Elite Eleven Sporting
How it started
Best friends Benn Martiniello and Lisandro Paz were both passionate about sports when they launched clothing business Elite Eleven in 2014.
Offering a range of men’s performance wear, they packed and dispatched orders from a bedroom until they could rent a 60-square-metre space of their own.
Growth
Taking the leap into womenswear in 2017 accelerated their business, with a focus on affordable pieces that didn’t sacrifice quality.
After five years of building up the business, Elite Eleven hired its first full-time employee in 2019 and now has more than 50 between its headquarters and two retail stores in Melbourne’s Chadstone and Highpoint shopping centres.
An official shopping app launched in March saw 50,000 downloads, which the founders say has helped add to the company’s steady year-on-year growth.
Where to next?
A third retail Elite Eleven store is planned for Northland, Victoria, opening later this year, to be quickly followed by its first interstate store.
The company expects the accelerated growth of e-commerce during the pandemic to plateau in coming years, which is why it is pushing heavily into physical stores.
With a new 5500-square-metre headquarters planned for late 2023, the founders have no exit plan on the horizon.
