Seven years after graduating from the Master of Entrepreneurship program, Laura Youngson is changing the face of women’s sporting gear with her range of football boots designed specifically for the female foot. In mid-2025, the company Laura co-founded, Ida Sports, will hit a new high with the opening of a flagship store on London’s Regent Street – just in time for Women’s EURO 2025.
When Ida Sports opens its flagship store on London’s Regent Street in 2025, it will be a revelation for female football lovers. For a start, women will feel welcome.
“It will be basically the antithesis of all regular sports stores,” says Ida co-founder Laura Youngson. “It’s going to have a football pitch and smell nice. We’ll just build our own space – and show people what the future could look like.”
A future where female athletes are treated equally has always been Laura’s inspiration. A keen soccer player and former Olympics organiser, UK-born Laura had already formed the charity collective Equal Playing Field when she moved to Australia in 2017 to enrol in University of Melbourne’s Master of Entrepreneurship program, co-delivered with Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship. That winter, when she climbed Kilimanjaro with 35 other women and entered the Guinness World Records as part of the highest-altitude soccer match, she discovered that even professional footballers had to wear men’s or kids’ footy boots like her. A business idea was born.
“I had seven days to talk to these players and understand the problem – it was almost the perfect user discovery,” says Laura, who joined the Master’s program on an Amanda Coote scholarship. “This pain point went wider than me. I used the practical project in the second semester to interrogate the idea and build that science-and-research case for the business.”
Seven years on, she admits she never would have begun if she’d known how arduous the entrepreneurial path would be.
“It’s excruciating to raise money as a female,” says Laura, noting that less than 4 percent of women secure venture-capital funding. “We’re closing a $2 million seed raise, and you just want to poke needles in your eyeballs. One of my goals is to change things for the women coming through.”
Having the right language, mindset and frameworks is essential – and that’s where the Master of Entrepreneurship was invaluable. “I had a lot of practical experience, but I didn’t necessarily know the terms that you need to talk to investors, or the theory, especially design thinking and marketing,” says Laura.
“I learned a lot about funnels and putting the user at the centre of the journey. Investors have this whole language – and some of it, I think, is a bit rubbish, just call a spade a spade – but you can’t get in and get enfranchised unless you know the language.”
In the wake of the Matildas’ Women’s World Cup popularity in 2023, it seems shocking that women’s footy boots didn’t exist pre-Ida. For too long, ill-fitting footwear has caused discomfort and ACL injuries, as well as a sense among players that they’ve been sidelined in a sport they love. Apparently, Nike brought forward the launch of its women’s Phantom Luna boots in 2023, in response to Ida’s arrival on the scene. “The bigger brands have been quite complacent,” says Laura, “and I don’t think it’s good enough.”
Working with sports scientists and player feedback, Ida has designed football boots that account for women’s anatomical differences. “It’s about the foot shape,” explains Laura, who has a master’s in physics. “Women tend to have narrow heels and a wider toe box, so our little toes get squashed in and hurt [in men’s shoes]. We tend to have higher arches and need more comfort and support.” Since the success of its original cleats, Ida – named after American civil rights activist Ida B. Wells – has expanded into touch rugby, lacrosse, Ultimate Frisbee and flag football boots. One of Laura’s biggest thrills is reading consumer reviews from women who have fixed their foot pain and returned to sport, particularly teenagers who generally drop out of the game and never go back.
Despite the tough times – cash-flow problems, people saying the business is a “dumb idea” – Laura has hung onto her motivation, resilience and self-belief, and success is all the sweeter. In 2023, she pitched to Tommy Hilfiger, and Ida recently won a start-up competition, which came with six months rent-free at the Regent Street location.
“We’ve been able to expand from one shoe that I cooked in my kitchen and learned how to manufacture in Asia, to a complete swathe of product range and opportunity,” she says. “You have these moments when it’s like, how have I ended up making shoes? This is wild!”
