Sourcing veteran bets on volleyball’s big hitters
James Gau, founder of Chinese footwear technology company ShoeBot and a long-time sourcing expert in the country, is among investors in a new US brand that claims to be the only one solely focusing on women’s volleyball.
Avoli founders Rick Anguilla and Mark Oleson (pictured) are former athletic footwear and apparel executives with experience at adidas, Lululemon, Nike and Under Armour and noticed the girls’ volleyball market was underserved.
“As fathers of daughters who play the sport, Rick and I couldn’t help but notice that many of these volleyball athletes were wearing men’s basketball shoes on the volleyball court,” said Mr Oleson.
“Not only do men’s basketball shoes lack in meeting the demands of the unique movements of volleyball, but ignore the physiology differences between men and women athletes which can prevent injury and optimize performance. They’re very different games when it comes to the feet, especially since volleyball players in an average game jump and land two to four times more than their basketball counterparts.”
The company recently closed its first $1 million phase of a $1.5 million seed round with investment from across consumer products, tech and footwear manufacturing, and will officially launch in July.
