Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The Business of Fashion
Sports

How Fashion Can Nail the Tricky Details of Sports Partnerships

As fashion’s interest in sports grows, brands are getting a crash course in the complicated world of sports sponsorships.
Fashion is increasingly interested in working with athletes.
Fashion is increasingly interested in working with athletes. (BoF Studio)
By
BoF PROFESSIONAL

In May, Gucci released a campaign with the 22-year-old Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner featuring a Gucci-logoed bag on his shoulder, waving to an imagined audience. Four words splayed across the photograph, which was a nod to him becoming the first competitor to carry a non-white bag onto the court at Wimbledon last year: “Gucci is a feeling.”

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading

Inside Fashion’s Biggest Olympics Ever

Long the marketing domain of sportswear giants, the 2024 Olympic games in Paris are seeing an influx of fashion advertisers who are getting creative in how they capitalise on one of the few remaining events with massive global impact.

Laneige Partners with WNBA Team Phoenix Mercury

The K-beauty brand’s first venture into sports will launch at the WNBA All-Star Weekend later this month, amid a flurry of interest from fashion and beauty brands in women’s basketball.

About the author
Joan Kennedy
Joan Kennedy

Joan Kennedy is Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in New York and covers beauty and marketing.

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Sports
How the collision of sports and fashion is creating new opportunities in both industries.

Why Adidas Is Suing a Sneaker Leaker

The activewear giant’s legal action against the popular sneaker news site Sole Retriever exposes hidden fault lines in the industry's relationship with the media that covers it.

Adidas’ Power Play Against Leakers

Adidas filed one of the strangest lawsuits that you’ll see in sneakers. It could have implications for how consumers get their information moving forward.

view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.

The Zara-Fication of John Galliano

Fashion’s enfant terrible is trading exclusivity for the mass market. Is it the ultimate fashion coup, or the final surrender of prestige?

The Impact of War on Fashion’s Supply Chain

Textile hubs are already feeling the cascading risks of the conflict in Iran as Washington ramps up forced labour probes to revive tariffs, while decarbonisation in fashion’s factories might finally have a standard to go off of.

VIEW MORE

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON
© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Accessibility Statement.