“I decided to draw breasts on the headbands to show that women need our space too” | Relief

The invasion of women into boxing is evident. In competition There are gradually more female boxers which will allow, for example, to begin holding Spanish championships. Joana Pastrana was a world and European champion, but was unable to participate in national competitions due to a lack of opponents. The dynamics are slow but consistent.

The case of boxing as a sport to stay fit is completely different. The number of women joining gyms has been high for several years. and in some clubs you can see near parity in activities, something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago as the sport was traditionally a male sport.

Changing the view of the discipline leads to changes in needs. Most of the equipment is designed for men and not for women’s morphology.R. Out of this need was born the project of Barbara Quesedo, an entrepreneur who set out to break the gender barrier that she herself suffered firsthand.

“I haven’t thought about competing, but I enjoy boxing.. I also like to have, for example, a glove that fits my hand and isn’t too big. YesIf there are gloves for children, why shouldn’t there be for women?“, points out Quesedo Relevo. With this premise, he found in “Gladiatrix,” as gladiators were called in ancient Rome, the perfect title for his project. He wanted to start a company, but it goes much further than that.

“My first product, because it was the cheapest, was bandages. However, they made sense. I wanted to draw boobs of all sizes and covered them in glitter to show that women need our space too.“, says the founder of Gladiatrix. The adoption was successful, and after the headbands came gloves for beginners and boxers, mouth guards, T-shirts… but above all, it gave birth to a community that had the same goal.”In addition to the physiognomy, I was looking for something beautiful. I didn’t like the material he used. and I believed that there were more women with the same concerns. It took me a while to realize that this was true,” he adds.

The path found support from many women, but also obstacles. Parts of the industry are still stuck in the past. “There are gyms or owners who believe that having special boxing equipment for women is not necessary.. We don’t want to displace anyone, we want to feel comfortable and have the space we deserve in this wonderful sport. Many times we felt like we were in a rental, now we feel like another person and that is what this project strives for,” concludes Quesedo.