What connects a London massage boutique with a Thai sportswear manufacturer that outfits national athletes? Both believe that good design starts with movement.
What do a football shirt and a massage therapist’s uniform have in common?
More than you might expect.
At Asiatic Massage Boutique & Wellness, our massage therapists spend their days applying pressure, assisting with stretches, reaching across treatment tables and moving between techniques. Their uniforms must do more than look professional. They also need to stay comfortable during physically demanding sessions.
So, when we decided to refresh our team’s appearance, we looked beyond traditional Thai spa clothing and turned to Grand Sport Thailand, an established Thai sportswear manufacturer with a history dating back to 1961.
This collaboration combines Grand Sport’s performance apparel expertise with an original uniform collection designed by Ben Pianese, Asiatic’s co-founder and the creative mind behind our studio interiors and visual identity.
The result is three distinctive colourways, our signature three-petal lotus and a message that captures the experience we want clients to remember.
FEEL RENEWED™
Why We Chose Performance Sportswear Instead of Traditional Spa Uniforms.
Traditional Thai spa uniforms have their own cultural charm. But at Asiatic, we wanted clothing that reflected how our therapists actually work.
Thai Yoga Massage, for example, involves assisted stretching, supported movement and rhythmic pressure. Deep Tissue Massage requires controlled body mechanics and sustained pressure, while Sports Massage may involve focused work across muscle groups affected by physical activity.
These treatments require therapists to reach, lean, shift their weight and move comfortably throughout a session.
Instead of a conventional spa tunic, we selected breathable performance fabric used in Grand Sport’s football teamwear.
We chose this material for its ventilation, freedom of movement and antibacterial properties, making the uniforms more practical for long working days.
Breathable fabrics can help improve comfort during physical activity. Antibacterial textile treatments are designed to limit bacterial build-up on the material, although they do not replace proper laundering and good hygiene.
For us, these are practical choices, not simply fashionable features.
A uniform should support the person wearing it, not get in their way.
What Football and Massage Therapy Have in Common
At first glance, professional football and therapeutic massage appear to have little in common.
Yet both place considerable physical demands on the body.
Football players need clothing that lets them run, turn, stretch, and change direction. Massage therapists rely on a different kind of coordination, moving around the treatment table and adjusting their positions to apply pressure and perform techniques with control.
The movements are different, but both benefit from comfortable, functional clothing.
Grand Sport’s experience in developing sportswear made the company a natural choice for Asiatic.
We wanted to bring the practicality of performance apparel into our treatment rooms while maintaining our brand’s refined, understated appearance.
Our goal was never to make our therapists look like athletes.
Instead, we borrowed a principle from athletic clothing design:
Understand the movement first, then design around it.
Who Is Grand Sport Thailand?
Founded in 1961 by Kij Pluckcha-oom, Grand Sport began as a Thai sporting-goods business and developed into one of the country’s established names in sportswear and sporting equipment.
Today, Grand Sport Group Co., Ltd. is a Bangkok-based manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor and exporter serving customers in Thailand and international markets.
Its products include football and volleyball kits, polo shirts, tracksuits, training apparel, sports shoes, footballs, volleyballs and other sporting accessories.
Beyond its own retail operations, Grand Sport distributes products through retail partners and online platforms, reaching customers across Thailand and international markets including Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan.
Its growth has closely followed the development of organised sport in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
From supplying local teams and educational institutions to supporting professional clubs and national sporting organisations, Grand Sport has built its reputation on making sports apparel and equipment accessible across all levels of competition.
The company’s founder also had a personal connection to sport. Kij Pluckcha-oom was remembered for his contributions to Thai volleyball and later served as Honorary President of the Thailand Volleyball Association.
His legacy lives on through Grand Sport’s involvement in sporting organisations and its role in developing Thai sportswear.
For readers discovering Grand Sport through Asiatic, this distinction matters: this is not a conventional spa-uniform supplier. It has decades of experience developing clothing and equipment for active people.
That’s exactly what attracted us.
Grand Sport’s Sponsorships: From National Football Teams to International Volleyball
Grand Sport’s sporting heritage extends well beyond manufacturing.
Over several decades, the company has supplied apparel and equipment to national teams, sporting federations, professional clubs and international competitions.
Its relationships with football and volleyball are particularly relevant to our decision to collaborate with the brand.
Thailand’s National Football Team
In 2012, Grand Sport became the kit supplier to the Thailand national football team, replacing Nike as the team’s official apparel provider.
The agreement marked an important chapter in Grand Sport’s domestic sporting history and brought a home-grown Thai manufacturer into a prominent role representing the country’s football identity.
National-team uniforms carry a significance beyond their technical purpose. They represent the athletes, their supporters and the country they compete for.
Grand Sport’s involvement demonstrated how a Thai sportswear company could contribute to sport at an international level.
Vietnam Football Federation
Grand Sport’s involvement in football also extended to neighbouring countries.
In November 2014, the company signed a five-year agreement with the Vietnam Football Federation, becoming an official kit supplier for Vietnam’s national football teams.
The agreement reflected Grand Sport’s expanding regional presence and its ability to work with sporting organisations beyond Thailand.
For a Thai manufacturer, partnerships like this helped strengthen recognition across Southeast Asia.
AFF Suzuki Cup 2018
One of Grand Sport’s notable international football partnerships came in 2018, when it became the official match-ball supplier and kit provider for tournament personnel at the AFF Suzuki Cup.
The agreement covered match balls for all 28 matches, alongside uniforms for referees and ball attendants.
It placed Grand Sport’s products within one of Southeast Asia’s major football competitions, watched by supporters across the region.
The partnership demonstrated that Grand Sport’s work extended beyond retail sportswear into the equipment and apparel used at international sporting events.
Asian Volleyball Confederation
Volleyball has also played an important role in Grand Sport’s history.
The company has supported the Thailand Volleyball Association and maintained a longstanding relationship with the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).
In 2025, Grand Sport and the AVC renewed their sponsorship agreement for a further four years, continuing their collaboration in Asian volleyball.
The relationship reflects the company’s connection with a sport where agility, jumping, coordination and freedom of movement are central to athletic performance.
It also places Grand Sport alongside organisations supporting volleyball competitions and development across Asia.
Thailand National Team Collection — Asian Games 2026
Grand Sport showcased its contemporary design direction again with its Thailand National Team Collection for the 2026 Aichi–Nagoya Asian Games.
Presented under the concept Threads of Spirit, the collection blended Thai cultural identity with modern sportswear design.
The designs drew inspiration from traditional textiles, craftsmanship and Asian cultural influences, demonstrating how contemporary athletic clothing can express national heritage.
The collection also highlighted Grand Sport’s continuing interest in technical fabrics and performance-oriented construction.
For Asiatic, the wider design philosophy is especially relevant: sportswear can be practical without sacrificing cultural identity, creativity or visual sophistication.
Our uniforms are a separate collaboration, but we share a connection between craftsmanship, identity, and movement.
That combination made Grand Sport a particularly meaningful partner for Asiatic.
Discover more about the company through the official Grand Sport Thailand website.
Beyond Massage. Beyond Trends. The Premier Boutique Vision™.
For Asiatic co-founder Ben Pianese, originality isn’t about competing with others. It’s about having the confidence to create something of your own.
At Asiatic, we believe a boutique experience should extend beyond the treatment itself.
Our approach goes Beyond Massage™, shaping the architecture of our studios, our visual identity, our website and even the uniforms our therapists wear.
For Ben Pianese, co-founder, experienced bodywork practitioner and the creative mind behind much of Asiatic’s design direction, these elements are all connected.
Ben has personally designed the interiors of our two Upper Street studios, developed our architectural and decorative concepts, shaped our website’s visual direction and created the original designs for our new polo collection.
His philosophy is simple:
NO FOLLOW TREND™.
Ben believes that creativity begins with an independent point of view.
He does not approach design by studying competitors and deciding what to imitate. Instead, he develops ideas around their purpose, the people who will use them and the identity of the business.
For him, originality is not about competing to be different. It is about creating something that feels genuinely your own.
He believes every independent business should find its own direction rather than measure itself against others.
When a design becomes familiar, or a particular aesthetic becomes fashionable, Ben’s instinct is to explore what could come next.
This approach has shaped Asiatic’s distinctive studios, where historic architecture, natural materials, contemporary details and Thai hospitality come together without relying on conventional spa decoration.
Each studio has its own character, yet both belong unmistakably to Asiatic.
The new uniforms express the same philosophy.
Instead of choosing a familiar wellness aesthetic, Ben turned to sportswear, introduced an original combination of colours, graphics and typography, and created something that feels distinctly Asiatic.
His creative vision is not limited to how the uniforms look. It also considers how they function, how therapists move and how the designs communicate our identity.
The intention was never to follow a trend in massage uniforms. It was to create our own.
Three Colours. One Asiatic Identity.
Ben developed the new polo collection around three distinctive colours: deep forest green, warm earthy brown and soft peach.
Each expresses a different side of Asiatic’s identity.
The forest-green polo introduces a bold red graphic that wraps around the side of the garment, giving the shirt a dynamic, contemporary appearance. A small Asiatic logo on the chest keeps the front understated.
The warm-brown polo reflects the earthy tones found throughout our brand and studio interiors. Its quieter front contrasts with an expressive typographic composition across the back.
The soft-peach polo offers a lighter interpretation of the same design language, with the Asiatic logo on the chest and the repeated FEEL RENEWED™ message across the shoulders.
These are not three unrelated uniforms.
They are variations of one visual identity, designed to feel consistent without being identical.
The collection gives our therapists a shared professional appearance while letting the colours, details, and typography express different aspects of the brand.
For Ben, those details are not simply decoration.
They are part of the wider design language that makes Asiatic recognisable.
The Three-Petal Lotus and the Meaning of Feel Renewed
One small detail gives the collection a deeper connection to Asiatic’s Thai heritage: our original three-petal lotus.
The red flower appears throughout the uniforms, including just below the back collar.
Across Thai culture and several Eastern traditions, the lotus represents purity, resilience and renewal.
Growing from muddy water before flowering above the surface, it has long symbolised transformation and the ability to flourish despite difficult surroundings.
For Asiatic, the lotus is more than a decorative motif.
It has influenced our logo, visual identity, studio interiors and the philosophy behind the environments we create for our clients.
You can explore its cultural meaning in our article about the Divine Lotus flower and its symbolism.
Ben’s slogan, FEEL RENEWED™, brings this symbolism into everyday language.
It reflects what many people seek when booking a massage: time to step away from daily demands, ease muscular tension, slow down and leave feeling more comfortable in their bodies.
The lotus communicates renewal through imagery.
The slogan communicates it through words.
Together, they give the uniforms a meaning beyond their practical function.
They express the experience Asiatic has created for clients since 2009.
A Collaboration with a Personal Connection
Our relationship with Grand Sport also has a personal dimension.
A family connection involving one of Asiatic’s business partners helped bring the two businesses together, making this project more meaningful to us than a conventional uniform order.
As an independent business, we value relationships built on trust, mutual understanding and respect for craftsmanship.
The collaboration brought together different areas of expertise: Ben’s creative direction, Grand Sport’s experience in sports apparel, and our own understanding of what massage therapists need during their workday.
Each contributed something distinctive.
The result reflects both businesses’ strengths while remaining unmistakably Asiatic.
For us, the value of the collaboration lies not simply in the finished uniforms, but in the people, ideas and shared understanding behind them.
A New Website, A New Look. The Same Asiatic Standard.
Our new uniforms coincide with another milestone: the launch of Asiatic’s redesigned website.
We opened our original massage practice on Upper Street in London in 2009. Today, we welcome clients at two studios:
- Asiatic Angel — 93 Upper Street, London N1 0NP
- Asiatic Highbury — 262 Upper Street, London N1 2UQ
Together, co-founders Apple Jatikate and Ben Pianese continue to shape a business that combines Thai hospitality, experienced practitioners, personalised bodywork and thoughtful contemporary design.
Our refreshed website makes it easier to explore our massage treatments, discover the Asiatic story and choose between our Angel and Highbury studios.
The new uniforms are another part of that continuing evolution.
New colours. Original designs. A new digital chapter.
But behind everything remains the same principle that has guided Asiatic since 2009: attention to detail, respect for individuality and the belief that good care should always feel personal.
Designed by Ben Pianese. Produced in collaboration with Grand Sport Thailand. Worn by the Asiatic team in London.
Feel Renewed™
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is Grand Sport Thailand?
Grand Sport Group Co., Ltd. is a well-known Thai company that has been making sportswear and equipment since 1961. Based in Bangkok, it produces athletic clothing, shoes, and gear, and has worked with national teams, football clubs, and international sports organisations. They have a long history of partnerships in football, volleyball, and major Asian sporting events.
2. Why did Asiatic choose Grand Sport Thailand for its uniforms?
Asiatic chose Grand Sport for its experience in performance sportswear. Our uniforms are different from regular spa clothing because they use breathable fabric chosen for comfort, movement, and antibacterial benefits. By working together, we combine Grand Sport’s textile know-how with original designs by our co-founder Ben Pianese, making uniforms that are perfect for the physical work of massage therapy.
3. What makes Asiatic’s massage therapist uniforms different?
Ben Pianese designed Asiatic’s uniforms to blend sportswear features with our unique boutique style. Instead of the usual spa tunics, our collection has modern polo shirts in forest green, earthy brown, and soft peach. These shirts include original graphics, the three-petal lotus, and the FEEL RENEWED slogan.
4. What do Asiatic’s three-petal lotus and “Feel Renewed™” slogan represent?
Our three-petal lotus is an original symbol that shows our Thai roots and stands for renewal, resilience, and personal wellbeing. The FEEL RENEWED slogan by Ben Pianese captures the experience we want to create through caring bodywork. Together, these elements link our look to the care and hospitality that have defined Asiatic since 2009.
5. What does Ben Pianese mean by “No Follow Trend™”?
For Asiatic co-founder Ben Pianese, “No Follow Trend™” represents independent thinking, originality and creative integrity.
Our distinctive limewash studio interiors, carefully chosen colour palettes, original editorial content, brand language and Master-Led Somatic Bodywork™ reflect years of independent creative development.
Ben has little interest in competing with or following others. He prefers to spend his time creating, developing ideas and building something that reflects his own vision.
We have documented concerns about similarities between our earlier published work and subsequent marketing materials appearing elsewhere in the massage industry, including website headlines, specialist terminology, blog content and elements of visual presentation.
Our brand-protection case study presents dated screenshots and comparisons explaining these concerns.
Our position is clear: originality deserves respect. We maintain records of our creative development and reserve the right to publish accurate, evidence-based comparisons or pursue appropriate remedies where our legal rights may have been infringed.
For Ben, the philosophy remains unchanged:
“I would rather spend my time creating the next original idea than arguing about the last one.”
