Sportika

Sportika was born in 1982 in Ovada, wine country in Piedmont, through Carlo Crosio, a sports enthusiast who turned a small textile firm into an omnipresent name in Italian lower league football. For decades it dressed clubs across every level of Calcio, from provincial Serie D grounds to district leagues, and even lived its days of glory in the top showcase: it was with Sportika on the chest that Sassuolo debuted in Serie A in 2013, starring in one of modern Italian football's fairy tales, and modest Carpi won promotion to Serie A in 2015 with Sportika on the chest, switching to Givova on arrival in the top flight. The brand crossed borders to dress Albanian league clubs and smaller sides across Europe, besides starring in one of the catalogue's oddities: kitting out the national team of Padania, the nation that does not exist, in the years it dominated the world cup of unrecognised teams. It never was a giant nor wanted to be: Sportika is the tailor of Italian neighbourhood football, with occasional escapades into high society.