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Commitment 42K
Our target, quality. Our commitment, sustainability.
We are a brand created by sports lovers and we have always been guided by a clear commitment: to create technical garments and accessories that offer excellent value for money.
Passionate about sport and running!
42K is part of the history of passion for running of hundreds of thousands of people in Spain and other countries.
We are a sports brand specialized in the design, development and creation of technical textiles and accessories. We have always paid special attention to 3 factors: design, quality performance and affordable price.
We are the Leading brand in the technical textile sector for sporting events.
We also have a line of customised equipment for clubs and groups.
Since 2016, all our products, both technical garments and accessories, have been available to everyone through our online shop.
In little more than a decade of life we have achieved a great implantation in the world of running and trail running, but we also have a significant presence in sports such as fitness, crossfit, paddle, tennis, beach tennis, beach volleyball, e-games...
We are a brand created by sports lovers and we have always been guided by a clear commitment: to create technical garments and accessories that offer excellent value for money.
We have earned the trust and appreciation of
Looking to the future, we are determined and excited to continue growing as a brand, as well as reinforcing our commitment to popular sport in Spain and Europe.
Our great challenge for a few years has been commitment to recycling as a necessary responsibility to contribute to sustainable development.
Innovation, sustainability, excellent value for money and customer orientation are the main challenges for the present and the future of 42K as a brand.
A bit of brand history!
The Peñalver family, passionate about running, decides to give life to 42K Running in 2010 to offer quality technical garments to sporting events.
42K is part of a family business born 1949.
In that year the grandfather of the current owners founded PEÑALVER SL, a company specializing in the manufacture and marketing of personalized advertising items, what we now know as "merchandising".
PEÑALVER EUROPE, SL It is the example of a family business that has been able to adapt to the changes and new business circumstances imposed by the passage of time and, above all, by digital transformation.
La third generation of the Peñalver family was the one that piloted that transformation that led to the appearance of 42K and its rapid growth as a company specializing in technical textiles.
His passion for running leads them to give life to 42K in 2010 to offer quality technical garments to sporting events.
The old women cotton advertising t-shirts ended up being replaced by technical garments increasingly advanced and higher quality.
After more than a decade of growth and innovation we have established ourselves as one of the leading technical textile brands among the organizers of running and trail events in Spain, but also in other countries such as Ireland, Portugal, Italy and France.
Our experience in the design and development of high-quality, high-performance technical garments has led us to be technical mark in thousands of popular races, but also in fitness events, crossfit, paddle tennis, beach volleyball, beach tennis, e-games...
The presence of 42K as a technical brand it has reached sporting events in nearly twenty countries on three continents.
The pillars that form the leitmotiv de 42K
The most outstanding milestones brand
1948/1949
Guillermo Penalver Ramos
Guillermo Penalver Ramos, dressed in his only suit, fills a suitcase with almanacs, pens, key rings, ashtrays... and a suitcase on his shoulder, he travels through much of Spain to sell them to companies as promotional items. We are in the difficult times of the Spanish postwar when the Valencian company arises Reclamos Peñalver.
The company is consolidated by the second generation, with the brothers Guillermo and Concepción at the helm, but it is with the arrival of the third generation that it becomes a prosperous family business.
In the 90s Reclamos Peñalver SL specializes as a supplier and manufacturer of merchandising for banks and savings banks, public institutions, insurance companies, construction companies, pharmaceutical laboratories...
2005
New facilities
The company opens new facilities in Táctica Business Park of Paterna (Valencia); a first warehouse of more than 1.000 m2 is acquired and the need to continue growing soon arises, but the global financial crisis that breaks out in 2008 stops everything.
Since the beginning of the XNUMXst century, running has become one of the passions of the Peñalver family, so when the crisis forced them to seek new paths within the world of merchandising, the idea of offering a new product to popular races arose.
2010
Cotton t-shirts at the races?
The passion for running leads the Peñalver family to create 42K Running as a new line of business within the family business.
42K Running takes its first steps as a line of technical textile for sports practice, mainly with t-shirts that quickly become interesting 'mobile billboards' for sponsors of sporting events.
“We are athletes and we think like athletes. That has been the key to understand from the beginning what the organizers might need to make the participants happy. Our proposal for technical shirts was very well received because the races understood the importance of taking care of the runners and also the sponsors” explains Guillermo Peñalver, CEO of 42K.
“As runners, we did not understand that a cotton t-shirt that was not suitable for running was included in the runner's bag. That gave us the idea of offering technical fabric shirts with good breathability, lightness, and that did not irritate the skin... It was also a new advertising medium for the organizers, since they could assure their sponsors that the shirts were really going to be used by runners., comments Guillermo Peñalver.
2011
Pegasus
Pegasus is the name chosen to baptize the first collection of technical t-shirts 42K. This collection is the one that begins to give visibility to the brand. 42K Running It begins to be known in the Valencian Community, but quickly also in other autonomous communities.
On a Sunday in March almost 1.300 runners line up at the starting line of the Moncada Half Marathon. At the finish they receive a technical shirt 42K Running from the Pegasus collection customized for this test. Most do not hesitate to release it immediately; It is the first time that a small tide of runners dressed in a garment from our young brand has formed.
In August the 32nd edition of the Great International Seven Waters Fund, one of the great summer events of popular athletics with 2.600 participants. The organization trusts 42K Running the realization of its commemorative technical shirt, which is a great accolade for the brand, which ends the year being the technical brand of the Benidorm Marathon and saw for the first time the participants of a test of the queen distance.
2012
Increasingly technical garments, more effective
In 2012 work began on new collections to expand the catalog 42K. The second collection is baptized as DryTec, a name that also designates the technology that is responsible for favoring the breathability and evacuation of sweat from our technical garments.
This year the first order for an event outside of Spain is formalized. The Clube Atletisme de Portalegre de Portugal bets on 42K and from that moment on, many Portuguese clubs and organizers will trust the brand.
2013
Definitive launch of the brand
Three highly visible sporting events mark a before and after in the evolution of 42K: 15K Massamagrell, Valencia Night 15K and VII BBVA Solidarity Race in Madrid.
The 15K Massamagrell, with more than 5.000 registered, makes a brave bet to differentiate itself from the rest of the events on the calendar: equipping all participants with an exclusive matching shirt with personalized technical pants. The commission represents a creativity challenge for the firm and also a race against the clock to arrive on time with the production of the garments.
This year the first edition of the Valencia Night 15K is being held, an event that breaks the mold and further consolidates Valencia in the imagination of the running national. This spectacular race, which runs through the most emblematic streets of the Turia capital in the middle of the night, brings together more than 6.000 runners in its first edition. 42K Running makes the commemorative t-shirts of its first two editions.
The VII BBVA Solidarity Race, organized in collaboration with Cáritas Madrid, brings together 10.000 participants in the Spanish capital in mid-October. The challenge this time is to make an exclusive technical shirt that as a particularity must have the number of each participant printed.
The product catalog begins to grow. In addition to new collections of technical t-shirts, other garments and accessories are developed and designed to expand the range of sports products used to make the runner's bag.
The brand's guiding criteria are defined: to develop sportswear and accessories with innovative designs and excellent value for money.
2014
Expansion of facilities and continuous growth
One of those great events is the prestigious Santa Pola International Half Marathon. The race celebrates its twenty-fifth edition and decides to deliver a special commemorative shirt; It is the first time that the digital sublimation technique (fabric printing procedure guarantees breathability and does not increase the weight of the garment) has been used to personalize a T-shirt from the firm.
Another great event that is being held this year is the Liberty Seguros Popular Race in Madrid, which in its seventh edition brings together more than 10.000 runners. The streets of the capital of Spain are dyed blue that day and the brand's visibility skyrockets.
Interest in the brand spreads throughout Spain, but agreements with events outside our borders are also beginning to be formalized regularly. Portugal and France are the first countries in which the internationalization of 42K Running and then Ireland and Italy will come.
In 2014, she had her first “exotic” experience when she was commissioned to dress for the Run Q8 Race Kuwait, a charity event organized by the Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute with 2.000 participants (photo).
2015
Martin Fiz, ambassador 42K
The roads of 42K Running and Martín Fiz cross paths after their success in the 2015 New York Marathon, where they achieved victory among those over 50 years of age. The athlete from Vitoria becomes an ambassador for the brand, but above all a friend of 42K.
After his victory in New York, a great challenge begins to which he will dedicate a couple of years: to win the six most important marathons in the world in the M50 category, the 'Six Majors' or World Marathon Majors (New York, Tokyo, Boston, Chicago , Berlin and London).
In February 2016, just a few months after his victory in New York, he wins the Tokyo Marathon. In April 2016 he is successful in the Boston Marathon and in September he completes the Berlin Marathon with an incredible time of 2:26:32 and raises his arms again as the winner among runners over 50 years old.
In October 2017, he traveled to the Chicago Marathon and broke the race record in his category, with 2:28:09. The dream of becoming the first athlete in the world to win the Six Majors, in the veterans/masters category, came true in April 2018 when he won the London Marathon.
2015 is the year of the international consolidation of 42K Running. Agreements to equip competitions in Ireland and Portugal, mainly, are growing steadily and organizers from Italy and France are also beginning to take an interest in the brand.
2016
Open our online store
During 2015, the idea of opening a store began to mature. There are many runners who discover the brand after participating in a test in which 42K It is the technical brand and they immediately want to acquire more products.
The online store opens its doors on the internet in the month of June and in a short time the rate of sales reaches figures that confirm the interest of individuals in our technical garments and accessories.
The facilities are expanded with a new 1.000 m2 warehouse to increase production and storage capacity to respond to the needs of increasingly important and massive sporting events.
Together with the organization of the 10K Divina Pastora Valencia, the concept “Running Pack” as an evolution and improvement of the traditional 'runner's bag'. The 8th edition of what is already emerging as the most prestigious 10K event in Spain trusts 42K as a technical mark for its 7.000 participants.
After the success of 2016, the formula of “running pack” is repeated in 2017, but this time for 10.000 participants.
2018
We reached 1.800 annual sporting events
This year the production capacity is expanded again by adding a third warehouse (another 1.000m2). With this third ship 42K It has 3.000m2 of facilities, with a capacity for more than 1.200 pallets, 300m2 of offices, 200m2 of digital printing workshop, 200m2 of online store...
2018 is a year of enormous growth in Spain and Portugal. Agreements are signed with nearly 1.800 sporting events, mostly competition events running and trail running, but the brand is also beginning to be valued in paddle tennis, beach tennis, beach volleyball events...
The internationalization of 42K it takes hold The knowledge and prestige of the brand in Ireland has grown considerably and the organization of the Cork Marathon, the second most populous city in the country after Dublin, entrusts us with the production of all the technical garments for the marathon, half marathon and team marathon. . It will be the beginning of a collaboration that continues to this day and expands the brand's awareness on the "Emerald Isle".
42K it also becomes the technical mark of the Bucharest Marathon, a test with 19.000 participants between the marathon and half marathon distance. The streets of the Romanian capital are filled with popular runners wearing our brand's technical t-shirts in 2018 and also in 2019.
2019
INFINI_TECH fabric
The year begins with joy for the new 10K world record established by Martín Fiz in Valencia in the category of over 55s.
In March, the Malaga Half Marathon is held, with 7.500 participants at the starting line, a test for which an exclusive t-shirt is made that becomes national news when it is sponsored by the Malaga actor Antonio Banderas.
This year, the new recycled technical fabric INFINI_TECH is being developed, a fabric that is made with polyester yarn that comes entirely from the recycling of PET plastic bottles.
This 100% recycled fabric is a firm commitment to sustainability and means making the challenge set in 2018 a reality: to bring to life in 2020, coinciding with the brand's tenth anniversary, a new generation of collections made with recycled fabric.
We became the first Spanish company specializing in technical textiles for sporting events to develop a line of garments made with recycled material from plastic bottles.
At the end of the year, LHOTSE was born, the brand's first thermo-compressive t-shirt and the first garment designed exclusively for the trail. running.
2020
Sports masks and collection ELEMENTS
42K Running celebrates ten years of life. It is a particularly special year for the brand because the launch of ELEMENTS, the first collection of t-shirts made with 100% recycled fabric.
The year starts with innumerable projects and very exciting challenges on the horizon, but everything comes to a standstill on March 14 when a word becomes a world protagonist: coronavirus.
A few months after the health alert was declared due to the pandemic, we developed two types of reusable Hygienic masks: one for day-to-day use and another for sports practice with an innovative 3D structure that allows intense physical activity (a circumstance endorsed by a medical study carried out by the Sports Health Unit of the Vithas Valencia 9 de Octubre hospital).
Our 3D sports mask achieves extraordinary success, being recognized as one of the best by different media (VOGUE magazine chooses it as one of the best on the market) and, above all, by users who become the best prescribers in the market. product.
Numerous athletes inside and outside our borders, but also football, basketball, handball, rugby, hockey, volleyball and many other team and contact sports clubs rely on our 3D sports mask to continue playing sports during the worst moments of the pandemic.
When the health authorities lift the confinement, virtual races arise. The organizers are reinventing themselves in the face of the prolonged duration of the ban on sporting events. 42K it becomes the technical brand of innumerable virtual tests in Spain, Portugal, France and Ireland.
2021
We launched CUSTOM LINE for clubs and groups
The restrictions due to the coronavirus continue and the year is faced with many uncertainties. Many organizers and companies in the sporting events sector are dying after almost two years of prohibition.
The turning point is marked by the 5K Valencia. The main private companies in the sector running, among which is 42K Running, join resources and efforts to start up the racing machinery again, guaranteeing all health security measures. On May 23, the first popular race takes place in Valencia after more than 2 years of prohibitions and restrictions.
Almost 2.000 people take the start in different waves under the motto #valenciaback to run and show that it is possible to hold events with guarantees following a strict security protocol.
The experience of the 5K Valencia serves as an encouragement for many organizers who decide to implement similar safety protocols and obtain authorization to restart races.
The machinery of initiatives and new products of 42K still working at full capacity and shortly before summer 42K born INSPIRE 42K, the first collection of women's sportswear for fitness and yoga.
In addition, the line of 100% personalized garments called CUSTOM Line, which grows with the incorporation of new fabrics and garments that expand the customization offer for clubs and groups.
2022
Renewed forces!
42K faces 2022 with renewed hopes after leaving behind the difficult times experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.
The present and future objectives focus on continuing to grow as a brand, reinforcing our presence in those countries where we have been established for years (Portugal, Ireland, France and Italy) and consolidating new markets in other European countries.
After intense work, we open a new window to the world with our new website and the new image of our online store.
the olympic athlete Elena Loyo becomes the brand image.
2023
Javi Guerra, new ambassador 42K
The year begins with the great news of the agreement with Javi Guerra to become an ambassador of 42K.
The Segovian athlete, one of the great names of the Spanish marathon of the XNUMXst century, began collaborating with the brand after obtaining its fourth Spanish marathon champion title and face the season with the determination to qualify for the Paris Olympics 24.
After 2022 of growth, 2023 is faced with great hopes and ambitions set on the internationalization of the brand.
Portugal becomes a strategic country for 42K and the presence in Portuguese events of great importance is consolidated with the entry as a technical brand of 42K in races like Europa-Aveiro Marathon, Meia Maratona do Douro Winery o Half Marathon of Porto.
2024
Sustainable growth and internationalization
The objectives in 2024 are very specific: drive international growth in strategic markets (Italy, France, Portugal and Ireland) and strengthen the business line dedicated to customization of sports clothing (Custom Line) for sporting events and clubs.
In 2023 we will exceed 1.600 sporting events as a technical brand and the challenge is to reach 2.000 in 2024. Agreements with important organizers and timekeepers, as well as the expansion of our catalog with up to five new collections of t-shirts and other new technical garments They make us very optimistic.
We introduce new 100% recycled fabrics to strengthen our commitment to sustainability, a commitment to achieving a product catalog entirely made with recycled raw materials by 2030.
Another milestone planned for 2024 is the growth of online sales thanks to the incorporation of new technical garments and accessories. The expansion of the Production and Development department has meant the arrival of new products in order to respond to the needs of runners from any country in the European Union.
2024 marks the beginning of a profound national and international renewal of our brand image. An ambitious investment in textile machinery and cutting-edge technologies has allowed us to give life to new fabrics, exclusive designs, absolutely new color palettes...
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