PADEL FASHION: THIS ISN’T TENNIS
Wimbledon has ball boys.
Bad Padel has waiters in waistcoats and bow ties carrying silver trays of balls.
We may have got slightly carried away.
But while shooting our latest women’s padel clothing collections, somewhere between the trays, the attitude and one particularly badly behaved Bad Girl sending about twenty balls flying across the court, it got us thinking.
Padel came from the same racket-sport family as tennis.
Does the fashion have to come with it?
We don’t think so.
TENNIS HAS TRADITION. PADEL IS MAKING ITS OWN.
Tennis has had a very long time to develop its look.
The whites. The clubs. The etiquette. Wimbledon. Strawberries and cream. Centre Court. Players dressed almost identically for generations.
And there’s something brilliant about all of that.
But padel is different.
It’s younger, faster and more social. Four players sharing a smaller enclosed court. Glass walls. Long rallies. Drinks before. Drinks afterwards. And, quite often, considerably more noise.
The culture developing around padel feels different too.
And that gives padel fashion the chance to become something different.
Not tennis clothing with a new name.
Not another collection of safe sportswear.
Something of its own.
SO, WHAT DOES PADEL FASHION ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?
There isn’t one answer.
And that’s rather the point.
Women’s padel clothing can mean a skirt and polo. It can mean shorts and a tank. It can be coordinated head to toe or completely mixed up.
What matters on court is that clothing lets you move.
You’re sprinting forwards, moving sideways, turning against the glass, reaching overhead and smashing. Lightweight, breathable fabrics and unrestricted movement matter.
But once those basics are covered, why shouldn’t the clothes have some personality?
A padel skirt can have pockets and still look incredible.
A performance polo doesn’t have to look like a school sports uniform.
A padel outfit can work hard on court without screaming “SPORTS KIT” the second you walk into the bar afterwards.
Performance matters.
Boring doesn’t.
WIMBLEDON HAS BALL BOYS. WE WENT ONE BETTER.
For this shoot, we decided padel deserved a little more ceremony.
Waistcoats.
Bow ties.
Silver trays.
Very attentive waiters.
It was all going rather well.
Until Bad Padel arrived.
Turns out carrying twenty balls on a silver tray within reach of a Bad Girl was optimistic.
Still, nobody said padel fashion had to behave itself.
IS PADEL GETTING A LITTLE BIT POSH?
Maybe.
Or maybe padel has simply understood something rather quickly: sport can be social.
People don't necessarily arrive, play for an hour and disappear.
The club matters. The people matter. What happens around the game matters.
That social side is part of what makes padel interesting — and it's also one reason style has room to become a bigger part of the sport.
You can take the game seriously without taking yourself quite so seriously.
Which, conveniently, is roughly where Bad Padel lives, with the style and personality of OOH LA LA.
PADEL DOESN’T NEED A TENNIS WARDROBE
There’s nothing wrong with wearing tennis clothing to play padel.
Of course there isn’t.
But as padel develops its own culture, we think its clothing will increasingly develop its own identity too.
More choice.
More colour.
More personality.
More padel outfits that players actually want to wear rather than clothing that simply ticks the box marked “sportswear”.
That was one of the reasons Bad Padel started in the first place.
We wanted women’s padel clothing and men’s padel clothing that performed on court but didn't all look like variations of something we'd already seen.
Sometimes that means a ridiculous print.
Sometimes it means a beautiful polo.
Sometimes it apparently means a waiter, a bow tie and twenty balls being launched into the air.
We’re comfortable with all three.
THIS ISN’T TENNIS.
We love tennis.
We might even give it its balls back.
But padel has its own court, its own culture and increasingly its own style.
So perhaps the interesting question isn't whether padel fashion should follow tennis.
It's what happens when it stops trying to.
This isn’t tennis.
This is Bad Padel.
Put it on. Own the court.