PARTNERSHIP: POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Five years after the first collaboration with the Milan University, in the academic year 2015-16 Leone1947 and combat sports became the theme of the "Sportswear and Underwear Design" workshop, at the School of Design of the Milan Polytechnic. Five themes from the world of ring sports, including the brief dedicated exclusively to the new Leone1947 Apparel line. A class of young and determined students ready to face them. A month of work assisted by the teacher of the Politecnico Venere Ferraro and by Leone1947 designer Marco Febbo. More than one guest at class, including MMA champion Alessio Sakara, muay thai master Rinaldo Rinaldi, kickboxing champion Jleana Valentino, European champion boxing master Matteo Salvemini, Leone1947 sales executive Ruben Fioriti and the licensee by Leone1947 Apparel Piergiorgio Boltri.

The enthusiasm and passion of the Milanese company have involved the designers of tomorrow; dragging them even to the ringside, on December 12, 2015, when they had the opportunity to attend an entire evening of kickboxing matches as well as the final phase of the first Leone1947 tournament. On January 7, 2016 they presented the work done to the company, which had the opportunity to reward those of the students who managed to best interpret the values of Leone1947 and the disciplines they have been dealing with for seventy years, translating them into technically products innovative and with a high formal and expressive value.

“The workshop developed in collaboration with Leone 1947 was an excellent combination of creativity, research, aesthetic and technical innovation. The projects created by the students fully expressed the polytechnic culture within the Fashion System which provides, in fact, a synthesis of aesthetics and functionality. The professionalism, know-how of a young and "open mind" company such as the Leone 1947 on the one hand and the enthusiasm and hard work of the students on the other have given rise to innovative and concrete projects ".

Venere Ferraro

From the work of the students of the workshop Agostina Issolio, Aleksandra Obradovic and Barbara Lopes, who have been able to better assimilate the inputs provided by the company and the valuable advice of the Italian fighter of the Team Leone Alessio Sakara, the concept of the shorts model is selected as the winning project from MMA: "Legionarivs II".

“Mos Maiorum” is the Latin term for "the way of heroes ". It is the unwritten code from which the ancient Romans derived their social norms. The new edition of MMA shorts for the athlete Alessio "Legionarivs" Sakara is inspired by this concept.

The development of this product follows the birth and history of mixed martial arts, which began with the "pankration" - the origin of the current MMA - and the "ceastus" - the first pair of "combat gloves" used as weapons. The profile of the Roman soldier was the main guide in the realization of the garment. Taken from the paper delivered by A.Issolio, A.Obradovic and B.Lopes. The model presented in the workshop was subsequently enriched with the collaboration of the LABoxe designers with the most representative symbols of Alessio Sakara: the Roman eagle, the Legio's Team, the piece taken from "The man in the arena" by Theodore Roosvelt, the background texture as a reference to the fighter's tattoos. In 2019, three years after its first launch, the new version in "Pompeian red" is presented at the great request of the same Sakara.