It`s a familiar scene before a match: players arriving at the stadium hours beforehand, not in their usual playing kits, but often dressed formally in attire provided by luxury fashion labels. These outfits are far more tailored and sophisticated than the polyester jerseys they wear on the field.
The prominence of players now rivals that of the fashion houses partnering with them for matches. This season`s UEFA Champions League saw Hugo Boss collaborate with Stuttgart and Zegna dress Real Madrid. For the final in Munich, finalists Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, representing major fashion hubs, were expected to showcase their cities` style with formal wear, likely from Dior and Canali respectively.
While formalwear and sports might seem an odd pairing, luxury fashion brands have increasingly found a place in professional sports, following the trend seen with NBA players receiving extensive coverage for their pre-game attire. Beyond individual expression, these companies are forming official partnerships with sports teams, especially in soccer. These collaborations offer mutual benefits, including significant financial gains and crucial brand visibility.
It wasn`t solely about style, but about broadening our scope, linking with a new generation of fans from diverse backgrounds, and forging vital connections to be seen as an innovative brand.
— Fabien Allegre, Paris Saint-Germain chief brand officer
Luxury Brands` New Frontier
The traditional luxury brand business model, focused on a small, wealthy clientele, presents a challenge: a limited customer base. These companies are adapting by redefining luxury and expanding their reach, including opening stores in smaller locations.
Thomai Serdari, director of the luxury and retail MBA program at New York University, explained that with capital-intensive operations, luxury brands “need to find a new area of growth.”
This is where popular sports teams and their fan bases become valuable. Sports enthusiasts are attractive customers, categorized by their attitudes (psychographics) rather than just demographics. Partnerships with major sports events and teams allow luxury brands to tap into vast audiences. Examples include Louis Vuitton creating trophy cases for events like the FIFA World Cup and NBA Finals, and past collaborations like Burberry with Son Heung-min or Gucci with Jack Grealish.
The financial benefits are reciprocal. While luxury brands gain new exposure, teams and individual athletes access new, creative revenue streams. Serdari emphasized the crucial role of athletes:
These are people who otherwise didn`t have access to this sort of expensive sponsorship or ambassadorship. It can be, for them, a totally new revenue line in certain instances and even if it`s not about revenues, It gives them the ability to express themselves and dress themselves in a way that is fun for them but also appeals to their audiences so it only allows the relationship between their own audiences and themselves their own personal brands to be stronger, to be more cohesive.
— Thomai Serdari, New York University
These formalwear partnerships aren`t necessarily designed to drive PSG fans into Dior stores or Inter supporters to buy Canali clothes as often as team kits. However, these deals play a significant role in the complex process of brand-building, an essential marketing activity across all industries.
Fashion as Part of a Broader Experience
The integration of luxury fashion and sports is a two-way street. In our globally connected era, historic sports teams are updating their brands to connect with their largest-ever audiences. PSG, for instance, has heavily focused on fashion as part of this strategy since Qatar Sports Investments took over in 2011, according to Fabien Allegre.
Allegre shared the president`s clear vision:
To make Paris Saint-Germain a global brand both on and off the pitch, and for me, the objective was to be both a successful football club and a cultural brand in its own right.
— Fabien Allegre, Paris Saint-Germain
He added that this ambition quickly materialized through unique collaborations, appearances at Paris Fashion Week, and notably, the partnership with Jordan Brand seven years ago.
PSG`s collaboration with Jordan Brand, owned by Nike and named after Michael Jordan, is arguably their most significant step into the fashion world and a prime example of seamlessly blending sportswear and style. Jordan has designed kits worn in matches and multiple athleisure collections. This partnership has made Jordan Brand and PSG almost synonymous, lending the club significant style credibility and creating a genuine connection between two seemingly disparate industries.
Allegre sees deep parallels:
Fashion and sport are about the same things: Identity, emotion and movement. When they come together in an authentic way, it creates powerful things, stories that touch people.
— Fabien Allegre, Paris Saint-Germain
He views lifestyle initiatives as a way to attract people, even those not initially football fans, perhaps through a jersey seen in a store or worn in a video game like Dota. PSG also leverages its influence to promote designers and creatives globally who share their values.
Beyond Jordan, PSG`s current formalwear partner is Dior. This collaboration emphasizes Paris`s reputation as a fashion capital and provides PSG with a different kind of exposure within the fashion industry where they`ve already established a presence.
Allegre describes the PSG-Dior partnership as embodying “a certain idea of modern refinement,” calling PSG “the sporting soul of Paris.” He notes that for the 2024-25 season, Dior designed exclusive outfits, which are “not just a suit: it`s a posture, a way of representing the club at all key moments — whether at the entrance to the stadium or on the red carpet.” He draws a parallel between the high standards of fit and detail in the clothes and the club`s pursuit of “precision and excellence” on the pitch, calling it “lifestyle in its own right.”
This innovative strategy benefits clubs like PSG, who may not have the lucrative domestic broadcast deals of some European counterparts. While any club welcomes extra revenue, the growing trend of formalwear in sports highlights a remarkable synergy between two industries previously seen as distinct. Partnerships like PSG with Dior and Inter with Canali have an authentic foundation – the brands originate from the same cities as the clubs, enhancing the overall experience, whether one is at the match or not.
Essentially, this is a modern approach for a new generation in a new era.
Serdari concludes by highlighting the shift in consumer behavior:
The new generations who have taken us away from simply product consumption to a brand and experience consumption first.
— Thomai Serdari, New York University
She notes that more people are willing to enjoy watching sports as part of an “experiential lifestyle,” making them more receptive to learning about products from specific brands. This shift, she states, was initiated by Millennials and is now strongly driven by Gen Z`s focus on experience over just the product.
Adrian Whitmore