What Kind of Brand Is STIGA? A Table Tennis Great Takes On the Hexagonal Paddle

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2026年7月6日

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"STIGA——that's a table tennis brand, isn't it? They do pickleball too?"——someone asked me exactly that in the shop the other day. Sharp question. That is precisely the doorway into understanding this brand.

Coach Yoshi here. Fifteen years of tennis, and since meeting pickleball in 2026 I've tried a lot of brands. In the world of table tennis, STIGA is a great house at the level where nobody doesn't know the name. And the "hexagonal paddle" that brand has brought to pickleball is genuinely interesting. But interesting and capable are two different things. I'll give you both sides: what's good about this brand, and where, honestly, I find myself thinking it falls a little short.

STIGA Is "A Great House of Table Tennis"

STIGA is a table tennis brand born in Sweden in 1934. It's an old house established enough to call itself "the world leader since 1944" in table tennis blades and rubbers, and it has been used by top players around the world. Its credibility and track record in that field are the real thing.

Its entry into pickleball came only in the last two or three years. An outstanding great house in table tennis, but a newcomer in pickleball——that duality is the starting premise whenever you look at STIGA.

💡 Coach Yoshi's tip I found this out while researching too: the "Stiga" brand you see on lawn mowers and the like is historically connected but is a separate line today (an Italian gardening group). The one doing pickleball is the Swedish, table-tennis-derived "STIGA Sports". It's easy to mix up, so file it away as trivia.

Where It Stands: In the Market, Still on the Fringe

Let me be straight with you. In the pickleball market, STIGA is clearly a fringe player (a minor brand).

The market is led by American brands such as Selkirk, JOOLA and Paddletek, and STIGA's name barely appears in the various brand rankings and share surveys (look at the [2025 Edition] Brand Ranking and it isn't a brand that reaches the upper places). Its price band is entry to mid-level. For the company, pickleball looks positioned as a "sideline business" behind table tennis and padel.

So nobody picks STIGA for the reason that "everyone else is using it". The number one reason to choose STIGA is the shape we're about to talk about——the hexagonal Cybershape.

What It Insists On: The Invention of the Hexagonal "Cybershape"

STIGA's greatest weapon is Cybershape, its hexagonal face.

It began as table tennis technology. In 2021 a Swedish player, then still in his teens, fought his way to the final of the World Table Tennis Championships with a hexagonal blade, and the shape drew global attention. The Cybershape paddle carries that success across into pickleball. The company states that it was co-developed with KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

By deliberately turning the usual rounded outline into a hexagon, the selling point is that it widens the sweet spot and, on top of that, places it high and toward the outside. The idea is that awkward angles at the net become easier to reach. The face material is carbon, and the core is a 16mm-thick honeycomb. The formal name of this hexagonal model is "Aviox Cybershape Carbon Pro". The hexagonal Cybershape is the headline act, but STIGA also has models in traditional shapes such as AIM, AMP and ADD, so there's a proper landing spot for people who don't get on with pointed outlines. As oddball shapes go, I think the design reasoning holds together well (I cover the unusual paddles together in the complete guide to special shapes).

The face of STIGA's hexagonal paddle, the Aviox Cybershape Carbon Pro: an official image that clearly shows the Cybershape outline, which makes the sweet spot wide and sets it high

Who Will It Click With?

These are the people I think STIGA suits.

Players with a table tennis background, or anyone with trust in and affection for table tennis brands
Beginner and intermediate players who want a big sweet spot and consistent contact
People who want a paddle with a distinctive shape that nobody else has
People drawn to the brand story of Swedish design and a long-established maker

Incidentally, when this hexagon appeared it was also "the shape everyone was talking about", and it went seriously viral on social media. The table tennis Cybershape it grew out of shot to attention when a then-teenage player rode that one blade all the way to the final of a world championship, and the first shipment sold out at record speed. It's a paddle that starts conversations: "that odd shape——what's it actually like?" For anyone who hates using the same thing as everyone else, or who wants one paddle that becomes a talking point among friends, I think that counts as a perfectly good reason for it to land.

On the other hand, competitive advanced players who want to go for winners with spin and power may find it a little underwhelming. I'll write about why next.

The Weak Spots That Give Me Pause: Opinion Splits by Model

This is the most important part. Read the overseas reviews and STIGA gets rated quite differently from model to model. I won't hide the inconvenient parts.

Some models are modest on power and spin: on the control-leaning models you see comments like "I'd like a bit more power" and "the roughness of the surface doesn't do that much for spin". With heavily textured raw carbon dominating today, that can be a disadvantage in a game built on pushing with spin.
Miss the middle and it's unforgiving: while it advertises "a wide sweet spot", testers also point out that "off the sweet spot the ball doesn't carry".
Then again, some models rate highly: the Aviox Carbon Nomex, for instance, has been described as "an aggressive weapon at the net" and rates well among the power models, so you can't lump the whole brand together.
Thin backing at the top of the game: what STIGA puts its effort into is table tennis and padel players, and it has no well-known contracted pros fighting at the front line of the world game, such as the PPA Tour or MLP (there are higher-ranked players in Sweden who work with the company, but it hasn't reached the stage of proving performance through results at the top professional level). Having no flagship player quietly makes itself felt.

💡 Coach Yoshi's tip Please don't misunderstand me: this isn't a story about "bad paddles". The main models are USA Pickleball approved and can be used in official competition. It's just that they aren't the type where "every model pushes hard with one sharp strength", and opinion divides by model——that's the real picture in today's market. My own view: if the fun of the shape or the reassurance of a table tennis brand speaks to you, it's more than worth it; if you want to go for winners with spin and power, look at the others first.

Summary: My Own Conclusion

STIGA is not the type of brand that pulls the market along on performance. But the individuality of the hexagonal Cybershape, and the reassurance that only a great house of table tennis can offer, are appeal you won't find elsewhere. The way I see it, this is a paddle you use "because you like this brand and this shape" rather than one you choose on spec. For the people it suits, it really does land.

We carry genuine STIGA products at our store too (brand new, 100% authentic). I've put together how the brand came about and how the models differ on the STIGA brand page. Even if the fun of the shape is what drew you in, checking your own criteria first with The Complete Pickleball Paddle Buyer's Guide makes regret less likely. If you'd like to see it lined up alongside the other brands, head to the complete comparison of the major brands.