Sports Are the New Fashion Platform

Sports are bigger than ever, especially in the world of fashion. The Olympics—for the first time sponsored by LVMH—are dominating airwaves, TikTok videos, and conversations at dinner parties. The entire Challengers film and Zendaya’s accompanying red carpet press tour looks were inspired by tennis. Designers like Prada are dressing rookies such as recently signed WNBA player Caitlin Clark. Sports superstars including Lewis Hamilton are inking guest designer deals with the likes of Dior. Gucci is designing products in collaboration with Jannik Sinner, the tennis star recently named the number one player in the world.

It’s worth mentioning that fashion and sports have a long history. Just look at brands like Rolex, TAG Heuer, and Ralph Lauren, which have long-standing sponsorships in the sporting world that go back over many decades and even over a century in the case of the watchmakers. Or Nike, a brand that fundamentally changed the influence of athletes with endorsement deals after partnering with Michael Jordan on the Air Jordan sneakers. Now, though, the growing influence of sports in fashion is undeniable as the two worlds are colliding more than ever. Ahead, more on the tradition of sports and fashion and how sports are the new fashion platform.

Heritage and History

Rolex has been a pioneer in sports sponsorship since the brand’s earliest days in the 20th century. Today, the Swiss watchmaker supports the highest level of sporting events, including tennis, motorsport, equestrianism, golf, skiing, and yachting. The iconic green-and-yellow Rolex logo acts as a backdrop against the tracks in Formula One, and Datejust clocks tick outside the courts of Roland-Garros. Champions including Carlos Alcaraz and Roger Federer are pictured accepting trophies with Rolex timepieces on their wrists. The brand feels inextricably linked to the world of elite sports.

Ralph Lauren has also been a longtime trailblazer in the sporting world. The Polo Ralph Lauren brand itself is named after the designer’s interest in sports, specifically for the equestrian game of polo. The brand has a long-standing sponsorship for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and has been outfitting Team USA at the Olympic and Paralympic Games since 2008 including this year’s games in Paris. “Ralph Lauren is profoundly honored to define the look of the American delegation as they represent our country in one of the world’s most celebrated and storied events,” shares David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer of Ralph Lauren Corporation. “For nearly 60 years, Ralph Lauren has been a pioneer at the intersection of style and sport—the vibrancy, passion, and self-expression in sport has been a central touchpoint of inspiration for our brand since the very beginning of the iconic Polo brand in 1967. This summer, Paris is the backdrop where fashion and sport will collide on the world’s stage with a global audience and that is an incredibly exciting proposition.” Celebrities such as Sienna Miller have been dressed in head-to-toe Ralph Lauren for Wimbledon, while superstar athletes like Lebron James wear custom pieces for the Olympics, representing the best in American sporting.

TAG Heuer is another brand with a long history in the sporting world. “As a brand, we’re more than 160 years old, but pretty much from the beginning of the company, precision timekeeping was at the heart of what we were doing in the chronograph as a complication,” Nicholas Biebuyck, heritage director of TAG Heuer, shares with Who What Wear. “We were born in the beginning of the automobile, aviation—everything happening at the turn of the 20th century. We were right there as a rhythm was happening,” he continues, speaking to TAG Heuer’s historic involvement in the worlds of motorsports, aviation, and sailing. The brand continues to emphasize that today with its collection of Formula One watches, as the official timekeeper and scorer for the Indy 500, and in the world of cutting-edge sailing at the Regatta di Primavera.