The BackPage Weekly | Crossing Over to the Catwalk
By Nii Anteson
Medals designed by Chaumet and presented in Louis Vuitton cases,[1] and national teams dressed luxury and streetwear designers. 2024 was the year that fashion’s long dalliance with sport became a full-fledged marriage, with the Paris Olympics acting as a suitably glamorous celebration.
It’s a natural coupling. Brands know that the public idolise athletes; to whom they have never had greater access nor, arguably, had more in common with given current fitness trends. Equally, athletes are increasingly capitalising on the fact that they are constantly ‘on show’ to put on a show; NBA and WNBA players’ ‘Tunnel Fits’[2] bring glamour to otherwise mundane footage of athletes walking through the concrete innards of a stadium, and videos of the French national football team arriving at Clairefontaine are a feast for fashionista eyes.
Fashion provides athletes with an outlet for individual expression away from their uniformed profession and brands have taken note. Athletes front row at fashion shows is nothing new. Athletes centre stage on the runway, like Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga for Balenciaga at last year’s Paris Fashion Week,[3] could be the start of something. You can question whether athletes make good role models; but they unquestionably make for good fashion models.
The fashion industry has not only been interested in athletes’ brands, but in teams’ too. See for example Reiss’ x collaboration with Formula 1 racing team McLaren.
So, what of 2025? The Sheridans Sport team will be keeping a keen eye on three things:
1. How sports’ brands fashion aspirations and fashion brands’ sporting aspirations co-exist.
Sports brands have historically imposed far-reaching restrictions on the endorsed athlete or team. By the letter of these restrictions, endorsed athletes can be prohibited from, for example, wearing a luxury watch if the endorsing brand also produces smart watches or from wearing luxury brand athleisure which “competes” with the endorsing brand’s own. In practice, compromises are found, and we look forward to seeing first-hand the creative solutions parties adopt to find the right balance between effective exclusivity for sports brands and athletes’/teams’ wider ambitions.
2. The next athlete led brand.
A natural compromise in the above scenario is for endorsing brands collaborate with athletes on bespoke clothing and equipment ranges. Among the most striking of these were Adidas’ collaborations with Paul Pogba, including the famous Stella McCartney designed vegan leather boots.[4] There have also been tentative steps beyond this, with athletes launching their own brands with varying success. 2025 may well be the year in which we see one or more athletes replicate the success of the likes of Pharell Williams (now creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear, having started with his own streetwear brand and collaborated extensively with Adidas) and Rhianna (with her brand Fenty having previously been creative director at Puma).
3. The sustainability issue.
Increased regulation is almost certain to follow increasing awareness of the environmental impact of waste. We look forward to seeing how sport embraces the challenge of achieving relative sustainability in its manufacture, use and sale of clothing and equipment while being compliant with applicable regulations. The next great innovation in this space could be just as much game changer as it is planet saver.
[1] https://www.lvmh.com/en/news-lvmh/in-the-heart-of-12-place-vendome-the-emblematic-hotel
[2] https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/nba-tunnel-fits-style/
[3] https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2022/07/06/62c5cac7268e3ed55e8b457a.html
[4] https://news.adidas.com/paul-pogba/paul-pogba---adidas-by-stella-mccartney-co-create-our-first-vegan-football-boot--a-limited-edition-p/s/a8f53fd3-7924-40d2-b47d-38b013847d61