Ellesse is an Italian sport apparel company originally founded in 1959 in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, Italy. It has been part of the British

Pentland Group Pentland Group is a British privately owned global company that owns and invests in, primarily, retail and wholesale businesses in the sports, outdoor and sports fashion sectors. The Group is the majority shareholder of JD Sports, which operate ...

since 1987.

History

Ellesse was founded by Leonardo "Mantis" Servadio on 19 June 1959 in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, Umbria, Italy. The name Ellesse derives from Servadio's initials, "L.S.", which are spoken "elle" and "esse" in Italian. Ellesse grew in popularity during the 1970s as a producer of skiwear, such as quilted jackets and ski pants. In 1979, Ellesse's Jet Pant, a ski pant featuring padded knees and a wide lower leg to fit around a ski boot, was included in an event at the

Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris celebrating Italian design. Another sport with which Ellesse has been closely associated since its early years is tennis. The Ellesse logo references the form of a tennis ball with the shape of the tips of a pair of skis. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Ellesse gained a reputation for combining sportswear functionality with street-level fashion styling. It was one of the first sportswear brands to feature their logo prominently on the outside of their garments. During the mid-1980s, French designer

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Jean-Charles, marquis de Castelbajac (born 28 November 1949), also known as JC/DC, is a Moroccan/French fashion designer. He has enjoyed international success with some of his creations, including a coat of teddy bears worn by pop star Madonna ...

worked with Ellesse, an early collaboration between a sportswear company and a fashion designer. The UK casuals adopted the brand in the 1980s as premium sportswear took off across British

lad culture Lad culture (also the new lad, laddism) was a media-driven, principally British and Irish subculture of the 1990s and early 2000s. The image of the "lad"—or "new lad"—was that of a generally middle class figure espousing attitudes typically att ...

Celebrity endorsements

A number of sports celebrities have endorsed Ellesse, including

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

players

Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...

Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...

Arantxa Sánchez Arantza or Arantxa is a Basque feminine given name, meaning "thornbush". It is a hypocoristic for '' Our Lady of Arantzazu'', a shrine of Mary, mother of Jesus, in Gipuzkoa. People with the name Arantxa include: Tennis * Arantxa Parra Santonj ...

Anna Kournikova Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Курникова, p=ˈanːə sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvnə ˈkurnʲɪkəvə, a=Anna_kournikova.ogg; born 7 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player and American televisio ...

and Jose Vilela, skiers

Marc Girardelli Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian and Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines. Biography Born in Lustenau, Austria, Girardelli started skiing at ...

and Jean-Luc Crétier, and

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Mich ...

. Other celebrities associated with the brand include boxer

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

, Liam Smith,

Natas Kaupas Natas Kaupas (born March 23, 1969) is an American former professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California, in the area known as Dogtown, and is of Lithuanian descent. He is often referred to as one of the first true profe ...

and

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of t ...

, and actors

Brigitte Nielsen Brigitte Nielsen (; born Gitte Nielsen; 15 July 1963) is a Danish actress, model, and singer. She began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton. She subsequently acted in the 1985 films ''Red Sonja'' and ''Rocky IV'', later retu ...

and

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...

. Ellesse also ventured into football sponsorship, and it manufactured the kits for the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

in the 1980s. On May 11, 2019, popular

DJ Solomun Mladen Solomun (born December 27, 1975), better known under his stage name Solomun, is a Bosnian-German DJ. He is a four-time DJ Awards winner for Best Producer, Best DJ and Best Melodic House DJ. Musical career After Solomun was born in Trav ...

can be seen wearing a black jacket sporting the Ellesse logo during his performance at

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

during the Cercle x Chambord Festival. In October 2021, Elesse partnered with the YouTube group The Sidemen in a collaboration with their own clothing brand, SDMN.

Purchase by Pentland Group

In 1994, British brand management company

purchased 90% of the shares of Ellesse for £20 million. Pentland had been Ellesse's UK distributor since 1981. Servadio retained 10% of the shares. Pentland Group also owns other well-known sportswear brands, such as

Berghaus Berghaus Limited is a British outdoor clothing and equipment brand founded in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, and now headquartered in nearby Sunderland. It was founded in 1966 by climbers and mountaineers Peter Lockey and Gordon ...

and

Speedo Speedo International Limited is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England, known for its swim briefs. The company has roots in Australia but is no longer based there. Founded in Sydney in 1914 by Al ...

.Our Brands
Retrieved 2009-11-04 It currently licenses the Ellesse brand to partners in countries around the world, who manufacture and distribute Ellesse products in their territory. In 2009, Ellesse celebrated its 50th anniversary with a party in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in July 2009.

References

External links

*
Pentland Group website

{{Competitive swimwear, state=collapsed Clothing companies of Italy Sporting goods manufacturers of Italy Sportswear brands Companies based in Perugia Clothing companies established in 1959 Italian companies established in 1959 Italian brands Swimwear manufacturers

History

Celebrity endorsements

Purchase by Pentland Group

See also

References

External links