Pantofola d’Oro Celebrates 140 Years with Thebe Magugu Capsule Collection
On the occasion of its 140th anniversary, Pantofola d'Oro celebrates a century and four decades of artisanal heritage and sporting culture through a collaboration that looks to the future. The Thebe Magugu x Pantofola d’Oro capsule represents a meeting between Italian artisanal heritage and a contemporary international vision, giving life to a complete proposal that combines footwear and apparel through an aesthetic language presented with a modern key and technical authenticity.
Inspired by Street Soccer
Inspired by Street Soccer, the capsule is born as a cultural and lifestyle project that interprets football as a global language, a symbol of inclusion, identity, and connection. The collaboration with Thebe Magugu places the iconic football heritage of Pantofola d’Oro, built over 140 years, in dialogue with the contemporary vision and narrative of the South African designer.
Thebe Magugu x Pantofola d’Oro
The Uniforms: A New Football Aesthetic
The uniforms, the heart of the capsule’s narrative, are inspired by the colors and geometries of African chitenge, the optical patterns of vinyl flooring and the warm shades of the savannah, giving life to distinctive elements like Brush Stroke, with tones from blue to acid green, and Goal Keeper, characterized by large stylized flowers and golden and bronze accents. Modern and dynamic, they interpret a new football aesthetic that blends with contemporary fashion, replacing the classic jersey number with 1886, the founding year of Pantofola d’Oro, evoking its roots and innovative spirit.
The Footwear: Tradition Meets Lifestyle
The studded footwear maintains a strong technical imprint, designed to evoke a connection to the playing field and football’s origins. Clean lines and soft leathers paired with vibrant, contemporary colors. The result is a shoe that combines functionality and symbolic value, celebrating football as a universal language.
Alongside these, we find studless versions designed for everyday use. The 540 model, inspired by a football silhouette, stands out for its tapered design with a slightly retro aesthetic, enriched by high-quality suede and a rubber sole developed in collaboration with Vibram. The particular construction of the lacing, which wraps the footwear down to the sole, directly recalls the brand’s historical archives.
Through this capsule, Pantofola d’Oro reaffirms its role in the football and lifestyle landscape, demonstrating how football can become a total cultural expression. A project that unites past and future, craftsmanship and innovation, sport and fashion, celebrating the universal power of the game as a shared language.
The collaboration with Thebe Magugu thus marks a new chapter for the brand: a project that celebrates Italian footwear tradition while looking to the future, in which football continues to be a source of inspiration, connection, and shared language.
Thebe Magugu x Pantofola d’Oro
Street Soccer, Heritage and Innovation: The Capsule Presented in Naples at Binario 09
On April 16, Naples becomes the stage of a special event that unites sporting culture, contemporary design, and Italian craftsmanship. At Binario 09, an independent space, the Pantofola d’Oro x Thebe Magugu capsule collection will be presented in an immersive event inspired by the world of street soccer.
Pantofola d’Oro celebrates its heritage with a collaboration that looks to the future, placing its historic footwear know-how in dialogue with the narrative and contemporary vision of South African designer Thebe Magugu. The result is a capsule that reinterprets the iconic football shoes, with and without studs, transforming them into cultural objects that cross sport and lifestyle.
The Naples event fits perfectly into this narrative, adopting street soccer as its central theme: a universal language made of inclusion, identity, and connection. Football, freed from the rules of the official field, becomes an urban and creative expression, just like the collection itself.
The protagonists of the capsule are footwear pieces that maintain a strong technical soul, with soft leathers, essential lines, and contemporary chromatic details. During the event, an exclusive “made-to-measure” service will also be available, allowing guests to participate in the creation of a personalized shoe. An experience that highlights the brand’s artisanal know-how, transforming each product into a unique piece, built around the identity of the wearer.
The choice of Binario 09 as the location further reinforces the event’s concept: born as a container for research and experimentation, the space embodies an independent vision of style, far from the homogenizing logic of contemporary fashion. A place where heritage and innovation coexist, just as in the collaboration between Pantofola d’Oro and Thebe Magugu.
The April 16 event thus serves as a moment of encounter among creative communities, sports enthusiasts, and urban culture, offering a new perspective on football and its influence on contemporary language.
The Story of Pantofola d’Oro
Pantofola d’Oro, the historic Made in Italy luxury footwear maison, celebrates 140 years of excellence with the reissue of a legend: the Superleggera Classic. The name “Pantofola d’Oro” was invented by John Charles, the Welsh top scorer for Juventus, who, upon putting on the shoes, exclaimed: “They are more comfortable than my slippers!”
Everything began with Emidio Lazzarini. The son of cobblers from Ascoli Piceno, he had been an athlete and traveled the world before taking over the family business. Since his wrestling shoes had nails and were made of very hard leather, he began using the softest materials available, with immediate success. The best Italian footballers went to have their custom shoes made by him.
But Pantofola d’Oro is not only about football. Lazzarini transferred the same care and artisanal skill to other sports: rugby. Then also tennis, basketball, golf, and cycling. When sport became primarily business, and Lazzarini’s craftsmanship suffered, it was up to Kim Williams and Massimo Ubaldi to bet on the brand and make it reborn with two football shoe models, one from 1950 and the other from 1956, readapted for leisure. The interest was unexpected. Suddenly, those shoes found themselves in the windows of the world’s most beautiful stores. Tradition became a trend.
The legendary Superleggera has evolved into the Superleggera 2.0 (weighing just 175 grams), propelling football into a new era where quality and speed merge. More comfortable and lighter than this is impossible. Dedicated to footballers (and not only).
About Thebe Magugu
Thebe Magugu, considered one of the most interesting creative talents of recent years, was born in Kimberley, a small mining town in South Africa, and lives and works in Johannesburg. Raised in an all-female family, he defines his clothing as a constant ode to women. He studied Fashion Design, Fashion Photography, and Fashion Media. At the foundation of his brand, founded in 2016, is the desire to share stories and crafts. Each collection is inspired by subjects such as Geology, African Studies, and Gender Studies. He won the International Fashion Showcase 2019 with the British Moda Council and the LVMH Prize 2019.
