Macron’s Sala dei Sogni showcases the best of its partnerships and designs over the last 20 years.
Just off Autostrada del Sole on the outskirts of Bologna, lies the headquarters of a sportswear brand which continues to drive growth far beyond the length of Italy’s longest motorway.
Founded over 50 years ago as a small sports shop in Bologna selling baseball gear for a US firm, Macron — which hails from the Greek for “large” — is now one of the biggest brands in Europe behind behemoths Nike (NKE) and Adidas (ADS.DE) and the UK is its biggest market.
CEO Gianluca Pavanello has been at the helm since he was recruited by Francesco Bormioli — one of the heirs of the famous glass-making family — as an inexperienced 34-year-old when Macron was purchased in 2004.
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The firm, which today has 330 employees, had previously produced sportswear for other brands, mainly Champion, before signing its first contract to supply Serie A club Bologna FC in 2001, which remains one of the longest partnerships in football.
“Bologna also has the oldest university in the world,” Pavanello says from his spacious office. “It’s a good spot to recruit great people and that’s a strength for us to be in a well-connected place.”
Two decades ago, Pavanello was working for consulting firm McKinsey in Milan. Once he joined Macron, growth was almost instantaneous. Under his leadership, Macron turnover has stretched from €10.5m (£8.7m) in 2004 to an anticipated €220m through 2024, while Pavanello is aiming to grow organically “by 15 to 20%” year-on-year.
“The idea was to grow the company out of Italy but staying focused on what we are doing today,” he says. “The market has changed over the last 20 years but we haven’t changed our strategy.”
In 2005, Macron signed its first club outside of Italy with Swansea City. Deals and producing kit and apparel to clubs came at pace thereafter. Macron now has over 90 partnerships; from Crystal Palace, Sampdoria and supplying Uefa referees, to deals with Scotland Rugby and Cricket West Indies, as well as a collaboration with Lamborghini.
Their designs haven’t gone unnoticed, with ESPN noting in December that Macron was “delivering some of the best, most imaginative, and expertly executed designs” in the football shirt market.
“We are always focused on quality, innovation, design and with the Italian touch,” says Pavanello. “We tend to do things in a different way.
“Macron works to establish a unique approach, starting from the club’s desire and input which the manufacturer then develops.
“We have to listen to the club, what their idea and goal is or their message to the fans each season. We are good listeners.”
Pavanello turns to innovation and digs out a Macron catalogue from 2004. It is football heavy with 15 styles, six colours and seven sizes. “The offering is 15 times bigger today and is a much more complex market,” he says.
“We have led this process and the evolution of the offering, both in terms of design and quality, and the way to deliver to the market.”
The manufacturer has three business streams: technical sponsorships, teamwear (distributed globally through a network of 170 global sports hubs) and individual, which now includes entering the padel market and launching Clubhouse, its first athleisure fashion line.
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Given Macron’s strides and UK market share [28% of turnover] the brand is still relatively unknown in terms of brand recognition against the global big hitters, but Pavanello says that 2025 will mark a turning point.
“In the last years we have been focused on product quality, development and operations more than storytelling,” he says. “If you want to build you have to start at the foundations.
“In some ways we would like to create a large company [like our name] and this is the goal. But to do things well takes time and I’m not for shortcuts. Now it’s time to talk more about Macron and invest more in who we are.”
Macron’s Sala dei Sogni (Room of Dreams) certainly tells a story or two. It showcases jerseys from an array of top clubs, while I am told that no shirt is similar, every fabric is different and there is a connection with each club.
“More and more clubs appreciate this way of working,” says Pavanello. “It is easier to partner with those who love this way of working.”
Macron’s growth is further underpinned by its sprawling, state-of-the-art campus. The 22,000 square metre (sqm) facility includes a huge warehouse, which ships 100,000 garments daily and holds 7 million items. The campus is now being expanded to 100,000 sqm to cater for a third building.
Having spent 80% of his time out of office in November — mainly at the autumn internationals with Macron billed as the number one sportswear brand in rugby — Pavanello is now focusing on the US market after opening its new headquarters in Connecticut last year.
Pavanello, a financial controller before joining McKinsey, believes the college and team element will drive sales across sports from soccer to fencing, having signed the latter to a 10-year agreement with its first US national body.
“We thought it would take longer to enter the market but people are more used to spending money on sporting products,” he says. “We have a robust organisation and I have huge expectations about the US market.”
At this rate, it is likely that new space will have to be found other than the two walls in Macron’s reception area adorned by a growing army of club and association badges which the firm partners with.
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With the “Italian touch” of style and bespoke design at the forefront, Pavanello has grown with the company’s rise as he enters a 21st year as CEO.
“I was young, 34, and Francesco [president until 2019] didn’t know me,” he admits. “He is good at judging people and perhaps he had a good feeling as I didn’t have any expertise in running a company.
“We have grown a lot and I have delivered what I had to deliver. I think it was a good deal for both of us.”
Learnings at McKinsey
When you work in a consultancy company you work in different projects and learn about the company from different angles and you go deep in different functions.
It helped me a lot when I started at Macron. At the beginning I looked at the operations, production and supply chain. Then we worked on the sales side. Today, it’s important I have a point of view on different aspects.
Two decades as CEO
To keep growing is not easy but you have to be better than the others. We are in a big industry and competition is tough. You have to be very demanding, disciplined and focused. If you do this you can succeed in the end and it will pay off.
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Kelly Huston is a freelance writer who covers everything from politics and health to business and parenting. She's been writing for DMG Energy News since 2018, and she's an avid reader of the site. When she's not writing, Kelly can be found spending time with her family and working out at the gym.
