For over 40 years Arena has equipped the world’s leading swimmers and lovers of watersports with racing, training, and leisure swimwear and accessories built on a foundation of in-depth research, technical know-how, and an unyielding commitment to quality.
Launched in 1973 by inspirational sports-lover, entrepreneur, and sports sponsorship pioneer Horst Dassler, Arena was the first swimwear company to engage in textile and fluid dynamics research in a quest to develop the fastest, lightest, smoothest, and most durable products for both the competitive and recreational swimmer. It is a trait that has distinguished Arena throughout its history, as it continues to define trends and set standards to this day.
Throughout the years, Arena has equipped some of the world’s greatest swimming champions, with the three diamond brand mounting podiums the world over in the sport’s top competitions. Beyond the training and racing pools, the company applies its water instinct and technical know-how to the extensive range of beach and leisure wear products, designed with distinctive Italian flair.
With its headquarters in Tolentino, Italy, the Arena brand has a presence in 103 countries around the globe. With direct representation through wholly-owned subsidiaries in Italy, France, Germany, and the USA, the group also employs a network of qualified business partners in 86 countries, while the Japan-based Descente Group owns and manages the brand in 11 countries of the Far East.
THE 70’S
The Arena Brand was created by sports visionary Horst Dassler, son of the Adidas founder and President of Adidas France. During the 1972 Munich Summer Games, Dassler was on the pool deck when Mark Spitz won his historic 7 gold medals. Dassler, along with the rest of the world, found himself in awe because not only was Spitz the first athlete to win 7 golds in one Olympiad, but at the same time he set 7 new world records. Dassler immediately started forming plans for a swimwear company dedicated to aquatic sports and created the new performance swimwear brand known today as Arena. 
In 1973, just one year after the Games, Arena launched its first competition swimwear line with the introduction of Skinfit®. Skinfit was known in the industry as a “technological pearl.” The new ultra-light fabric only weighed 18 grams and was designed to cling to a swimmer’s body like a “second skin.”
The following year, Arena signed the first female sponsorship agreement with Australian swimmer Shane Gould. Gould was the “Female Spitz” of the 1972 Munich Games, winning 5 individual Olympic medals. Working in collaboration with Gould, in 1974 Arena developed the Shane Gould Female Swimsuit Collection.
Dassler knew sports sponsoring was key to the brand’s success, so in preparation for the next Olympics Arena started signing other individual athletes who could provide feedback to the design and development of new products, plus at the same time generate excitement for aquatic sports. By 1976, Arena athletes and products were ready for the Olympic Games in Montreal. Members of the original Arena Elite Team included such world champions as Mark Spitz (USA), Novella Calligaris (ITA), Steve Furniss (USA), David Wilke (UK), Shirley Babashoff (USA), Gary Hall (USA), Klaus Dibiasi (ITA), Ulrika Knape (SWE) and Maxine “Miki” King (USA).
Arena’s Elite were equipped with Arena’s first line of swim caps and goggles designed specifically to meet the needs of high level competitors. The hard work that both the athletes and Arena put into preparing for the Montreal Olympics paid off and the Arena Elite Team won an astonishing 44 Olympic medals. Two years later, at the West Berlin World Swimming Championships athletes wearing Arena won a total of 62 medals, nearly 75% of the total medal count, and broke 9 world records. Members of the original team went on to set a total of 83 world records.
THE 80’S
Getting used to being first, in 1980 Arena introduced Flyback®. Flyback was the world’s first competition swimsuit designed with thin straps to create larger shoulder openings and an exposed back in order to give athletes complete upper body range of motion. To this day, many swimmers and divers still prefer the freedom 
of movement provided by the Flyback style so the popular swimsuit design has been updated and is featured in our current collection.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the newest Arena Elite Team member Matt Biondi became the 2nd swimmer to win 7 medals in one Olympiad. Close to matching Spitz’s record, 5 of Biondi’s 7 medals were Gold and 4 of those were won with world record times. The first man to swim the 100m Free in under 49 seconds, Biondi can also be referred to as a 3-Time Olympian, 11-Time Olympic Medalist, 6-Time World Champion, 24-Time U.S. National Champion and World Record Holder. He is now a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
THE 90’S
At the beginning of the 90’s Arena was ready to launch another technological breakthrough: AquaRacer®. AquaRacer was designed to make swimmers glide through the water because of its extra smooth finish and outstanding fit with maximum freedom of movement. In 1997, the Arena D&D Team did it again and left everyone speechless with the launch of X-Flat®, a fabric that was even thinner, smoother and lighter than AquaRacer. With a 25% lower weight than any other fabric used for competition level products, X-Flat was just a preview of what was to come in 2000. At the same time, the Arena Elite Team continued to recruit new talented swimmers who went on to become historical world-class champions. Members included such talent as Alexander Popov and Franziska van Almsick, two of swimming’s dominating world performers of the 90s.
2000
Arena’s drive to go beyond any established limit gave the world two technological breakthroughs: Powerskin® (2000) and Powerskin X-Treme® (2004). Powerskin technology became the flagship of the new generation of elite competition full-body swimsuits, as the new suits almost entirely cover an athlete’s body.
Powerskin® and Powerskin X-Treme® have won the privilege of accompanying the greatest champions onto the podiums of the most prestigious swimming events in Europe and the World.
And today they are still the preferred racing swimsuits for a great number of international swimming champions, such as Laure Manaudou, Filippo Magnini, Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling, Laszlo Cseh and the list goes on.
THE FUTURE
At Arena we understand that all athletes are driven to win, whether it be to stand on the podium or to achieve their personal best, the end goal is always a win. We understand because we have the same urge. From the time Arena founder Horst Dassler started his venture, Arena has been focused on winning. We’ve had one goal: to strengthen and promote aquatic sports. Through a continuous pursuit to team with athletes for inspiration we’ve consistently provided products that match and exceed their expectations. To us this is a win. And with over 30 years of practice, we’ve established a cadence between our athletes and our products. To us this is our way to stand with you on the podium.
Linking in with UK distributor Solo Sports Brands in 2008 was Arenas first step to re-launch the Brand in the UK with the focus and strategy on Arena’s race heritage to identify and connect with parties who make up the water community ranging from swim clubs and their members; to the specialist retailers servicing this community through to the generalist retailer.
Solo Sports Brands is a leading wholesale distributor of product within the UK. A heritage that goes back to 2001 through Solo Sports UK who was the Prince distributor for UK and Eire through to 2011 when Prince restructured.
(The relationship with the Prince brand actually goes back further to 1996 when Prince was owned by Benetton and Lowe Alpine distributed Benetton Sports brands in the UK.)
Solo Sports is privately owned and operated by an enthusiastic and experienced team covering all aspects of sales, purchasing and operations with strong independent financing.
Current brands being distributed by Solo Sport Brands include;
• Arena – Leading international swimwear, equipment and apparel brand. (Italian)
• Toko – Workshop ski equipment and waxes (Swiss)
• Kombi – Gloves and thermal apparel. (Canadian)
• Rella – is a Canadian company specialising in winter accessories.
Company operations are located in Sedbergh being midway between the two main market areas of the UK with Scotland in the North and major population centres in the South. Manchester International airport is just over an hour away giving frequent connections to Europe, US and the rest of the world.
The mission statement of Solo is..To demonstrate the ethos and spirit needed to deliver the optimum results to our business partners based on experience, integrity along with the ability to perceive, listen and react to market requirements.
