What happened to Galex? The first experiment of technical self-production that has dressed the great Perugia Calcio
1995. While in Serie A Juventus returned to win in Italy after 9 years, while Gabriel Omar Batistuta rejoiced with his "machine gun" 26 times and while Milan abdicated from the throne of Europe after the defeat against Ajax by Patrick Kluivert, on the lower floors you fight and sweat as always. In that same year the iconic and controversial Luciano Gaucci was building the foundations to bring his Perugia Calcio to heaven. In the management there is also the eldest son Alessandro, who at that time held the role of CEO. At the same time as Marco Negri's goals, Gaucci junior founded Galex S.r.l. who will be the technical sponsor of the Umbrians until 2005. 10 years of incredible and iconic jerseys, dressed as cult players.
The etymology of "Galex" tells a lot about the creativity of Luciano's son. Breaking the name into two parts, the "G" stands for "Gaucci", while "alex" is nothing but Alessandro's dimunitivo. On the one hand we are witnessing the first form of "home made" technical production strategy, on the other we are witnessing market hits such as Hidetoshi Nakata and Milan Rapaić, two unknown to the first Italian experience who turned out to be great discoveries. On the bench the succession of names such as Novellino and Galeone precede the Serse Cosmi era, while on the pitch young talents such as Materazzi, Gattuso, Grosso, Ravanelli, Max Allegri, Ze Maria, Di Livio, Giovanni Tedesco, Miccoli explain football.
The brand, meanwhile, produces cult shirts one after the other. Il Grifo declined in every sauce and in every type of design has revolutionized in some ways the static nature and Italian standards - in the very personal love letter that nss sports has dedicated to the Perugia uniforms you can see the best results. Born in Perugia, it developed in Perugia and then expanded to companies such as Ancona, Viterbese, L'Aquila, Catania and Sambenedettese. In the space of 10 years, the football line has been joined by a line on basketball, volleyball, swimming and fitness, up to becoming one of the reference points of futsal.
Not only the classic shade of red to make uniforms unique and iconic. Even the Perugia away kits have become irresistible and for more than 10 years the historic center of the Umbrian city was populated with shirts with the Grifo, anticipating the times when the mix between streetwear and football became fashionable. But that's not all that glitters now. The tale of Perugia suddenly died out after the terrible crash of the Gaucci Group companies in February 2006, when Galex officially went bankrupt. In 2010, the brand was taken over at the bankruptcy auction by Tecnosport Italia S.r.l. of Perugia, which has been the owner ever since. Beyond a parable that lasted relatively short in the world of football, Galex was a wonderful feeling.
