Twenty years after Ralph Lauren became the first official apparel sponsor and outfitter of the US Open, America’s Grand Slam has become one of the most important fashion moments of the year, with athletes donning labels on the court that are so unexpected, they challenge our idea of what sportswear is and can be. But what’s clear after this year’s US Open: there’s no fashion house off limits for tennis stars.
Boosted by a rise in tennis popularity and its convenient scheduling in the weeks leading up to New York Fashion Week, this year’s event has seen a flood of fashion brand involvement across categories and price points. While all four Grand Slams are now seen as key marketing opportunities for the fashion industry, experts say the US Open’s less traditional roots make it particularly appealing to brands.
“Wimbledon and Roland Garros tend to follow a more heritage-led playbook, whereas the US Open has more freedom and often acts as the platform for more experimental collaborations where brands can innovate tennis style away from its legacy of country club aesthetics,” said Victoria Buchanan, the co-founder and insight director of sport research and strategy studio Non Sweat.
This presents opportunities for both mainstay brands and newcomers. Adidas replaced its typically basic, solid-colour kits with an edgier collection from its Yohji Yamamoto-led sub-brand Y-3, featuring shirts and shorts with Japanese-inspired ink prints designed to look like fossilised amber. The stylist Ronald Burton put his client, Venus Williams, who returned to the US Open for the first time since 2023, in a series of different looks from decidedly unsporty brands like Khaite, Pucci, and 3.1 Phillip Lim. Even Nike, which has faced criticism for its uninspired kits in recent years, still went all out for Naomi Osaka with custom day and night kits — bubble-hemmed dresses in red and purple with matching sparkly zip-up jackets.
“The US Open has expanded fashion’s connection to tennis into a broad cultural platform, turning the courtside into a runway, incorporating timed releases, extensive hospitality, and daily viral moments,” added luxury and sportswear analyst Marcel Melzig.
In 2024, the event set multiple records when it surpassed one million attendees for the first time and engaged 2.3 billion people via social media, a 39 percent increase from the year prior. Underscoring its cultural pull, it also hosted a record 500-plus celebrities and VIPs on its “blue carpet”. As consumer interest in the sport has peaked, so has the fashion industry’s.
“The rise in the popularity of the game has been amazing to watch,” said David Lauren, the chief branding and innovation officer at Ralph Lauren. “As the fan base has exponentially grown, it has really given us the opportunity to authentically engage with a much broader consumer base, across generations and around the world through a shared passion.”
This year’s Open has seen a mix of high-fashion tennis stalwarts going all out, smaller brands taking advantage of the event’s buzz to reach new consumers via pop-ups and viral moments, and athletic wear brands giving their usually basic kits a more fashion-forward edge.
On the legacy front, Ralph Lauren is dressing 215 on-court officials, including chair umpires, line umpires, and 400 ball crew members; selling its commemorative US Open collection of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children at the tournament site (which is also equipped with a full merch customisation station) as well as in stores and online; and dressing celebrities and buzzy influencers like Matt Bomer, Tinx, and Pierce Abernathy who visit its Ralph Lauren suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Lacoste, which has been the official sponsor of Roland Garros since 1971, rolled out its biggest marketing push at the Open yet in an effort to strengthen its market share with American consumers, according to a source familiar with its strategy. The brand opened its “Icons of Play” pop-up at the new Printemps New York department store, offering on-site product customisation for select clothing, accessories, and leather goods. It also debuted a five-piece capsule collection in honour of its ambassador, Novak Djokovic, called “From the Crocodile to the Goat”, celebrating the tennis star’s historic career by replacing the brand’s iconic crocodile patch with a goat on items such as T-shirts and hats. The launch kicked off with a meet and greet with Djokovic the week before the US Open at Lacoste’s 5th Avenue flagship.
Tiffany Co., which creates the coveted tournament trophies, has a pop-up on the US Open grounds for the third year in a row. The space displays the men’s and women’s trophies as well as a one-of-a-kind diamond and gold tennis racket. To make the experience more immersive, it partnered with Meta AI on a screen that visitors can step in front of to view themselves as tennis stars on center court. The jewellery brand also debuted a new partnership with world No. 9 Amanda Anisimova, who modeled pieces from Tiffany’s HardWear Collection for an Instagram photo shoot and visited their NYC flagship for a tour.
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In the stands, you’ll also find brands like Thom Browne and Miu Miu dressing influential WAGs like Morgan Riddle, Paige Lorenze, and Ayan Broomfield, whose outfits have become a key sideshow to the main event.
“This strategic alignment translates into significant earned media, enhanced clienteling, and strong sell-through rates,” said Melzig.
For newer fashion brands in the tennis space, the tournament is a golden opportunity to build brand awareness among tennis and fashion fans alike.
The tenniswear brand Spence — which launched in March and is online only — is popping up at Printemps’s Play Room through 17 September to give people the opportunity to discover the brand and quality of its pieces in person. Alongside some of their best-selling items, they’ve debuted pieces from their newest collection as well as three custom pieces just for the store, including an indigo tie-dyed version of their pocket tee and a Japanese indigo ripstop short that’s an homage to Andre Agassi’s famed denim shorts.
“We’re new on the scene, so a big part of our mission is simply to get people to discover us and know we are here,” said Spence founder Amanda Greeley. That the tournament rolls right into fashion week is a nice bonus, she said. “There are just so many people in town this time of year, and the worlds of sport and fashion overlap so much.”
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In a similar play for growth, the indie tennis-inspired brand Palmes partnered with the ATP Tour to launch a limited-edition capsule collection of tennis apparel and accessories in the week before the US Open, selling the items on its website, at Palmes’s Copenhagen flagship, and at a pop-up at Gem Home in NYC. In a press release, the Palmes founder Nikolaj Hansson called the opportunity to partner with the organisation on such a big stage “a dream come true.”
Why this tournament over the rest? The prime-time visibility of the US Open and attention it receives is unlike any other, said Melzig, making a larger fashion investment pay off.
“The US Open sort of feels like the grand finale of tennis season,” added Greeley, of Spence. “That it’s in New York and flows into Fashion Week — the energy here this time of year is tough to top.”
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Men s tennis is ready to turn its athletes into fashion stars
