JOMA

GoAthletics has established a close commercial relationship with JOMA. We are very excited about this relation because at GoAthletics, we believe the story of JOMA is also the story of many of our athletes: illusion, effort, courage, perseverance, sacrifice, hard work and solidarity.  

JOMA was founded in 1965 in a small town named Portillo de Toledo, (approximately 2,000 people) Spain, close to Madrid. The beginning of the company was not easy. When JOMA was founded, Spain was under a dictatorship and the country didn’t have a very strong industrial infrastructure. And certainly Portillo de Toledo did not have the infrastructure to support a textile company. However, these circumstances did not stop Fructuoso Lopez, the founder of JOMA. With only 8 employees (most of them family members), 15 pares de hornas and a Singer sewing machine, and a dream, he started JOMA. At the beginning his focus was on running shoes and then little by little he expanded the brand to other sports. Today, more than half a century later, JOMA competes directly with Nike, Adidas & Puma.

 

In the 80s, after many years of hard work and sacrifice, Joma not only expanded its factory from 500 m2 to 2,000 m2, but also added new products and entered new markets. It was at this time when JOMA sponsored two very well known Spanish soccer players Martin Vazquez (Real Madrid) and Francisco (Sevilla). Soon after the Real Madrid legend, Emilio Butragueño joined the JOMA family together with Txiqui Beguiristain (former Barcelona and Spanish National team player and current Director of Football of Manchester City). The hard work and efforts of Fructuoso Lopez paid off and JOMA reached a milestone in the Spanish soccer world. 

 

However, in the years to follow, JOMA had to face new challenges. As a result of the 1994 World Cup, in the United States, Nike realized that soccer was a huge business opportunity for them and they decided to entered the soccer world with a strong advertising campaign and sponsored the Brazilian National Team. The strong entrance of Nike into the soccer market, certainly had an effect on other companies. During this period of time, Nike and Adidas started to control the market and many smaller sportswear companies went through a period of struggles; some of them disappeared. JOMA was able to manage these changes and distinguish itself from the rest with something very innovative for the time, coloured cleats. Fructuoso realized that leather cleats could be died the same as women’s handbags. Alfonso Muñoz (Real Madrid and Barcelona player) and Fernando Morientes (Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza) were pioneers in wearing coloured cleats. Alfonso with his white cleats and Morientes with his red cleats made everyone recognize the JOMA brand.

The 90’s was a great decade for JOMA. JOMA had a strong presence in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992 and JOMA started to sponsor teams outside of Spain. Today many teams around the world such as Swansea City AFC, Villarreal CF, Leganes and Getafe CF among others, have reinforced the brand’s presence worldwide.

JOMA hasn’t stopped working hard and being innovative. They know that the competition is very fierce and that in order to continue competing against Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, etc, they have to be creative. JOMA has diversified to many other sports such as tennis, basketball, and cycling. A milestone for JOMA was the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when nine countries such as: Spain Portugal and Mexico chose JOMA to be their official Olympic supplier. To see so many athletes wearing JOMA during the Rio Olympics was a great moment that was worth all the sacrifices made in the past.

Like JOMA, GoAthletics is proud of all athletes of all levels and ages, who every day go to practice to achieve their goals. Our dream is to see Canadian athletes wearing JOMA during their training sessions and games, through their challenges and of course, in their successes.