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It’s a summer of sports, and no one’s rising faster on the fashion agenda than WNBA players. From high-profile events like the WNBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix (which saw a record-breaking 3.44 million viewers), to the players’ high-fashion tunnel walks and Team USA’s arrival at the Paris Olympics, players are showing up in style — and brands from Prada to Balmain are paying close attention.
Behind the league’s biggest fashion moments are a crop of stylists who, despite having long careers in the sports space, have found themselves in new roles as the facilitators of luxury brand deals. Whereas interest has lacked in the past, leaving most players to dress themselves for big events, brands have now come calling.
“It’s really interesting to see how brands want to tap in, starting with a little bit of seeding. Then they want to see what that looks like, and what the girls will do with the product,” says Victoria Jacobi, a basketball branding specialist and stylist, who has long worked with both the NBA and the WNBA; she’s been driving the growth of high-profile players’ personal brands and connecting them with fashion houses for big moments. Jacobi adds that interest from brands is increasing following the draft for the 2024 game season in April. PR agencies are now approaching her on a regular basis, often with no expectations for an immediate formal collaboration. “They care about their product being in these girls’ hands. There’s no deliverables, there are no special asks,” she says.
Several WNBA athletes have entered the luxury sphere this year after long going overlooked. Take Cameron Brink, for instance: as she was drafted to the Los Angeles Sparks in spring, the Stanford graduate wore a two-tone Balmain gown styled by Mary Gonsalves Kinney, who began working with Brink while she was still playing at collegiate level. “She didn’t have the sort of name recognition she clearly has now,” Kinney says, explaining that in the early days of their partnership, Brink did not consider her potential in the world of fashion.
Initially, getting brands to work with Brink took persuasion while leveraging the contacts Kinney had acquired across her career. “[PRs] don’t always get it. And they’ll say no,” she tells Vogue Business. Therefore, for the 2022 ESPY Awards, Brink purchased her own Saint Laurent gown. “If you start wearing luxury, you set the bar really high,” says Kinney. “When you do become a household name, these brands are going to be jumping to dress you because they see how well you wear their clothing.” As Brink’s talent on the court brought her fame, brands were more willing to dress her for the draft, where she was certain to secure a spot. “We had probably 10 different luxury designers in the wings.”
Authentic relationships are key to successfully integrating fashion in the WNBA, believes Jacobi. “It’s not about just putting people in clothes,” she says, going on to explain that luxury houses can look down upon purely transactional connections. “They care about the individuality, they care about perception, and they care about how the talent treats the brand.” In her opinion, the relationship between brand and athlete can also be influenced by the player’s social media engagement. “When you send in a name to a brand, and they see a following, that’s the first thing they notice,” Jacobi says. While numbers are important to some brands, others may prefer a less well-known figure to avoid oversaturation. “You always want to make sure to either be the athlete’s first or be the only thing that they’re doing in that space.”
Veteran basketball stylist Courtney Mays has worked with four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart for several years. “Being [Bird’s] stylist through her last season in the WNBA — and knowing that she is probably one of the greatest of all time in her field — is monumental,” says Mays, who explains that her wider role as a stylist is to help identify athletes for business opportunities within the fashion industry. “I’m not just getting your look; I’m building relationships with brands and encouraging the idea of athletes as marketable people for other companies.”
While brands are flocking to the WNBA’s freshest faces (with quicker-growing fan bases), for others, the relationship has taken off at a slower pace. Even with two of the game’s biggest names under her wing, Mays can struggle to secure luxury looks. “People are not throwing clothes at me at all,” she says. “I have to almost prove myself by the types of brands I can bring to a client.”
Sports have become central to luxury fashion in 2024, including a Dior capsule collection designed by seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and a host of limited-edition Olympics-themed offerings. Mays says the growing popularity of the athletes and “the reason why sports work so well as a marketing tool is because of the diversity of people and their relatability”. Nonetheless, she believes fashion has a long way to go to truly embrace the WNBA. “The fashion world is still a little bit apprehensive because they don’t understand sports. The only way we’re going to collectively bridge the gap between fashion and sports is if we acknowledge that there’s a gap to begin with so together we can help close it.”
Jacobi agrees: “It’s an open space. It’s new for these girls.” She also highlights the importance of stylists in changing the possibilities. “I respect stylists who know the game. I’m not talking about basketball. I’m talking about historians of the game of fashion,” she says, adding that “there has to be a conversation of growing each player’s personal style for things to be cohesive and to have an aesthetic.” Kinney, who admits she knows little of sports, says, “I think it’s better I’m not thinking about [basketball]. I’m thinking what do they look best in? And how can we have an impact?”
Certainly, many brands are invested in understanding the league and their position within it, much like stylists. As Jacobi recalls, “These brands will sometimes call me saying, ‘We want three WNBA girls, but we don’t really know who. What makes sense for our brand?’”
Inking deals
New Balance, who signed a ‘Name, Image and Likeness’ (NIL) deal with Brink in July, is among the latest brands to jump into the league alongside Glossier and Skims. “Brands being really serious about partnerships is important,” says Mays, adding that she feels there is still a way to go for fashion-aligned campaigns to represent the diversity of the league. “The [WNBA] comprises many different types of women, many of which are queer women, queer Black women, and also women that present a little bit more masculine. I find it somewhat disheartening that we are missing that representation stylistically.” Brands choosing to work directly with experienced stylists involved in the league would help them to, “truly understand what representing these athletes authentically actually means,” says Mays.
The future of the WNBA — and its burgeoning style — is bright. Sports apparel and merch brand Fanatics has reported a 1000 per cent surge in merchandise sales, and with rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese topping these figures, the next draft class has a tough act to follow. Jacobi has styled Olympic 3x3 basketball bronze medalist Hailey Van Lith most recently at the WNBA All-Star Weekend, saying that what she wears “is always something that she absolutely loves and she feels comfortable in”, adding that, “I’m never just gonna tell her to suck it up and wear it.”
Alongside Van Lith, a favourite to declare in the 2025 draft class is UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who has already cemented herself as one to watch style-wise. “Hailey and I do the preppy-chic thing,” Jacobi explains, saying of Bueckers that, “She does the elevated sporty chic really well. I think they’re very, very different.” It is the contrast in their personal styles that Jacobi finds exciting, particularly if Van Lith declares as expected. “It’ll be very special, and I can’t wait to have her in something that’s very unique to her because it’s always a collaboration with us.”
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