Puig unveils trophy and plans for Women’s America’s Cup Barcelona

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 22, 2024

Puig, Catalan’s newly quoted luxury behemoth, unveiled its latest project and trophy Tuesday, the debut Women’s America’s Cup, due to take place in its hometown of Barcelona this fall.
 

A total of 12 teams will compete in Puig Women’s America’s Cup Barcelona, due to be staged on the waters off this port city in early October. The debut female trophy of the America’s Cup, first raced for back in August 1851 off the Isle of Wight.
 
This family-controlled beauty and fashion group – whose runway brands include Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten, Rabanne and Carolina Herrera – also presented the competition trophy inside the Fondació​n Miró​, where CEO Marc Puig explained his thinking behind the whole project.

Ads

“Number one, a large majority of our customers in beauty, perfume or fashion are women, and over 70% of our employees are women, so linking to this competition made complete sense,” explained Puig, in an exclusive interview with FashionNetwork.com.
 
Puig Women’s America’s Cup Barcelona, will bring diversity to what was previously a male-dominated cup, even if individual women did race very intermittently on male teams in previous years.
 
“We’ve also been sponsoring the Copa del Rey for almost 40 years in Majorca. While this year we are supporting for the 17th year the annual regatta for classic yachts in Barcelona,” notes Puig, who first began sailing out of the city’s local yacht club when he was seven.
 
“And the third reason is of course Barcelona. Our roots, or core is here. I don’t know how many brands we have all around the world, but not many of them are Spanish. But this is where we started over 100 years ago,” stressed the CEO, whose screen saver is a photo of him with his own ocean-going yacht in the background.
 
Plus, the Puig family was highly influential in bringing the America’s Cup to Barcelona, after a long struggle that pitted this city against rival bids like Cork and Auckland.
 
Puig declined to reveal the financial commitment to the America’s Cup, but it is likely a multiple of €10 million.
 
The women’s edition also means that there will be a Spanish yacht in the competition. There is no Spanish challenger in the men’s competition.

Oddly, under the arcane rules of the America’s Cup charter, it will be up to the winner of this year’s men’s competition to decide whether to continue with a Women’s America’s Cup in the future.
 
However, Grant Dalton, the CEO of Team New Zealand, the current America’s Cup holder, was adamant: “We hope that whoever the defender is they will want a women’s America’s Cup to continue. In my experience, women teams just communicate much better. So, I see no reason why women won’t make the step into the America’s Cup itself. That idea is seeded in our sport now.”
 
For the past weeks, some 70 women sailing athletes have been training using on-land simulators in preparation in the Barcelona marina.
 
“It’s hard work, but this is supposed to be hard. It’s the top level. And the distance from the stimulator to the actual boats is not so large, given the quality of the women sailors. But on the boats, you do get wet!” cackled Dalton.
 
A slew of Olympic medal winners will compete, like the 470 category world champion Silvia Mas, the skipper of the Sail Barcelona team.
 
“Sailing demands impeccable teamwork and coordination. Puig is a brand synonymous with excellence and a long commitment to women’s equality.  So, this is far beyond a race, it’s more a beacon of inspiration for the future,” added Mas.
 
In a novel format, all six teams in the main men’s America’s Cup will have also women’s yachts. Along with six other challengers, including teams from Netherlands, Canada and Sweden. They will all be whittled down to six semi-finalists, before a climatic final deciding race in mid-October.

The trophy, designed by Patricia Urquiola is a solid silver cylinder in a rippling shape to suggest wind. With no handles, unlike the simple men’s trophy. So, the winning lady captain will caress it, not hoist it aloft.
 
Turning to discuss the recent flotation, done simultaneously on several Spanish stock markets, which valued Puig at €13.9 billion on its opening day, Marc Puig was a measure of restrained ebullience.
 
“Yes, I’m very happy with how the launch has gone. Especially, at a time of quite a lot of caution by investors, we were able bring off this public offer. It’s the largest IPO in the world, at least up to now in 2024. And since then, the stock has performed very well. Not bad, eh?”