Y1 Padel is a London-based UK padel brand built on community, sustainability and innovation.
We’re the newest addition to the Y1 Sport family, and we’re here to bring a fresh, athlete-focused approach to the fast-growing world of padel in the UK.
At our core, we’re a young team who love the game - and want to make it better for everyone who steps on court.
1. What Is Y1 Padel?
Y1 Padel is the padel division of Y1 Sport, a multi-sport brand founded in the UK and known for building high-performance products rooted in community values.
We design:
- Performance-led padel rackets
- Athlete-focused padel equipment
- Community-driven padel products
But performance alone isn’t enough for us.
Everything we create is shaped by:
- Real athlete feedback
- Sustainable thinking
- Long-term product development
- A commitment to growing UK padel properly
We don’t just build rackets.
We build with the padel community.
2. Where Did Y1 Start?
The Y1 journey began in 2012, in a university dorm room in Exeter.
Founders Chris and Tom, both high-level hockey athletes, shared a belief that sport is about more than competition - it’s about connection and community.
What started as a hockey brand quickly grew into a wider sporting movement built around:
- Innovation
- Sustainability
- Athlete collaboration
- Community-first thinking
After years of development behind the scenes, we soft-launched Y1 Padel in 2018, testing prototypes and gathering feedback.
In 2025, we officially launched our first full padel range - engineered specifically for the evolving UK padel scene.
3. Who Is Y1 Padel For?
Y1 Padel is for athletes who love the game and care about the environment and the people they play with.
We build for:
- Beginners discovering padel
- Social athletes playing weekly matches
- Competitive athletes chasing improvement
- Anyone who values inclusive sport culture
Padel in the UK is growing fast. What makes it special is the atmosphere - welcoming, energetic, community-driven.
That’s exactly what Y1 stands for.
Whether you’re stepping on court for your first rally or training seriously every week, we want you to feel like the product was built with you in mind.
4. What Makes Y1 Padel Different?
Most brands design products from the top down.
We don’t.
We actively involve the padel community in our product development process.
That means:
- Visiting UK padel centres
- Collecting real athlete feedback
- Running mass prototype testing
- Hosting our November Prototype Feedback Programme
- Releasing Black Friday prototype drops months before full launches
We test with:
- Beginners
- Intermediate athletes
- Advanced competitors
- International players
And we actually change the product based on what we hear.
Our marketing reflects that too.
Instead of stock imagery and staged campaigns, we showcase the real padel community - the people building the sport from the ground up in the UK.
5. Is Y1 Padel a UK Brand?
Yes - proudly.
Y1 Padel is a UK padel brand headquartered in London.
Our identity is shaped by:
- The fast-paced London lifestyle
- The grassroots growth of UK padel
- The energy of emerging padel centres
While we distribute internationally, our heart, team and development roots are firmly in the UK.
We’re building for this market first - and growing outward from there.
Sustainability at the Core
Sustainability isn’t an add-on for us.
It’s embedded in how we operate.
From responsible sourcing to long-term product design, we focus on building equipment that performs without unnecessary waste.
We believe the future of sport should be:
- High-performance
- Community-driven
- Environmentally responsible
And that includes padel.
The Y1 Mission
We want to grow padel the right way.
That means:
- Better equipment
- Smarter innovation
- Stronger communities
- More inclusive courts
We’re not here to flood the market.
We’re here to build it properly.