It was in June 1973 that Lotto made its debut among sports footwear manufacturers. Tennis shoes signalled the beginning of production, followed by models for basketball, volleyball, athletics and football. Sports clothing took the stage afterwards. In the first 10 years, Lotto focused on the Italian market, becoming a reference brand in the sports articles segment and a leading company in tennis. The 80s saw Lotto begin to create its first football boot models and sign major collaboration agreements with internationally renowned players and teams - John Newcombe, Andrei Gomes and José Luis Clerc in tennis, and Ruud Gullit and Holland in football. Their involvement in both the design and fine-tuning of the products together with their image led the company to become a leader in tennis and football. This same period saw Lotto expand into the export market. In June 1999 the Company was taken over by a group of local business people who were already very active in the sports segment. It was headed by Andrea Tomat, who took on the role of President and CEO of the new company, which was renamed Lotto Sport Italia S.p.A. The new ownership's objective was to exploit the brand's strengths - dynamism, innovation, quality, Italian design and a real passion for sport - combined with its increasingly painstaking and effective customer service. Today, the performance segment has now been strengthened, in line with the new corporate mission. Special focus is given to footwear and technical clothing for football and tennis, also supporting the brand's worldwide leadership with products that are right on the cutting edge in terms of innovation and design. In parallel, based on production, technical and stylistic know-how, an idea has been developed for men's and women's leisure clothing and footwear with a sport-inspired image and taste in terms of the selection of fabrics, colours and styles.