Kappa is an Italian high quality sportswear brand founded in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Kappa was founded in Turin, Italy, in 1978, by Marco Boglione, as a sportswear branch of the already existing “Robe di Kappa”. Founded as a sock and underwear brand in the Italian city of Turin in 1916, Kappa quickly became the “chavy” sportswear brand we know today. Robe Di Kappa was born out of the concept of casual wear that the student’s movement brought at the end of the late ’60s. The sexualised promotional material for Kappa’s notorious Jesus Jeans caused great outrage within the deeply religious country. Resulting in a court judge ordering the removal of hundreds of “religiously offensive” Kappa posters in 1973. Unsurprisingly, this controversy resulted in a great spike in interest towards the brand, by the fashion-conscious and young Europeans

Maurizio Vitale, owner of Robe di Kappa, became the first person in Italy to sponsor a football team within 1979, beginning Kappa’s association with varying sports across the globe. Jason Fairclough explains, in an interview with Dazed, that Kappa first appeared in the UK during the early ’80s as Liverpool fans would bring back “French and Italian luxury sportswear brands like trophies from their European Cup away leg”. Sports sponsorships have been abundant for Kappa, with the likes of A.C. Milan, Barcelona and Red Star Belgrade football teams all repping the brand, whilst Juventus won their third Champions League final in 1996 wearing Kappa. It is not just football, however, that Kappa is associated with. In 2000 the brand partnered with the Italian Rugby Federation, 2003 resulted in a deal with Danish female rowing team ‘Guld 4’eren’ and in 2016 Kappa was a major partner for sports in France, including Football, Basketball, Rugby and Handball. This emphasises the brand’s applicable diversity among its current consumers of the brand and supporters of the teams.