Basicnet is turbocharging Sebago's lifestyle expansion and is celebrating a century of the Superga 2750 with an unprecedented model homage to the brand's roots.

The centennial shoe celebrates a return to the essence of Superga, as the Piedmont-based group's CEO Lorenzo Boglione explained from the Pitti booth. The result is a "restricted version compared to previous ones, in terms of volume and quantity of product. We tried to elevate it, make it more refined and perhaps closer to the Superga that survives in the memory of our most loyal customers," said Boglione.

The newly appointed CEO of Basicnet, a position he has held with his brother Alessandro since last May, confirmed investments in Sebago apparel.

"Shoes have been the driver of the brand's success over the past 6-7 years since we took it over. The idea is to continue to grow by telling the Sebago world in its entirety. That's how apparel was born, which today is a very fast-growing business at a time when the market is not easy," Boglione continued.

During the press conference at Fortezza da Basso, Boglione Jr. reiterated the importance of the trade fair system for doing business today.

"It is often said that trade shows are a legacy of the past. I believe there is no better place than a fair like Pitti to see and exchange opinions and ideas. We hope it will remain relevant for a long time because comparing is certainly the best way to start the season," noted Basicnet's CEO.

Behind the development of both Basicnet brands is the painstaking work of their global brand manager, Marco Tamponi.

"Sebago has experienced the moccasin phenomenon, which is growing along with the boat shoe phenomenon. With the clothing, we want to compact the preppy Ivy League culture in which the brand has its roots and push it into the contemporary. And we do this while respecting the cultural context to which Sebago belongs, which has created one of the canons of menswear, but without coming across as vintage," said Tamponi, since last February appointed to the creative, strategic, and international development direction of the American brand born in 1946, in Maine.

An ever-expanding range that from this June will be enriched by a bar of soap resulting from a new collaboration between Sebago and a U.S. company.

"The soap bar will have a rope to recall the soap used in boats that hung on the hook, then used in American universities by students who hung it in their lockers after showering between classes," the manager explained

For the near future, Sebago already has other still top-secret collaborations on track that demonstrate the brand's ability to expand its boundaries beyond the shoe business.

"I often walk into wonderful stores and don't buy the core product. In our flagships and wholesale distribution, Sebago has to show a depth of exploration that goes beyond the hero product. It can be a perfume, but also a blanket, as well as a bottle, a metal, or a cup," Tamponi pointed out.

A work of exploration that is paying off, leading Sebago toward steady growth for several seasons now.

"We are coming out of a period of great results. Women's weight today is at 50 percent of footwear. Clothing is still driving men's and accounts for about 25 to 30 percent of total sales," said the global brand manager.

On the retail front, Sebago has launched new wholesale partnerships in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Thailand and wants to grow in the U.S. and Japanese markets.

"We will close 2025 with about 20 directly controlled flagship stores in Europe, plus three stores in South Africa, two in Greece and four in the Philippines, managed by our local partners," Tamponi noted.

"Culturally, we are returning to the glories of those Ivy League days. The preppy style was born when 20-somethings started using their parents' clothes. Today's 20-somethings are going back to espouse that kind of look and reinterpret it in a more urban way," the brand manager continued.

Since February 2024, Superga has also been at the center of work to explore the brand's cultural heritage.

"We had strayed a bit in recent years from the core and aesthetic of Superga. This collection wants to move away from the supremacy of the 2750, which remains our icon, by offering a range of silhouettes and opportunities for use. So we included macramé, raffia, linen, to return to the purity of the product. We 'cleaned up' the 2750 with a much more compact color palette that starts with ecru," Tamponi stressed.

The centennial celebrations will continue with the publication of a book with Rizzoli.

"We have owned Superga for more than 20 years and have never told its real story. With archivists and marketing teams, we studied historical products and originals to understand what Superga was and what it became," he revealed.

The brand is traveling with double-digit growth rates and has opened 20 stores in two and a half years since 2023 with widespread distribution in Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, and South Africa.

"The stores are working great and the brand is going like a train. We don't make fashion, we make products. This is the core value of Basicnet. We make the brand and try to build the trend around the brand," Tamponi concluded.