You can’t play racquet sports without a racquet or paddle. The racquet sports equipment market is currently valued at $9B (and growing).

What we wear on the court (fashion and footwear) can impact our image AND our gameplay.

Players are taking-up multiple racquet sports (as you’ll see in this never-seen-before session at RacquetX) and are buying multiple racquets and paddles and different apparel — for even one type of sport.

Osaka World was founded in 2011 and was originally a field hockey equipment manufacturer. Their minimalist design aesthetic and focus on both form and function makes them a global player.

We recently sat down with Valentin Debouche, Executive director of Osaka World USA, to find out what’s next in the world of equipment.

As pickleball and padel grow in popularity, so does the equipment market. What are some of the trends you’re seeing? 

“We have seen tremendous advancements in materials and technology to enhance the performance of equipment. A lot of companies like ours have also been striving for more durability and sustainability. While being more sustainable had a significant impact initially, we are already seeing a ton of benefits in the short and medium term. And our community is more grateful for it. 

At Osaka, we are also focusing on customized options that would appeal to the mass market. A great example is our padel racquets that you can fully customize on our website. And pickleball paddles will soon follow!”

Osaka offers the player everything from rackets and paddles to footwear and apparel. How can you stay so broad and still deliver best-of-class products?

“Osaka has been known for its innovative approach and experience in composite carbon materials to equipment design and technology. Being a primarily field hockey-oriented company, there are a lot of synergies at the factory levels between field hockey and the other sports we have now integrated into our portfolio. I am sure you will be interested to hear that our pickleball paddles, padel racquets, and field hockey sticks are all made at the same factory. 

While the playing styles and preferences of customers may vary across the sports, our approach to designing and manufacturing new products has remained constant. Our strategy is to integrate athletes early on in our R&D and collaborate with field experts to ensure quality and performance. Our motto is “The Athlete Comes First”. Everything we manufactured is designed by athletes for athletes. 

Being a one-stop shop for our sports allows players to find everything they need in one place, simplifying their shopping experience. Even more importantly, this enables us to gather more product feedback from the community.“

Who are some of the professionals that use your equipment?

“One of our proudest accomplishments as a sport company was to become the first field hockey brand to sign a co-sponsorship agreement with Red Bull for some of our athletes. This brought a ton of exposure and legitimacy to the sport worldwide. Fast forward to 2024, we now work with field hockey athletes all over the world and across all continents where the sport is played. 

We have noticed a surge of padel athletes from Scandinavia looking to collaborate with our brand over recent years. We now work with top athletes from Sweden and are making headways in key countries like Spain and Argentina. 

One notable racquet sport athlete we recently brought on is Nele Gilis, a Belgian professional squash player and currently ranked No. 4 in the world.

Nele is our ambassador for the new SHIBUI sportswear collection for women, which we will be presenting at RacquetX for the first time in the US. 

As mentioned before, our collaboration with athletes goes beyond traditional sponsorship. We put our athletes at the heart of everything we do, and we make sure their endorsement guarantees the quality of our high-performance equipment. While pickleball is a fairly new sport for us, it is our intention to work with athletes in a similar fashion in the future.“

Any predictions for the future of racket fashion?

“We strongly believe that racquet fashion is not only here to stay, but that the involvement of fashion in racquet sports is going to become more prominent in the future. 

Customers are not just looking for a high performing racquet or paddle anymore. They are constantly looking for ‘what is going to become the next cool thing.’ This fortunately gives a bit of an edge to up-and-coming brands like Osaka, who have had a central focus on stylish, contemporary and unique designs. 

With the rapid evolution of technology adoption, a lot of sport manufacturers can now claim to make high-performance equipment. And quite honestly, a lot of them do. We don’t just compete and make great racquets or paddles anymore. And I see fashion as a way for sport brands to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.“

Any predictions for the future of equipment?

“The rise of racket fashion doesn’t indeed mean that sport companies won’t continue to invest in research and development to create innovative equipment that pushes performance boundaries. The commitment to innovation will certainly come from advancements in the materials we choose for our products. Carbon fiber technology has been a key competitive factor for us and other sport manufacturers. We also see new raw materials like graphene emerging and becoming more and more present in high-end equipment. We stand for progression in sports and are always looking for new components or technologies that could give our athletes an edge in their respective sports.”

We realize you have lots of competitors in the industry. What are some of your keys to “playing a winning game” in the industry?

“‘Why fit in when you were born to stand out?’ This has been at the core of everything we do at Osaka. On top of the unique design identity, which I mentioned earlier, one of our key strengths is to adopt a lifestyle approach to all our sports. We recognize that people are not just playing a sport for the health benefits of it. People have a need to be a part of a community. And that’s exactly who we want to target in the marketing of our brand. Once you give an athlete a sense of belonging through your brand, they will stay loyal to you for the most part. 

Most of the brands entering sports markets have a traditional top-down approach. They start by partnering with elite athletes to get the brand out, and then work their way down to the mass market. Our team at Osaka understands that we are an up-and-coming challenger brand. Which is why it’s important that we do things in a different way. A bottom-up approach if you will.
A successful strategy for us has been to focus on activations at the grassroots level. We first try to educate young players about a certain sport in a fun and entertaining way. We have been described as the ‘light of the party” at all the events we have attended in the past. And to be honest, we love this image!

Once we have established that first connection with the players, we accompany them throughout their development. We are there every step of the way and can give them access to high-performance equipment from entry-level to elite. And because of our lifestyle approach, we are constantly developing more collections to appeal to our young and older customers and give them that sense of community.”

What are you looking forward to most about RacquetX?

“Expanding our horizon by introducing Osaka to leaders and influencers in the padel and pickleball industry is key. We see RacquetX as an opportunity to showcase our latest products, connect with customers and partners, gather feedback, and stay informed about industry trends and developments. It will also be a platform for Osaka to reinforce its brand image as a challenger in the racquet sports equipment market and show what we are all about. We hope to see you there! ;)”