How Sports and Fashion Became Inseparable – and What’s Next?

Left to right: Marlou van Rhijn, Maru Asmellash, Akaar Amin, Emma Santangelo, Maria Kivimaa.

From 1930’s preppy tennis gear and the heavily memeified athleisure trend to footballers flooding to Paris Fashion Week and NBA stylists becoming stars on their own right, the worlds of sports and fashion have always flirted with each other. Today, they are inseparable. 

TBWA\NEBOKO hosted a panel at Soho House Amsterdam to explore this ongoing culture shift – and asked: if pitches have become catwalks…what does this mean for brands? On the panel were Akaar Amin (founder Lack of Guidance), Maru Asmellash (founder The New Originals), Emma Santangelo (Strategy Director Highsnobiety) & Marlou van Rhijn (ex Paralympian), hosted by Maria Kivimaa (global strategy director TBWA\NEBOKO). Here are three takeouts for brands at the intersection of sports and culture:

You’re probably late to the game

Sports and fashion have always gone hand in hand. Why it feels like a 'new' trend is because of the mass influx of high-end brands into this space. So, it’s not surprising if there’s a whiff of inauthenticity, and some backlash resistance from athletes themselves. Football used to have a lower-class reputation, only embraced by brands such as McDonald’s. Now, luxury brands have realised its entertainment value and entered stadiums – possibly soon buying teams. And while many players feel right at home donning Burberrys and Monclers – a backlash is brewing. Take the Dutch skate team who demanded to wear TNO instead of official sponsor Fila at the last Olympic games, or Hector Bellerin getting Arsenal to wear suits designed by him and FourTwoFour Fairfax, instead of a soulless luxury brand. These examples should ring alarm bells at any HQ that isn’t genuinely in love with the game.

🡪 Only enter this space if you have something meaningful to add. Respect the sport, its culture, and its fans. Don’t just chuck your brand name and money into it. 

Women’s sports

Bar the queen herself, Serena Williams, most female athletes endanger their hard-earned and still-frail athletic credibility, should they express any other side themselves than that athletic credibility. Whereas male athletes have turned tunnels into catwalks and the more epic fits they wear, the more praising headlines (or, memes) they generate. Performance clothing equality is only now starting to catch up – but still seriously lagging – one the most interesting thing that’s happened for female performance clothing in recent years is that we finally have period-safe pants. 

In addition to the riskiness of self-expression, women’s sports are still underfunded on every single level, partly because most brands are still wooed by the sheer number of eyeballs men’s sports enjoy – and without more money, it’s hard to rise to the level that would attract those eyeballs. And without the eyeballs… you get the gist. 

🡪The right time to jump in and invest in women’s sports was yesterday. Dream up fantastic collaborations (no, an IG post announcing your support to women’s football team isn’t cutting it). If you jump on the women’s bandwagon any later, you’ll be late to the game. See point one.

Athletes and clubs are brands!

From PSG to Megan Rapinoe, an increasing number of clubs and athletes are brands on their own right. And still, many brands treat them as channels or platforms to broadcast their own brand values – or worse, slap your logo on them and hope for the best. Sports is increasingly more creative, too – approach based on collaboration instead of ‘sponsorship’ is likely to yield much more interesting and strong associations for your brand. And while the fan community of an athlete or club is catnip for any brand, you can’t buy the community. Instead, buy into the community and bring them along to the journey.

🡪 Treat athletes and clubs as brands in their own right – brands that have more creativity than you might think and that come with a genuinely passionate community, instead of just a following.