
Fashion and sports have never been tighter. But the signal threatens to get lost in the noise. The Debrief unpacks what’s working, what’s not, and why authenticity and execution matter more than hype.
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A
Hello, and welcome to the Debrief from the Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into Our most popular BoF professional stories with the correspondents who created them. I'm senior correspondent Sheena Butler Young.
B
And I'm executive editor Brian Baskin. From a Violet Hue WNBA Runway in San Francisco to NFL tie ups with Abercrombie and Fitch and a whole bunch of other brands, sports and fashion are colliding like never before. Sponsorship spend is soaring, with PwC predicting companies will spend $160 billion working with athletes, leagues, and players by 2030. But clearance racks are also filling up with collaborations that didn't quite hit the mark. Today on the debrief, Mike Sykes, our sports correspondent and author of the Kicks yous Wear newsletter, joins us to discuss what sports and fashion partnerships are actually working, which aren't, and why. Mike, welcome to the Debrief.
C
Thanks so much for having me.
B
Glad you're here. Now, this episode actually came out of a story that you and Sheena worked on together about how there are just so darn many of these sports and fashion collaborations right now. What was the tipping point that made you two realize we need to do a story about what the heck is going on here?
C
Well, I think for me, and I don't know where the tipping point was for you, Sheena, but I think when I pulled up to the Hellman's fashion house and saw NFL fashion editor Kyle Smith with the promoting, I should say a collection of Hellman's clothes, I mean, it was. Don't get me wrong, like, it's not like it was bad. It was. It was actually pretty good. But just the fact that Hellman's Mayonnaise is now a fashion house, I guess, like, that's kind of. That's a lot. That's a lot.
A
Yeah. I didn't quite make my way to the condiments section of the fashion aisle, but for me, it was. I. I wrote a story a few months ago about the WNBA team, the New York Liberty, and their, like, bevy of fashion collaborations and projects. And within that week, I think I got pitched, like, a dozen other, like, sports teams or projects at the intersection of. Of sports and fashion. And I started. Or Mike and I together started to think about, this is all great. Maybe some of it's exciting, some of it's not so exciting, but, like, who's really winning here was the question we both started to ask each other was like, who's getting paid and what does the success actually look like?
B
For me, it was definitely, I mean, that Hellman show was certainly part of it, but it was also just that the NFL, it seemed like there was a couple weeks there where every single day they announced a partnership with some fashion brand or a watch brand or, or a, or a condiment. And it just felt like something was hitting critical mass and we were really seeing the pylon that comes with any good trend. And yeah, let's dig into it, though. I mean, which of these. Many, many. We could name dozens, probably just off the top of our head. Which of these are actually working right now and why? Mike, why don't we start with you?
C
I think what the NFL is doing right now in particular with, with brands like Abercrombie and Breitling, and now they've just recently announced a partnership with Crocs. These are deals that are sort of manifesting from prior relationships that the NFL has established with these brands. So, for example, with Abercrombie, they've had a licensing deal with Abercrombie for the last few years, and that has led to Abercrombie becoming the sort of official fashion partner for the NFL. And the same goes for a brand like Breitling, where they had a licensing deal where they made team specific watches. And now Breitling is the official timekeeper for the NFL. And so, like, these are, these are deals that are coming out of these previous relationships, these previous business dealings that seem to have created a little bit of long term success. At least they're hoping for long term success anyway. I should say that the proof is still in the pudding. We still have to see what comes from some of these Abercrombie collections that they released down the line. We have to see what the partnership with Breitling looks like as far as spreading the NFL across places in Europe and opening the league up to new audiences. But from where we were to where we are right now, you can sort of see that tangible, real progress. And I think that's the benchmark right now, at least in American sports, I would say.
B
And Sheena, you've written a lot about some of the WNBA partnerships that we've seen these last couple years. And I guess my question for you is, what took so long in that case?
A
So what took so long? I think that's an interesting question. One of the things that I thought was fascinating that Jess Smith, who's the president of the Valkyries, which is the newest WNBA team, one of the things that she said was that for a long time the leagues and the teams had been getting after growing women's sports in the wrong way. Right. They were trying to get the exact audience that was watching the NBA to just transfer over to watching the wnba. And what they've learned more recently is that the WNBA has a different audience opportunity. If you want to get women in particular to be interested in the wnba and you know, basically this idea of butts and seats, they've got to actually be interested in the team players themselves. They want to know, you know, what do these women wear? What's their, you know, what's their makeup routine, what's their connection to culture? All of those things are actually way more important for women basketball fans than it would be for male fans. So I think what is driving new momentum now is that a lot of the teams and the brands understand that there's a true audience tie in now. There's a true fashion consumer opportunity around women's sports.
B
Well, let's break down what that looks like. So with the wnba, the league is doing some partnerships. Teams are doing partnerships, individual players are doing partnerships. Maybe we start with what the Valkyries are doing, which was its whole other thing. I mean, I mentioned a fashion show at the beginning, but that was, that was an actual fashion show put on by a, by a basketball team. Right.
A
So yes, it was an actual real Runway show that had it been done in September and in New York, it would have been on the CF FDA calendar. It was a full scale fashion event. They had real designers like RuPaul, kids of immigrants, Dead Dirt and a whole host of others. They set 15 pieces down the Runway. One was by an actual member of the team, their guard, Tiffany Hayes. The Runway was branded by and sponsored by Sephora. It looked like a real full scale fashion event. And that's something you don't see, like the level of sophistication around it, the level of sponsorship and brand engagement. So it was quite fascinating. They really took it up a notch. It wasn't that kind of phone it in partnership where you have like just a logo stuck somewhere on a court, but an actual Runway show. It showed that they sort of take the fashion conversation seriously, that they weren't doing a one off, that this was a part of their identity as a new team.
C
I do want to say, like the WNBA and its players are sort of like leagues ahead of of their partners in the NBA. I would say there are some like fashion forward players in the NBA. Like off the top of my head, I can think of Russell Westbrook, Shay Gilgeous, Alexander, you know, even to a certain extent, like you got like the LeBron James of the world that are like the biggest names in the sport and also have like these, these active deals with Nike and like all these other brands that they work with. But I just think the WNBA right now is sort of a breeding ground for some of these deals in part because like the players are, are so eager to find these other opportunities to sort of spread their portfolio and spread their brand in a way which I think is ultimately like a thing for the league. So then you get a player like Tiffany Hayes who, you know, coming into the W, you wouldn't really have thought of her as someone who was like that into fashion. But as the league grows and we learn more about these players, the opportunities come out and here she is, you know, doing her thing. And it's a really cool sort of scene. And I think it's just a very unique place in sports right now where like these sort of partnerships, not just between teams and brands or the league and brands, but players themselves and the brands can, can sort of manifest in these really cool and unique ways. Like what we saw with the Valkyries in August.
A
And the deals are also quite non conventional. Like, it's not just the brands like Nike and Adidas, which we used to see, you know, for the last 20 years. It's like brands like OVO or like a full on fashion or beauty maker, like a Fenty or a Maille. Like they're also different than what we saw 10 years ago, not your conventional sports brands.
B
But I think what it comes down to, like everything else, is that authenticity factor. Do you believe these players actually would use these brands or at least care enough about them to recommend them to their fans? And the ones that you name, that you both have named seem like great examples of that. Does it feel like with all the partnerships that we're hearing announced, do most of them fall in that category where you're like, yeah, that tracks. Or is it more? This is such a weird matchup.
C
Yeah, I gotta say, there are a lot of weird ones out there. A lot of weird ones out there. And I think that everyone kind of sees the opportunity that sports presents. And it's not just like fashion. There are just so many industries that are sort of like coalescing around sports because this is where people are gathering. Like, these are events where like, you talk about something like the super bowl, where Bad Bunny is going to perform in February and like Adidas is obviously going to want to be a part of that, but it won't just be Adidas. Like, it will be focused on like what Brands he's wearing? What is backup dancers wearing? If there are any backup dancers, what are the guest performers wearing that might come on stage with him? Like, there are just so many opportunities that. That sports presents because of the high profile events and the, the massive audiences that these, these large event. I think everyone just kind of wants to be a part of that moment in some way. Even if that means Hellman's mayonnaise is making, is working with Zero Waste Daniel to make a collection that comes out. And it's a little weird, but it's also a little cool. I just think everybody wants to be a part of that moment. And so I think while we've seen a lot already, I think there's still a lot more that'll be coming soon.
B
Okay, so how do you rise above the noise then? There's gonna be 20 brands dressing various aspects of Bad Bunny and his halftime show, I'm sure. How do you stand out if you're one of those brands? Or pick an easier example. You know, let's talk about tunnel walks or any, any aspect you want. How do you make this kind of thing stick? Because it's not cheap, right?
C
Yeah, no, I, I think the, the way to. To make it stick is, is like you said, is, is finding that authentic angle to take. Right? Like going back to the Valkyrie example, right? Like, I don't think the fashion show works if Tiffany Hayes is not like, really into this stuff, if she doesn't really, like, believe in it. Like, you have to work with players, you have to work with teams that really want to do things the right way. And that makes sense not just for the team, but also for the consumer that you want to sort of purchase the product. I think there are a bunch of teams out there, for example. So I went to the Washington Spirit game this weekend, and there was the brand Dead Dirt run by Dama Wells, who also participated in the Valkyrie fashion show. She did a capsule collection for the Spirit that was like, it was team gear. There were these really nice quality sweater pieces, there were jackets, all these different things, but they all sort of sung to the nation's capital and Washington, D.C. in ways that fans could authentically connect with. That also really made sense on the players. It's not just slapping a logo on something and just getting it out there. These were things that were really thought about. And she clearly took time to develop this collection. And I just think that by and large, with the. With a lot of teams, with a lot of leagues, like, we just don't really see that sort of thoughtfulness, that care coming from some of the things that they're putting out there. I put this in the story, actually, like the one that always comes to my mind is like the Chelsea and OVO collection. Like you could tell like immediately upon seeing that, it's just like, okay, this is kind of a, a logo slap type thing. And even the fans in the comments section on Instagram were like, this is not. This isn't it? But this is also kind of like a thing that I think OVO does as a label. I remember they had these NBA Finals jackets that were like, it didn't make a lot of sense. It just didn't make a lot of sense. And I don't think people were that into it. But those are the sort of things, those are sorts of collaborations that I just don't think work in this space that well.
A
I think the more of these that you see, the more obvious it's going to become. The ones that are phoning it in. Like, the story talks about this intersection being so hot, like almost hotter than its parts. Like, sports and fashion at the intersection is maybe hotter right now than fashion and sports separately. One of the things that Jess Smith talked about with the Valkyries is like bringing in top tier talent to execute on it. So she brought in this stylist, Brittany Hampton, that's done stuff with Russell Westbrook and all these different NBA players at the intersection of sports and fashion. So she's a stylist, she's a culture curator and all the other fancy names we use for people like that. But they took the collections seriously. So they take these, whatever they do as a merch opportunity or whether it's a fashion show they put on, they treat it like a real fashion product. And I think that's what brands and leagues get wrong, is like, oh, it's so hot right now. Let's just pile in and do something. Anything will do and people see through that.
B
We'll be back with more of the debrief right after this.
D
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E
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B
Let'S talk about how you actually measure the success of one of these. I mean sure there's we can judge whether it was successful on fashion grounds, but how are the brands and the teams or the players determining if this was a good idea or not? In retrospect, Mike, in your story you had this great example where you talked to Warby Parker, just partnered with a college football player, Arch Manning, famous last name obviously, but kind of an unproven talent and again, college student in a multi year deal. And they weren't saying, hey, we want this guy to sell X number of eyeglasses. Right. They had different metrics.
C
Right, exactly. So what they were focused on in their partnership with Archmanning is the following that he generates for them. So they want him to bring in. Obviously you're going to hook in the Texas fans with the Texas starting quarterback. But they're looking for younger audiences. They're looking for people who might not necessarily be thinking about a premium eyewear like Warby Parker's not the first brand that's going to come into the average college student's mind. That's just not how it goes. But Warby Parker is hoping that the partnership with Arch Manning sort of changes that and opens them up to this new audience. And they also are very focused on the scholastic element of the partnership. So I know they're having Arch do these initiatives for them that will get students out and get them actual glasses, which I think is a really cool thing. And so something like that is interesting because it's not just the cultural halo that everybody likes to talk about, and it's not necessarily the financial aspect. It's not the money that the partnerships generate, which I'm sure they want to make money. They want to sell glasses. At the end of the day, this is a company that sells glasses. But I thought it was interesting that they took a sort of wider vision on this partnership that sort of deviated from those two core tenets that everybody likes to talk about when it comes to partnerships like this one.
A
You know, it was interesting because one of the questions, the main questions we set out to answer when we did this story was around, you know, what is success? Not right? So, like, we knew probably early on that a lot of these brands, a lot of these athletes, a lot of these teams were going to say, we're going to do that marketing halo. Like, we're not looking to make millions of dollars in reven on some of these drops and some of these collabs, we knew that was going to be the case. But when it's sort of hazy, like, oh, we want to get people interested, we want to eventually have more butts and seats at games, it can be hard to tell what success is not on your side of the reporting. Did you get a sense from brands, leagues, teams, athletes, what success is not or what is failure?
C
Yeah, so one of the examples that we bring up in the story is the Veronica Beard example with the NFL. So they had this partnership where they, they produce these, these different team centric jackets. So they have these, these, these blazers that had, like, team logos on them. And I would say that honestly, like, most of that sold in some capacity. Like, if you, if you go on the site right now, there's still some, some of that product left, and it's like deeply discounted, 75 to 80% discounted, which is just not a Good look like nobody, no brand wants to see that.
B
Right?
C
Like that's something that you absolutely do not want to see. And so if we're talking about what failure looks like in this space, I would say, and maybe this is not the most generous reading of the partnership, but I would just say that flat out you have to kind of look at that as a failure. And so I asked the NFL directly about that, about that partnership and, and what they thought about the result with these jackets sitting there 75 to 80% off. And they flat out said like, look, the partnership, we still, we love Veronica Beard, we love what we produce, we love the partnership. And maybe it didn't work out the way that they wanted it to work out, but they also didn't rule out working with Veronica Beer moving forward. They just reiterated that when you go into one of these partnerships with a brand like Veronica Beer, you're kind of, while you wanted to offer automatically succeed, there are things that you, you can take away as, as far as like what you produce, how much you produce, where you produce it, and sort of who your, your core audiences are for these things when you produce them. And so that's sort of the way that the, the NFL is, is viewing that partnership in particular. But I think like, if, if we're talking about failure or what, what success doesn't look like in this space, I think we have to kind of go to, to that example. I don't want to say that it's unfair, but that's just kind of the way that things go sometimes.
B
I'll come to a mild defense of Veronica Beard on this one because one thing that worked in their favor is that they were early, they announced this partnership maybe a year ago, which is way before the huge rush into the NFL in particular. And I think they probably got like a decent marketing bump from that initial announcement. And it does seem like a lot of these jackets sold. I just think maybe there's aren't enough. Maybe they overestimated how many LA Chargers fans wanted to buy a thousand dollar jacket with that team's logo on it. But that's, you know, that's a, that's a small problem in the grand scheme of things. So I would take the NFL at their word that net. Net. This probably was a, was a mild, you know, qualified success if you look at the entire picture here.
C
Yeah, and I would also say that like the NFL in general, like the way that they think about their partnerships after talking with them for this story, I think they take a holistic view with These things like it. I don't think the league is looking at any singular partnership as a success or failure. I think the league is viewing them all as one big cohesive thing that they're trying to do. They're trying to, like, insert themselves into the fashion space. And so even if something like Veronica Beer doesn't necessarily sell through, I think there are. There are positives that they're taking away from that and they're using that to do something like what they're doing with Abercrombie right now, you know, and so ultimately, I think the league wouldn't, like, the league wouldn't categorize that as a failure. But, like, if we are looking at things through like a black and white lens and, and I guess, like you, maybe this is just me being harsh.
A
But the thing that I think is interesting from like a brand and league and team side right now is that with women's sports, a lot of this goes back to the nil deal. So, you know, up until 2021, college athletes could not monetize their name, image or likeness. And that changed that year. And so you saw, you know, college athletes like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, I mean, they were becoming brands in their own right before they ever signed a WNBA contract. And so sort of new. And I think brands and teams and leagues have to compete with that and offer them something else. So, yes, Angel Reese, you can go get your own deal with fill in the blank beauty brand or fashion brand. But what if we helped offer some of that up for you? And the, the elephant in the room here is, you know, that's especially important now because the WNBA and these players are in the middle of a very contentious negotiation around that collective bargaining agreement where these women players are asking for a larger share of the pie coming from, you know, butts that they get into seats and some of the other partnerships that happen for the league. And I think this is an, this is one to watch. The jury is out, but this is one to watch. And I think fashion deals can be a bargaining chip on both sides of that equation.
C
I also, on that point, especially in women's basketball, like, I think on the nil space, we've seen stars like angel and Caitlin come up, but there are also, like, stars in a college game right now and juju Watkins and Flaw J. Johnson and, and so many others who are, who are doing things in college that will make their brands so much bigger once they hit the. The W, like these, these women are. Are doing deals with unrivaled. They have all these different beauty deals. They have these sportswear deals, activewear deals like it. It's just a space that's kind of blowing up right now. And so I think it's just a really interesting spot for women's basketball to be in right now.
B
Although I get a little queasy, especially if we're talking about compensation, that you can't just be good at the game anymore. You have to be charismatic or attractive or both or want to do deals with brands. Not everyone wants to endorse a beauty product or a fashion brand. They just want to play basketball. And I kind of worry about the athletes who don't want to play this game. Now that is such a big part of the sports world.
C
That's a discussion for Kathy Engelbert in the wnba. I don't know I was gonna say.
A
Who doesn't want to endorse a beauty product or a fashion brand, but that's just me and my bias.
B
This episode brought to you by Road Podcast, Mics and Road Beauty. Not really. Thank you very much for joining us, Mike. This was a fascinating discussion and thank you, Sheena, also for being both host and guest today.
A
I'm not giving up my day job.
C
Thanks, Sheena. Thanks, Brian.
B
Please be sure to check out Mike and Sheena's article, sports and fashion are tighter than ever, but who's really winning@businessoffashion.com these and other stories are available to BoF Professional subscribers only and you can find the links in the episode notes. You've been listening to the debrief produced and edited by Olivia Davies and Eric Brea. I'm Brian Baskin.
A
And I'm Sheena Butler Young. We'll be back next week with a new episode. Thanks so much for joining us and be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts.
D
Fall is here and Nordstrom has the latest styles and hottest trends. Thousands of options for under $200. I'm talking about plaid outerwear, oversized sweaters that cozy western inspired pieces, prairie dresses and you know, I love a skirt. Nordstrom has free shipping and returns which is why I love them. And they have fast options like buy online pick up in store. Shopping at Nordstrom is always easy. I love that Nordstrom is always high quality and kind of guides me in what's trendiest for the season. And they have the top brands like Veronica Beard, Favorite daughter, All Saints, Coach Rag and Bone, Tory Burch. So shop now in stores and or@nordstrom.com or download the Nordstrom app.
E
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Date: October 8, 2025
Hosts: Sheena Butler-Young (BoF Senior Correspondent), Brian Baskin (BoF Executive Editor)
Guest: Mike Sykes (BoF Sports Correspondent, author of the Kicks You Wear newsletter)
This episode explores the explosion of collaborations between sports and fashion—why they’re accelerating, which partnerships work, and how brands and leagues measure success or failure. Journalist Mike Sykes joins hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to unpack the motivations and strategies behind these partnerships, ranging from the NFL and WNBA to players striking solo deals. The conversation centers on authenticity, audience targeting, and the increasingly blurry lines between sports, culture, and commerce.
Timestamps: 00:19–03:13
“Just the fact that Hellman’s Mayonnaise is now a fashion house, I guess, like, that’s kind of... That’s a lot. That’s a lot.” — Mike Sykes (01:32)
“Who’s really winning here...who’s getting paid and what does the success actually look like?” — Sheena Butler-Young (02:14)
Timestamps: 03:13–08:55
NFL’s Strategic, Long-term Partnerships
WNBA: A Different, More Integrated Approach
“What they’ve learned... is that the WNBA has a different audience opportunity...they want to know, what do these women wear? What’s their makeup routine? What’s their connection to culture?” — Sheena Butler-Young (04:50)
“Had it been done in September and in New York, it would have been on the CFDA calendar. It was a full-scale fashion event.” — Sheena Butler-Young (06:13)
Non-traditional Collaborations
Timestamps: 08:55–14:37
“You have to work with players, you have to work with teams that really want to do things the right way. And that makes sense...for the consumer.” — Mike Sykes (11:32)
“You could tell immediately upon seeing that, it’s just like, okay, this is kind of a logo slap type thing.” — Mike Sykes (13:12)
Timestamps: 17:10–24:07
Metrics are shifting: It’s not always about direct sales.
“They weren’t saying, hey, we want this guy to sell X number of eyeglasses... They took a sort of wider vision on this partnership.” — Mike Sykes (18:05)
Brands/teams look for:
Failures still happen:
“Honestly, most of that sold in some capacity...but it’s like deeply discounted, 75 to 80% discounted, which is just not a good look. Like nobody, no brand wants to see that.” — Mike Sykes (20:17)
Timestamps: 24:07–26:35
“Fashion deals can be a bargaining chip on both sides of that equation.” — Sheena Butler-Young (25:09)
“You can’t just be good at the game anymore. You have to be charismatic or attractive or both or want to do deals with brands.” — Brian Baskin (26:08)
| Timestamp | Topic | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------| | 00:19–03:13 | Why the current boom in sports-fashion partnerships? | | 03:13–08:55 | NFL’s and WNBA’s collaboration strategies | | 08:55–14:37 | Authenticity versus forced partnerships; standouts | | 17:10–24:07 | Measuring success and failure, shifting metrics | | 24:07–26:35 | NIL, women’s sports, and personal brand evolution | | 26:35–end | The challenge of modern athlete branding |
This episode demystifies the landscape of sports and fashion partnerships, highlighting that meaningful, successful collaborations hinge on authenticity, thoughtful alignment with athletes/teams, and a willingness to redefine success beyond mere sales. The conversation captures how both industries are evolving, increasingly intertwined with culture and identity, and what’s at stake for brands, leagues, and athletes in this new era.
For the full article, check out "Sports and fashion are tighter than ever, but who’s really winning?" at businessoffashion.com (available to BoF Professional subscribers).