FASHI GO Women’s sports are more popular than ever. If luxury fashion brands want to score with this growing fan base, they need to get in the game and sponsor women’s teams.
By Bo Rubinstein Illustrations by Angelica Koutsoubis
Nearly 4.5 million people tuned in to watch the U.S. women’s national soccer team play in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in August. Although the games took place in Australia — meaning a 3 a.m. kickoff for fans watching stateside — the games set a viewership record for the team. But the team wasn’t the only beneficiary from World Cup fan engagement. Los Angeles loungewear brand Samii Ryan also came out a winner. It partnered with the team on a limited-edition capsule collection, releasing a satin tracksuit, a T-shirt, a body suit and a bucket hat the month before kickoff. The collaboration earned the brand national press coverage and sales, with the collab’s T-shirt quickly selling out. Mejuri, a Toronto-based jewelry brand, also collaborated with the U.S. women’s national team before the big game. In July, the brand released a special edition necklace with a hexagonal pendant inspired by a soccer ball. It sold out by the end of the month. Of course, the merger of fashion brands and sports teams is nothing new, and it’s certainly not exclusive to any type of team or genre of game.
The Chinese women’s national team also got chic suits, theirs coming courtesy of the legendary Italian fashion house Prada. Chinese players rocked “a black Prada blazer and matching dress pants, a crisp button-down shirt and sleek loafers,” according to a Women’s Wear Daily article about the deal. While the connection between professional women’s sports teams and fashion brands in general is just getting warmed up, deals with fashion brands that specifically cater to a luxury clientele have a particular potential for success. Audience engagement is setting new records every season, resulting in skyrocketing awareness of sponsor brands. Even better, many fans of women’s sports are not only aware of the brands, they want to buy them because they’re both affluent and willing to spend.
“INVESTMENT IN WOMEN’S SPORTS CAN BE THE BEST DOLLAR SPENT IN SPORTS TODAY.” Women’s sports have never been more relevant
“We are living in the most fashionable time of sports,” says Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion. Jackson writes about the importance of fashion for athletes, specifically those in the NBA, but the fashion-team connection actually dates back to the 1948 Olympics. That year, a hurdler named Ottavio Missoni — yes, that Missoni —designed a ribbed knitted wool tracksuit for his teammates. Today, the list of luxury labels that have dressed sports teams includes Ralph Lauren for the US Olympic teams and Thom Browne for FC Barcelona men’s soccer team. Dior and Fendi dress European men’s soccer teams as well (Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and A.S. Roma, respectively). Sports brands like Nike and Adidas are major sponsors of women’s sports, but it wasn’t until recently that women’s teams began to get their moments with marquee fashion labels. The 2023 Women’s World Cup marked the first time that multiple luxury fashion brands worked with teams. London-based luxury fashion designer Martine Rose partnered with Nike to get into the game, creating custom suits that the U.S. women’s national team wore as they arrived at the stadium. Rose designed navy blue suits for the team featuring the national team crest and the players’ initials. She finished the look with yellow-tinted visor-style sunglasses
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and vibrant ombre sneakers. Rose also sold items from the collection to the general public, and when they hit Rose’s website and high-end retailers like Ssense and Dover Street Market, sell-throughs were instant. The swiftness of sales was a surprise to Rose, she told Business of Fashion at the time, but she said she understands the hype: “You are now seeing women’s football at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist.”
than they are today. Female athletes are gaining more television exposure, and an increasing number of fans are tuning into women’s athletic events — even choosing them over similar men’s games. For example, 3.4 million people watched Coco Gauff, the 19-year-old tennis star, win the 2023 U.S. Open women’s final, whereas viewership for the men’s final only reached 2.3 million, according to Nielsen Data. The WNBA also announced that its 2023 season was its most-watched season in 21 years, with viewership up over 20% across ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2. That could be good news for luxury fashion brands affiliating with women’s teams, says Ryan Kota, a sports management professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “If you are up on the podium sporting Prada, then people will think to be fast, you have to wear Prada.” These benefits aren’t limited to the times these athletes are actively competing. Fashion brands continue getting an assist even after the game, thanks to social media.