Golden Goose has entered the market for pádel, according to Women’s Wear Daily, Fashion Network and La Gazzetta dello Sport. The sneaker brand is putting its stamp on a pádel club called Atlante Arena, the fruit of a partnership with Demetrio Albertini and Lorenzo Alfieri, who founded the City Padel Milano club in 2017.
This “pavilion” was designed by Novembre Studio – the firm run by architect Fabio Novembre, who designed the Dreamers’ Way capsule collection for Golden Goose. It will contain a shop for sneakers, apparel and pádel equipment, and a “co-design service” that will customize items for customers. The rest of the premises will be taken up by six indoor courts, one indoor pro court, two “vintage” outdoor courts, and an upper-floor lounge with a view of it all.
The padel app WeSmash will provide a digital dimension to the proceedings – presumably, the court-booking service described in the app-store description.
Atlante Arena is scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2024 in the CityLife quarter of Milan.
Golden Goose is also releasing a Star line of pádel sneakers and apparel.
As our sister publication Shoe Intelligence reported, Golden Goose has been working with a financial advisor, Lazard, its parent company Permira and several banks (Bank of America, Mediobanca, JPMorgan and UBS, according to Reuters) to set up an IPO in Milan in the first half of 2024 at a valuation of about €3 billion.
The group, which was acquired by private equity firm Permira in 2020, generated sales of €145 million in Q3, 16 percent more than in the same period last year.
