History
Lotto was established in 1973 by the Caberlotto family (who were the proprietors of the football team Treviso) in Montebelluna, northern Italy, the world centre of footwear manufacturing. In June 1973, Lotto made its debut as a sports footwear manufacturer. Tennis shoes signaled the beginning of production, followed by models for basketball, volleyball, athletics and football.
Sports clothing was the company's next venture. In the first 10 years, Lotto focused on the Italian market and became a product leader in tennis. During its first decade, corporate strategy concentrated on making tennis footwear and clothing, and early on sponsored big names from the professional tennis circuit (Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Thomas Muster, Andrea Gaudenzi), a strategy that brought the early victories at Wimbledon, the US Open and Roland Garros.
In the 80s Lotto moved on to broaden its business base by competing among the then small group of manufacturers of football boots and clothing. Lotto began to create its first football boot models and signed major collaboration agreements with internationally renowned players and teams. Tennis players John Newcombe, Andrés Gómez and José Luis Clerc wore the brand's tennis products.
The first sponsorship agreements in football were signed with players (Dino Zoff and Ruud Gullit) and teams, such as AC Milan (1993–98), the Netherlands national football team, Napoli, Juventus, Chievo Verona, and Real Zaragoza). Playing pros provided input in both the design and fine-tuning of the products. This involvement together with the athletes’ public images helped make the company a leader in tennis and football. During this same period, Lotto expanded into the export market, and its international business grew rapidly. Ten years later the brand was being distributed in more than 60 countries around the world.
In June 1999, the company was taken over by a group of local business people who were already very active in the sports area. The company was renamed Lotto Sport Italia, and its new owners focused on the brand’s strengths of dynamism, innovation, quality, Italian design, passion and an extremely effective customer service program.
Today Lotto distributes its products in more than 70 countries through independent sports stores, specialty chain stores and large stores with sports departments. The company is pushing the development of corner and flagship stores, which are now widespread in Italy and in other countries.
Read more about this topic: Lotto Sport Italia
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