Our Story

With a love for football, a desire to build a brand, and a strong friendship from childhood, Carbon Athletic was born by co-founders Anthony Vallelonga and Ben Cortese. Having both played football since a young age, naturally they were drawn to starting a brand in the football market.

Coming from a medical background with a Masters Degree in Clinical Chiropractic, Anthony understood the importance of shin guards in limiting or negating an injury. Having witnessed lower leg injuries in the past and the often ineffectiveness of standard plastic shin guards, they decided to look at an alternative material to plastic to innovate football shin guards. This led to the business being established and the creation of their first model of Carbon Fiber shin guards.

From 2018, when Carbon Athletic was first born, to today in 2025, they have released four successful football products, met with and supplied gear to some of the best footballers across the globe such as Reece James, Bruno Fernandes, Dani Alves, Memphis Depay and Karim Benzema, partnered with the St. George Illawarra Dragons NRL Club in Australia as their official grip socks supplier and have started to gain traction in the American, UK and European football markets.

The near future for Carbon Athletic involves expansion into online and physical retailers in America, UK, Europe, Oceania and the Middle East, development of the product line predominantly under the categories of performance and recovery and the growth of the brand identity globally.

Anthony Vallelonga (Left) and Ben Cortese (Right) - Carbon Athletic Founders