Bottega Veneta Partners Chinese Star Swimmer Pan Zhanle 

Italian maison Bottega Veneta has secured an endorsement deal with ace Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle. 

The 20-year-old freestyle sprinter who holds the current 100m men’s world record after clinching the gold at last year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, is not new to the world of Bottega Veneta, having previously appeared in the maison’s Winter 2024 and Resort 2025 campaigns.

In recent years, there has been a trend of luxury brands increasingly flocking towards star athletes, a seamless match of their unrelenting pursuit of athletic excellence to the brands’ ethos towards intricate craftmanship.  

According to ASN data, Bottega Veneta has invested US$1m+ in the Asia sponsorship landscape since Q422 , with an average quarterly investment of US$92k during this period. In terms of the brand’s spends, China (45.1%), Thailand (39.9%) and South Korea (15%) are the three main markets. Spends tend to be focused on celebrity endorsements in the entertainment world in the US$200k to US$232k.