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From the NBA to the Premier League, many sporting seasons conclude as spring sets in. This year, rather than head on a summer vacation, several players hung up their shirts and flew to Milan and Paris to attend the Spring/Summer 2024 men’s fashion weeks.
At Louis Vuitton, rubbing shoulders with the fashion glitterati were NBA stars (LeBron James and Russell Westbrook), racing drivers (Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly) and footballers (Marcus Rashford, Jude Bellingham and Jules Kounde). Tennis player Reilly Opelka turned up at Prada. Footballer Samuel Umtiti arrived at Ami. NBA players also appeared at Dolce Gabbana (Patty Mills) and Valentino (Jaren Jackson Jr). Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez attended Dolce Gabbana, while British boxer Joe Russell walked the runway at Dsquared2.
As the battle for attention during fashion week continues, brands are vying for a unique foothold and broader reach by associating with sports as well as K-pop stars and actors, says Lea Mao, head of marketing at social listening site Lefty. They have lower reach and engagement than traditional influencers, but it’s an opportunity to tap into legions of global sports fans — and there’s further potential to be harnessed, experts agree, as athletes get used to creating fashion show content.
“The way sports stars are publicised [now] — between Netflix shows and their own social media — they have become heroes of pop culture,” says Pascal Monfort, founder and president of trends marketing consultancy REC. “Also, the new generation of designers are keen to have their sports star friends at their shows. Think of Dior’s Kim Jones with Russell Westbrook [the NBA star has been attending Jones’s shows for years].”
There was a “huge uptick” in sports stars on the front row for SS24, says Mao. Athletes were on the guest lists of 44 fashion houses this season, including Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, Valentino, Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons and Ziggy Chen, Lefty analysis shows. They represented 7.8 per cent of talent (up from 0.03 per cent last season), versus influencers (20.5 per cent), musicians (17.7 per cent), press (16.5 per cent) and actors (10.5 per cent). Hamilton was the highest ranking sports star in terms of EMV, generating $1.7 million after attending Pharrell Williams’s debut at Louis Vuitton and the Rick Owens show.
The benefits for brands
Tapping influential athletes can help brands to broaden their reach and differentiate from their peers, rather than competing for the same music and film stars. The anonymous Instagrammer behind fashion meme account Couturfu notes that there’s fierce competition among brands to secure celebrities in the entertainment sphere. As a result, pop culture’s frontier has “shifted, embracing uncharted territories such as sports and lifestyle”.
“As a brand today, you want to hit all types of talent,” says Carl Marshall, senior PR director, fashion and head of talent services at global PR and strategy firm Karla Otto, which coordinated shows for Luisaviaroma, Valentino, Zegna, Givenchy and Ami this seasons. “K-pop leads the way and will get you traffic and will really support your socials. Western actors, while sometimes their numbers aren’t really that high, will get editorial pages on GQ.com, Vogue.com, street style, etc. So, it’s finding that balance between engagement, reach, popularity and general ROI.”
REC’s Monfort adds that athletes’ performances are easily demonstrated to luxury’s top executives. For instance, new Louis Vuitton ambassador Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest world number one in tennis history. Athletes are often admired by luxury leaders; they share similar values such as discipline and performance, notes Monfort. “Sports is about resilience, passion and being true to yourself. If you are an athlete, you have to give so much, you have to be so passionate that it means to have found purpose, a meaning. Brands need those values too,” says Maya Gabeira, a big wave surfer who collaborates with Prada on its programme with Unesco for ocean literacy.
And, as sports stars from basketball, football, tennis and Formula One have gained popularity beyond the game over the last two years, brands are understanding their power to sell clothes.
Sports stars tend to have enormous relevance globally and wider reach than fashion audiences alone, which can increase brand awareness on a more global scale, says Anna Ross, global head of insights and trend at Karla Otto. Boxer Álvarez, for example, is a renowned personality in South America, which is an important target market for Dolce Gabbana, the brand says.
Certain sports like basketball or American football can help reach new US consumers, adds Ross. “Namely NBA players, whose ties with fashion ambassadorships and branded moments such as tunnel-dressing run deep,” she says. The NBA tunnel walk has become a fashion moment in its own right, after hugely lucrative tie-ins from sports brands like Nike and Michael Jordan showed fashion labels the potential of basketball talent to shift product.
Footballer Rashford’s philanthropic efforts to secure school meals for children during the pandemic led to a collaboration with Burberry in 2021. Formula One star Hamilton has worked with Tommy Hilfiger on several projects, from the Spring 2020 Tommy Now show to a recent campaign for the Tommy X Mercedes-AMG F1 X Awake NY collection. Startups like The Edit LDN are targeting an American audience by collaborating with teams like the New York Giants (NFL) or the Chicago Bulls (NBA).
Brands are targeting niche sports too, to reach new communities outside of fashion. Alongside tennis player Opelka and racing pilot Dario Costa, Prada’s front row featured watersports champion Nikolas Plytas. In Paris, Loewe invited surfing champion Mason Hyce Barnes. With new Netflix show Tour de France: Unchained airing this month, REC’s Monfort predicts that cyclists in the competition may gain much wider attention — similar to the impact of another Netflix show, Formula One: Drive to Survive.
Harnessing potential
While they had a stronger presence at the men’s shows this season, sports stars still have a much lower impact than other influencers. That means there’s room for growth.
Sports stars in Milan drove much lower EMV than other talents on the front row, like actors, musicians or traditional fashion influencers. “This is in part because only 25 per cent of the sports stars present at MFW shared their posts on social media, suggesting a significant opportunity for brands to incentivise athletes to share on social media and increase the frequency of their posts,” Mao says. While other talents are used to frequent posting as part of their jobs, sports talents are often less focused on aspirational social media content, experts agree.
None of the sports stars at Milan Fashion Week were in the top 10 influencers by EMV. K-pop band Enhypen, the top driver across MFW men’s, drove $8.2 million EMV at the Prada men’s show. By comparison, boxer Álvarez drove just $326,000 for Dolce Gabbana. In Paris, only 50 per cent of the athletes present posted about the shows on their Instagram feed, per Lefty. Korean stars Cha Eun-Woo, Jimin and Taeyong led the Lefty ranking, totalling 18.7 million EMV.)
For the athletes, fashion brings a new way to boost their image and strengthen relationships with fashion houses, which for some could lead to future collaborations.
NBA basketball player Serge Ibaka attended the Luisaviaroma x British Vogue show in Florence and the Kenzo and Amiri shows in Paris. “I have been attending shows for 10 years. In the beginning it was just Russell Westbrook and me. This season it’s amazing to see how many athletes we were. Athletes have understood that it’s good for their personal image and even teams post their players’ outfits. The NBA has great marketing savvy and knows how to push that.”
For some sports stars, it simply opens up a world beyond sports. NFL player Efe Obada attended the Hermès show last week, his first ever runway show. “I wear helmets. People don t usually see my face. And the only time I am able to express my personality in terms of what I wear is when walking up to the stadium,” he said after the show.
NFL player Stefon Diggs has been busy since the American football season concluded in January, starting with the Met Gala in May and then Paris men’s fashion week (he attended Louis Vuitton, Loewe, Rick Owens, Kiko Kostadinov). Next week, he will attend couture for the first time, planning to see the Balenciaga and Jean Paul Gaultier shows. “I am looking forward to [couture]. It is a dream of mine,” he said over the phone from the US, between trips to Paris.
With the Paris Olympics taking place 26 July to 11 August 2024, just a month after Paris men’s week (18-23 June), we can expect the ties between fashion and sports to reach new heights. “For sure we’ll discover new sports faces and talents,” REC’s Monfort enthuses.
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