Puig, the newly listed Catalan luxury giant, unveiled its latest project and trophy on Tuesday, the first Copa América Femenina, which will take place in its hometown of Barcelona this fall.
A total of 12 teams will compete in the Puig Barcelona Women's Copa América, which will be held in the waters of this port city in early October. The first women's America's Cup trophy, which was first contested in August 1851 off the Isle of Wight.
The family-owned beauty and fashion group, whose runway brands include Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten, Rabanne and Carolina Herrera, also presented the contest trophy inside the Fondaci.eithern lookeither, where CEO Marc Puig explained his thinking behind the entire project.
“First of all, a large majority of our clients in beauty, perfumery or fashion are women, and more than 70% of our employees are women, so joining this competition made a lot of sense,” explained Puig, in an exclusive interview. with FashionNetwork.com. .
The Puig Women's America's Cup Barcelona will bring diversity to what was previously a male-dominated cup, even if individual women competed very intermittently on men's teams in previous years.
“We have also been sponsoring the Copa del Rey in Mallorca for almost 40 years. This year we are supporting the annual classic yacht regatta in Barcelona for the seventeenth edition,” says Puig, who started sailing at the city's local yacht club when he was seven years old.
“And the third reason is, of course, Barcelona. Our roots or core are here. I don't know how many brands we have around the world, but not many are Spanish. But this is where we started more than 100 years ago,” stressed the general director, whose screen saver is a photograph of him with his own yacht in the background.
Furthermore, the Puig family was very influential in bringing the Copa América to Barcelona, after a long fight that pitted this city against rival candidates such as Cork and Auckland.
Puig did not want to reveal the financial commitment to the Copa América, but it is probably a multiple of 10 million euros.
The women's edition also means that there will be a Spanish yacht in competition. There is no Spanish rival in the men's competition.
Interestingly, according to the mysterious rules of the Copa América statutes, it will be up to the winner of this year's men's competition to decide whether to continue with a women's Copa América in the future.
However, Grant Dalton, CEO of the New Zealand team, current holder of the America's Cup, was adamant: “We hope that whoever the defender is wants the women's America's Cup to continue. In my experience, women's teams communicate much better. So I don't see any reason why women shouldn't make the step up to the Copa América. That idea is now planted in our sport.”
Over the past few weeks, around 70 sailing athletes have been training on land simulators at the Barcelona marina.
“It's hard work, but this is supposed to be hard work. It is the top level. And the distance from the stimulator to the real ships is not that great, given the quality of the sailors. But on boats you get wet!” Dalton laughed.
Numerous Olympic medalists will compete, such as the 470 world champion, Silvia Mas, patron of the Sail Barcelona team.
“Sailing requires impeccable teamwork and coordination. Puig is a brand synonymous with excellence and a long commitment to women's equality. So this goes far beyond a career, it is more of a beacon of inspiration for the future,” added Mas.
In a new format, the six teams in the main men's Copa América will also have women's yachts. Along with six other challengers, including teams from the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden. They will all be whittled down to six semi-finalists, before a climatic and decisive final in mid-October.
The trophy, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a solid silver cylinder with a wavy shape that suggests the wind. No handles, unlike the simple men's trophy. So the winning captain will pet him, she won't hoist him high.
Regarding the recent IPO, carried out simultaneously on several Spanish stock exchanges, which valued Puig at 13.9 billion euros on its opening day, Marc Puig was a measure of contained euphoria.
“Yes, I am very happy with how the launch has gone. Especially at a time of great caution on the part of investors, we were able to carry out this public offering. It's the largest IPO in the world, at least so far in 2024. And since then, the stock has performed very well. Not bad, huh?
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