Macron’s Sala dei Sogni showcases the best partnerships and designs of the past 20 years.
Just outside the Autostrada del Sole on the outskirts of Bologna sits the headquarters of a sportswear brand that has grown far beyond the length of Italy’s longest highway.
Founded over 50 years ago in Bologna as a small sports store selling baseball equipment for an American company, Macron (the word comes from the Greek word meaning “big”) is now one of the largest brands in Europe, only Second to giants Nike (NKE) and Adidas (Adidas).
Chief Executive Gianluca Pavanello has been at the helm since he was recruited by Francesco Bormioli, one of the heirs of the famed glassmaking family, in 2004 when Macron was acquired by France’s Macron , he was only 34 years old at the time and lacked experience.
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The company, which currently employs 330 people, had previously produced sportswear for other brands, mainly Champion, before signing its first contract to supply Serie A club Bologna in 2001, a contract that remains the largest in football. one of a long-standing partnership.
“Bologna also has the oldest university in the world,” Pavanello said in his spacious office. “It’s a great place to recruit great people, and that’s the advantage of being in a well-connected place.”
Twenty years ago, Pavanello was working at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Milan. Once he joined Macron, the growth was almost instantaneous. Under his leadership, Macron’s turnover has grown from €10.5m (£8.7m) in 2004 to an estimated €220m by 2024, while Pavanello aims to achieve “15% to 20%” year-on-year “organic growth.
“The idea is to take the company out of Italy but still focus on what we do today,” he said. “The market has changed over the past 20 years, but our strategy has not.”
In 2005, Macron signed with Swansea City, his first club outside Italy. Since then, the pace of deals with clubs and production of equipment and apparel has accelerated. Macron currently has over 90 partners; with Crystal Palace, Sampdoria and supplying referees to UEFA, with Scottish Rugby and West Indies Cricket, and with Lamborghini.
Their designs have not gone unnoticed, with ESPN noting in December that Macron “offers some of the best, most imaginative and professionally executed designs” in the football jersey market.
“We have always focused on quality, innovation, design and Italian style,” Pavanello said. “We tend to do things differently.
“Macron is committed to establishing a unique approach that starts with the desire and input of the club and is then developed by the manufacturer.
“We have to listen to what the clubs are saying, what their ideas and goals are, or the message they send to their fans every season. We are good listeners.”
Pavanello turned to innovation, digging out Macron’s 2004 product catalog. “The current product scale is 15 times larger and the market is more complex,” he said.
“We are leading the evolution of this process and product in terms of design and quality and how we deliver it to the market.”
The manufacturer has three business areas: technical sponsorship, team apparel (distributed globally through a network of 170 global sports centers) and personal apparel, which includes entering the cricket market with the launch of its first athleisure fashion range, Clubhouse.
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Given Macron’s progress and UK market share [28% of turnover] In terms of brand awareness, the brand is still relatively unknown compared to the global big names, but Pavanello said 2025 will mark a turning point.
“In the past few years, we have focused more on product quality, development and operations rather than storytelling,” he said. “If you want to build, you have to start with the foundation.
“In some ways, we want to create a big company [like our name] That’s the goal. But it takes time to get things done, and I don’t take shortcuts. Now is the time to talk more about Macron and invest more in who we are.
Macron’s “dream house” certainly tells a story or two. It showcases a range of shirts from top clubs and I was told that no one shirt is alike, each fabric is different and has a link to each club.
“More and more clubs appreciate this way of working,” Pavanello said. “It’s easier to work with someone who likes this way of working.”
Macron’s growth is further aided by its large, state-of-the-art campus. The 22,000 square meter (sqm) facility includes a massive warehouse that ships 100,000 garments per day and can hold 7 million items. The campus is currently being expanded to 100,000 square meters to accommodate a third building.
In November, Pavanello was out of the office 80% of the time, mainly during the fall international games for Macron, which is known as rugby’s No. 1 sportswear brand. After opening a new headquarters in Connecticut last year, Pavanello is now Focus on the US market.
Pavanello, who was a finance director before joining McKinsey, has signed a 10-year deal with McKinsey’s first U.S. national agency, which he believes will drive sales in sports ranging from soccer to fencing, with the collegiate and team elements driving sales.
“We think it will take longer to enter the market, but people are more accustomed to spending money on sports products,” he said. “We have a strong organization and I have huge expectations for the U.S. market.”
At this rate, it is likely that new space will have to be found, in addition to the two walls in Macron’s reception area, which are decorated with the emblems of an increasing number of clubs and associations that collaborate with the company.
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With his “Italian” style and cutting-edge customization, Pavanello has grown with the company in his 21st year as CEO.
“I was young, 34 years old, Francisco [president until 2019] Don’t know me,” he admitted. “He’s very good at judging people, and maybe he feels good because I don’t have any expertise in running a company.
“We’ve grown a lot and I’ve done what I’ve had to do. I think it’s a good deal for both of us.
Studying at McKinsey
When you work in a consulting firm, you work on different projects, learn about the company from different perspectives, and dive into different functional departments.
This helped me a lot when I started working at Macron. I started by looking at operations, production and supply chain. Then we work on the sales side. Today, it is important that I have my own perspective on different aspects.
Twenty years as CEO
It’s not easy to keep growing, but you have to be better than others. We are in a big industry and competition is fierce. You have to be very strict, disciplined and focused. If you do this, you will eventually succeed and it will be rewarded.
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