Most people aren’t aware that Superga has a pretty extensive history in shoemaking, especially since the brand only arrived in Singapore just six years ago. We should give credit where its due because this Italian brand of shoes has been around since 1911; long before Superga entered our lives and blessed us with hordes of casual shoes to match our equally casual tees. In 1925, the original white 2750 shoes with vulcanised rubber soles were born. Superga was doing well, and continued this specialised production of high quality footwear well into the years before diversifying into new collections, which included a line of sports shoes with its own special logo in the 1970s.
Superga Sport was responsible in creating these sports shoes with technical attributes for a number of disciplines like volleyball, soccer, basketball and of course, tennis. All the shoes under this label bore a swallow tail logo on it, a visual that’s taken from the main Superga Sport logo. This year, Superga will be reintroducing this label, with a focus on one particular silhouette – the “Panatta” model, which was named after European tennis superstar Adriano Panatta, who loved the shoe. His father was the caretaker of the Tennis Club Parioli, where Panatta picked up the sport. He quickly became a successful European junior player before turning pro a few years later.
Superga has worked together with Panatta himself to launch this unisex collection. The reborn Superga Sport collection retains all of its original features, which includes a cotton upper, custom ap with the champion’s name, vulcanised natural rubber sole and the swallow’s tail action logo with leather details, in six different styles and colour variations of navy, dark bordeaux and military green.
Superga Sport “Panatta”, $129.90. Available at Superga outlets (Wheelock Place #B2-04 and VivoCity #02-73/75) and online at superga.com.sg.
