men’s basketball shoes lack in meeting the demands of the unique movements of volleyball, but ignore the physiology differences between men and women athletes which can prevent injury and optimize performance. They’re very different games when it comes to the feet, especially since volleyball players in an average game jump and land two to four times more than their basketball counterparts.”
Oleson founded Avoli together with Rick Anguilla this year in Portland, Oregon. Both founders are former athletic footwear and apparel executives with extensive experience at renowned brands such as Adidas, Lululemon, Nike and Under Armour. With a deep understanding of the market, Avoli’s founders and a women-led design team focus on developing specialty footwear, apparel and equipment tailored to the unique needs of modern volleyball players and girls.
According to a report from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), girls’ participation in high school volleyball has increased 15 percent since 2022, and the number of girls playing at the club level has brought participation to record levels. In addition, Nebraska, one of the top NCAA volleyball schools in the U.S., is hosting “Volleyball Day in Nebraska” – an outdoor tournament at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln – on Aug. 30. The event has already sold 83,000 tickets and is on the verge of breaking the worldwide attendance record for a day in women’s sports of more than 90,000. This rapid growth has sparked interest in developing professional leagues, including the Pro Volleyball Federation, Athletes Unlimited and League One Volleyball.
Angel investors who have personally invested in Avoli include Ho Nam, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Altos Ventures, whose investment portfolio includes Roblox and Coupang; Blythe Jack, former Managing Director of TSG Consumer Partners and Rosewood Capital (led investments in Under Armour, Canyon Bicycles, Dutch Bros, Backcountry. com, BrewDog, among others); Pete Saperstone, partner at Greycroft Partners; James Gau of ShoeBot, shoe innovation and manufacturing, China; and Shane Stent, a high school and club volleyball coach from California’s Silicon Valley.
Avoli will launch a sales and marketing campaign in July with top volleyball players to introduce its first product, a volleyball shoe for women.
