The story of arena: from swimming to beachwear

It's now a habit that top-performing heads from niche sports sectors such as cycling and trail running merge into lifestyle clothing - basically, what is considered everyday wear. Even water sports have started to take center stage in this scene. In particular, arena, the most recognizable, appreciated, and renowned brand in the field of aquatic sports, which includes not only pool swimming or competitive swimming. It is certainly thanks to a pronounced avant-garde spirit that it can now boast the status of a cult brand. arena was born in the 1970s from an idea of Horst Dassler, son of the founder of Adidas: a true family business that tells a tale of true destiny. As a spectator at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Dassler witnessed the triumphs of Shane Gould and Mark Spitz, who respectively propelled women's and men's swimming into a new dimension. Thus, arena was born, which the following year launched the revolutionary Skinfit fabric and chose, among others, Gould and Spitz as testimonials.

The story of arena in the swimming pool

Thus, the arena Elite Team was born, including Italians Klaus di Bias and Novella Calligaris, who would present themselves at the subsequent Olympic Games in Montreal, sweeping the competition by winning a whopping 44 Olympic medals. To meet the needs of high-level swimmers, the arena Elite Team was equipped with the first line of headphones and goggles designed to fly on water. The Shane Gould Female Swimsuit Collection was launched in 1975 in collaboration with the former swimmer, winner of 5 Olympic medals, while in 1980 it was the turn of Flyback, the world's first swimsuit designed with thin straps to define a wider shoulder opening and greater exposure of the back.

But arena immediately associated its avant-garde technical research with conscious advertising promotion, using the magnetic power of its champions. In particular, Mark Spitz, winner of 9 olympic gold medals throughout his career, with his iconic stars and stripes briefs. Spitz's results have emerged over time as the standard to surpass for champions of the caliber of Michael Phelps. But the close bond between arena and Spitz also gave rise to iconic advertisements seasoned with claims that not only have remained etched in collective memory but were true statements predicting arena's evolution. «Look what goes into arena swimsuits», «Mark Spitz Arena Swim Fashions» - Arena's mission was clear from the start: to push beyond its boundaries.

The new beachwear according to arena

But arena is not limited exclusively to waterwear; it has chosen to undertake a gradual path to make performance swimsuit even more democratic. Just think, for example, of the latest release, Beachwear arena. In addition to being environmentally sustainable, the selection of Beachwear arena garments focuses on minimal and refined designs inspired by the brand's performance world. The swimsuit in the collection are so versatile that they can be worn on any occasion. Thus, a beach item turns into a garment to be worn even in the city, perfect to wear with a shirt, a t-shirt, or a simple long sleeve. In summer, many hours are spent at the beach, so the new arena swimsuit allow you to save the time usually spent choosing shorts to wear immediately after returning from a day out.

Unlike a trend as impactful as it is distant like blokecore, arena has chosen to reinterpret with its own means the concept behind the success of trends such as techwear and gorpcore. That is, to leverage the idea of wearing the same garment on multiple occasions and allowing oneself this luxury without sacrificing two fundamental aspects: comfort and style. But also the marked attention to always cutting-edge and well-refined materials. A brand like arena, boasting a unique heritage and history, cannot risk betraying the aspects that have so far contributed to making it a benchmark in its reference sector. arena is ready to cast a glance beyond the water, an element that dominates and in which it remains the leader for performance and technologies, to achieve the same success in new sectors: beachwear and lifestyle.