Sportful

Sportful’s story begins in the Dolomites in 1972 — not in a factory, but at the start line of the first ever Marcialonga cross-country ski race. Giordano Cremonese, whose parents Olindo and Irma had built a wool spinning mill in the foothills of the Dolomites in 1946, found himself wanting to enter the race but dissatisfied with the clothing available. He designed his own suit from state-of-the-art acrylic fabrics, stitched the word Sportful — meaning sportingly, and with a nod to the playful — onto the front, and lined up in a bright orange suit that stood out from everyone else on the course. That suit was the birth of the brand.

Cycling came in 1985, when Sportful applied the same performance-first ethos it had built in ski wear to the road. The brand was quickly adopted by professional teams — Ceramiche Ariostea, Maglificio Bianchi, and then Mapei, arguably the most dominant team in 1990s professional cycling, sweeping the Spring Classics and setting the standard for team performance. From 2002 to 2010, Sportful clothed the Italian national team through six World Championship victories and an Olympic gold. Peter Sagan — one of the most charismatic and successful riders of his generation — became a Sportful lifetime ambassador, wearing the brand through multiple world championship titles, Tour de France points classifications and a Paris-Roubaix victory in the brand’s Bomber skinsuit. Sportful is still family-owned, now run by the third Cremonese generation alongside Castelli and outdoor brand Karpos under the Manifattura Valcismon group, and still designed and made in Fonzaso, Veneto, with the Dolomites visible from the factory.