Learn More About Agon; A Little Known Greek God

Agon Sport LLC is in the athletic apparel, accessory, and equipment business. Currently, our customers include swimmers, water-polo players, lifeguards, divers, synchronized swimmers, and triathletes. In the future, we hope to expand the number of sports we serve. Agonswim.com creates value for athletes by creating high quality, custom-dyed athletic apparel, which is our distinctive competency. Our principal objective is to help sports teams build unity, spirit, and pride by providing them with custom team apparel, accessories, and equipment.

Company History

Agon Sport LLC began with an idea: to fill a gap in the sport of swimming. All other sports teams wear matching uniforms that incorporate the team’s colors, logos, and mascots. Why shouldn’t swim teams have the same opportunity? Thus, Agonswim.com created its custom-dyed team swimwear products to meet the needs of teams who want a unique and uniformed look. Agonswim.com is able to custom dye swimwear for teams, any way they want their suits to look, with custom colors, designs, logos, and mascots — even individual names! Teams can literally design anything they want on their suits. We believe that in this way Agonswim.com offers a valued benefit to swim teams. We provide teams with the ability to create their own image and build unity.

Agonswim.com is a recent entrant into the swimwear market, having been incorporated in 2000. Our success is dependent on three things. First, the uniqueness of our custom-dying process allows us to manufacture small quantities of custom-dyed swimwear, suited to swim teams that range from 12 to 300+ swimmers. Our success is also due to our commitment to quality. We use the finest fabrics and highest quality materials in all of our products. Third, Agonswim.com is a small company, so we are able to establish a personal relationship with our customers.

Agonswim.com is a company created by swimmers for swimmers. The company was founded by Rafael Escalas, Henar Alonso-Pimentel, Juan Enrique Escalas, and Jennifer Edson Escalas. Agon Sport LLC is incorporated in the United States of America. The company is headquartered in Nashville TN. Our name, Agonswim.com, refers to a little known Greek god who represents the spirit of self-actualization through athletic competition.

Production Process

Agon Sport LLC has a production arm in Valladolid, Spain. We use a sublimation process to dye our swimwear and accessories in the factory in Valladolid.

LLC Member Biographies

LLC Officers

President and CEO Rafael Escalas is a two-time Olympian (1980 and 1984), multiple Spanish champion, and former national record holder (18 years in the 1500 freestyle). Rafa was ranked in the top eight in the world ranking from 1980 through 1984, including 3rd in 1981, in the 1500 freestyle. He also achieved international ranking status in the 400 IM and 400 freestyle. In 1981, Rafa won the 1650 freestyle at the NCAA competition, from lane 8 in the slowest heat, with a new NCAA record. In 1982, Rafa won NCAAs again, as a member of the champion UCLA team. While at UCLA, Rafa was a five-time All American on his way to achieving a BS in Electrical Engineering. Rafa worked at GM Hughes Electronics for seven years and during this time also earned his MS in Electrical Engineering at UCLA. He has over eight years experience in the competitive swimwear industry, as the former president of Turbo Inc. In addition to his duties as former president of Turbo, Rafa served as Technical Director of the Swimming Competition at the ’92 Barcelona Olympics, and Competition Manager of Swimming at the ’96 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Henar Alonso-Pimentel is also a multiple Spanish champion and former national record holder, in breaststroke events. Henar competed on the University of Arizona intercollegiate swim team. While at the University of Arizona, Henar earned her undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees in Biology. She continued at the University of Arizona as an investigator on a series of grants from the USDA. Henar currently heads AgonSwim.com’s production facility in Valladolid, Spain and oversees Internet and international sales.

Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Nick Luce is a former licensed therapist and Clinical Program Director for a non-profit mental health agency, which served at-risk inner-city children in Philadelphia. Nick earned his undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University in Psychology and his Masters in Social Work degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nick currently heads Agonswim.com’s customer relationships group, including sales management, customer inquiries, and accounts receivable.

LLC Members

Juan Enrique Escalas is an Olympian and multiple Spanish champion and former national record holder, in middle distance freestyle events. Juan Enrique placed 10th in the 400 freestyle at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. While at UCLA, he was a finalist at the NCAA in the 500 freestyle twice, in 1984 and 1986. Overall, he earned the title of All-American four times while at UCLA, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Mathematics/Applied Science (Economics). Juan Enrique also has a Masters in Business Administration. He is the Commercial Director for Grupo123, an international online travel company based in Spain, part of the On Holiday Group Ltd, the 3rd ranked online tour operator in the United Kingdom.

Mary Frances Luce is a Professor of Marketing at Duke University ‘s Fuqua School of Business. Her BAs in Marketing and Economics are from Ball State University and her PhD in Business Administration is from Duke University . Her primary research interest involves how individuals cope when they have to make decisions that have negative emotion-laden content. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Journal of Marketing Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Management Science , and Marketing Science . She has won various awards for her journal articles. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Consumer Research . Mary Frances and Nick have been married since 1990 and have two children, Madison (2000) and Max (2003).

Finally, Jennifer Edson Escalas is also an LLC member. She is currently an Associate Professor of Management at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where she teaches marketing research and marketing communications to MBA students. Jennifer has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Spanish Linguistics from UCLA. She worked as a commercial loan officer at Union Bank of California for four years before returning to UCLA to earn her MBA. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in Business Administration from Duke University. Her research focuses primarily on consumers’ self-concepts and narrative processing. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Jennifer and Rafael have been married since 1984 and have two children, Elena (1996) and Marina (1999).

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