{"id":144769,"date":"2026-01-22T14:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144769\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:57:19","slug":"speedo-moves-u-s-headquarters-to-long-beach-ahead-of-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/144769\/","title":{"rendered":"Speedo moves U.S. headquarters to Long Beach ahead of Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Long Beach\u2019s bet on the Olympics to help reshape its economy<\/a> has attracted at least one sportswear company to the port city.<\/p>\n

Speedo\u2019s parent company, Pentland Brands, plans to move its North American headquarters from Orange County to Long Beach, which has emerged as a hub for aquatic sports for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The privately held, U.K.-based company that manages a portfolio of fashion and sportswear brands \u2014 including outdoor gear brand Berghaus and cycling apparel brand Endura \u2014 plans to move to a 25,000-square-foot facility at Aero Long Beach this summer.<\/p>\n

Pentland Brands\u2019 North American headquarters has since 2015 been located in a 69,000-square-foot office in Cypress, a company spokesperson said in an email.<\/p>\n

The company cited the Olympics as a driving factor in its decision to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing based in Long Beach places Speedo \u2014 a brand trusted by swimmers on the world stage \u2014 at the heart of one of the world\u2019s most anticipated sporting events,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Bo Martinez, the city\u2019s economic development director, said in a statement that Pentland\u2019s relocation to Long Beach is \u201ca powerful vote of confidence\u201d that strengthens the city\u2019s efforts to \u201cdiversify the local economy, create more high-quality jobs and build an ecosystem where creative, forward-thinking companies can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pentland Brands\u2019 Long Beach facility, which will accommodate more than 130 employees, is expected to include a dedicated Speedo showroom, open office space and rooms for product design, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Long Beach will host 11 sporting events during the 2028 Olympics, which are scheduled to run July 14 through July 30, according to an April statement<\/a> from the city. <\/p>\n

Many are water sports, including coastal rowing, open-water swimming, beach volleyball, sailing, artistic swimming and water polo. Also on the lineup are non-water sports such as sport climbing, handball and target shooting.<\/p>\n

Events will be spread across seven venues, including temporary buildings as well as the Long Beach Arena, which hosted events during the 1984 Olympics, and Marine Stadium, built for the rowing events of the 1932 Olympics.<\/p>\n

Long Beach will also host seven events for the 2028 Paralympics, scheduled to take place from Aug. 15 to Aug. 27, according to the city\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Long Beach Councilman Daryl Supernaw said in an email to The Times he was \u201cthrilled\u201d for the company behind Speedo to move into his district, which encompasses neighborhoods around the Long Beach Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an ideal company to help diversify our economy and [reinforce] the City\u2019s long history in aquatics,\u201d Supernaw wrote.<\/p>\n

Long Beach in 2023 unveiled plans to spend over $900 million<\/a> on infrastructure over the next five years, with about $200 million earmarked for Olympics-focused projects.<\/p>\n

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson told The Times in 2024 that he considered the Olympics an opportunity for his city, which has long relied on oil revenue,<\/a> to \u201cbuild a new economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pentland Brands is a division of the Pentland Group, which was founded in the 1930s as the Liverpool Shoe Co.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Pentland acquired Speedo International and Speedo Australia. In a move to consolidate the global swimwear brand, the company bought Speedo North America from apparel company PVH Corp. for $170 million ahead of the Tokyo Summer Olympics that were postponed to 2021.<\/p>\n

Speedo is a major Olympic sponsor and has partnerships with the national swimming governing bodies in the U.S., Canada, China and Australia, among others. <\/p>\n

The Australian swimwear brand traces its origins to 1928, when Scottish immigrant Alexander MacRae produced a sleeveless Racerback swimsuit. <\/p>\n

Speedo\u2019s tight-fitting suits sparked a brief controversy at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, when a complaint was filed about Australian swimmer Clare Dennis\u2019 exposed shoulders, according to the Daily Telegraph.<\/a> The complaint was dismissed and the teenager went on to win gold in the 200-meter breaststroke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach\u2019s bet on the Olympics to help reshape its economy has attracted at least one sportswear company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-144769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}