The big business of sports jerseys in fashion

From Taylor Swift wearing Kansas City Chiefs merch in honor of her NFL player boyfriend Travis Kelce to celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and Julia Fox sporting jerseys from their favorite teams, it’s clear that a sports jersey has become an acceptable part of any fashionista’s wardrobe.

It’s the latest crossover between the increasingly interlinked sports and fashion worlds, following brand sponsorships of women’s athletes in the WNBA and the brands working with entire leagues, like Rhone’s collaborations with the LPGA.

At Sotheby’s earlier this month, the storied auction house released its first-ever collection of game-worn NBA jerseys. From May to September, Sotheby’s will drop 75 jerseys every two weeks as part of its ongoing partnership with the NBA.

The jerseys are sold on a fixed-price model, rather than as a traditional auction. Brahm Wachter, svp and head of modern collectibles at Sotheby’s, said this model has worked best for fashion items like jerseys and handbags. Of the 140 or so jerseys released in the first drop on May 8, only around 50 remain, he said.

“The pandemic helped explode the popularity of things like sneakers and sports jerseys — both categories we have pursued,” Wachter said. “The world is a lot more casual and people wear sneakers and jerseys to work now.”

Wachter said Sotheby’s was inspired to start selling jerseys more actively after it sold the jersey worn by Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona during his famous “Hand of God” game for over $9 million. That helped instigate the auction house’s current jersey partnerships with the NBA, which Wachter said will see thousands more jerseys go to market throughout the year.

The focus on jerseys has been a great way for Sotheby’s to bring in a new customer. Over 50% of buyers of the jerseys were under the age of 50 and over 75% were new to Sotheby’s. But, according to Wachter, those buyers don’t limit themselves to buying sports collectibles. The same customer is often picking up watches or fine art along with their jerseys.

“Our partnership with the NBA is all-encompassing, so we will definitely be doing more with them in the future,” he said.

The NBA has swiftly become one of the most fashionable sports leagues, with its players as fashion icons and its teams becoming fashion businesses in their own right. The league has partnered with brands like Forever 21, Louis Vuitton and Rhude. The jerseys are often central components, as in the Forever 21 x NBA collection.

But outside of basketball, jerseys from other sports are also blowing up. As Glossy covered last week, the British marketplace Classic Football Shirts, which specializes in the sale of classic soccer jerseys, received over $30 million in funding from The Chernin Group. Soccer jerseys are a massive business globally, with top teams like Barcelona bringing in close to $200 million annually on jersey sales.

Greg Betinnelli, partner at TCG and an investor in successful marketplaces like ThredUp and Goat, said that while sports jerseys are popular globally, there’s a particularly strong market for them in the U.S.

“One thing I’ve learned is that in the U.S. is that people will buy jerseys from a lot of different teams,” he said. He compared U.S. customers to those in the U.K., who may only want jerseys from one specific team.

“In the U.S., we are fans of stars. We can have a 49ers jersey and a Bears jersey,” he said.

Executive moves

Sun Choe, chief product officer at Lululemon, is leaving the company as of this week. It’s a move that had Wall Street worried, sending the brand’s share price down 7% after the news was announced.

Meanwhile, British lifestyle media brand Dazed Media announced Sophie McElligott as the company’s first-ever CMO.

And Mara Hoffman is shuttering her brand after 24 years, citing an increasingly difficult climate for sustainable brands to keep operating. She announced the closure on Instagram.

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