Serving looks

The GIST: The overlap between luxury fashion and women’s sports continued this week with two designer-driven deals that recruited popular women athletes. On Wednesday, Coach revealed its athlete roster for its latest sneaker campaign, while New Balance (NB) furthered its Miu Miu collab the same day by debuting a Coco Gauff collection. Fit for a queen.

The Coach campaign: The brand’s “Not Just For Walking” campaign, which touts its new Soho Sneaker, features Auburn Tigers men’s hoops player Tahaad Pettiford, WNBA player Satou Sabally, and NASCAR driver Toni Breidinger.

• Coach CMO Joon Silverstein said these athletes are “shaping culture in their own way at the intersection of sport, music, and fashion,” something brands like Coach are recognizing, especially in basketball. The brand recently announced an extensive WNBA partnership that included styling for five 2025 WNBA Draft picks, including Paige Bueckers. Money.

The Miu Miu collection: In the upcoming collab, Gauff will sport Miu Miu and NB’s latest co-branded clothing and footwear in upcoming tournaments in Rome, Berlin, and Cincinnati. The collection features colorways connected to each tournament and a reimagined version of Gauff’s CG2 shoe, which has its own fascinating marketing history.

• NB has strategically released new colors of Gauff’s signature CG1 and CG2 kicks that correspond with specific tennis moments, like last summer’s “Grey Days” CG1 for the French Open and this spring’s CG2 Coco Delray that matched her Indian Wells and Miami Open looks.

• Playing with color and style is all part of NB’s strategy: The Delray is an affordable, lifestyle-forward shoe, and Gauff is the perfect one to model it. The Gen Z tennis star also aces social media, which helps her win over the sport’s young, diverse fanbase and elite brands, like the ones she sported in her recent Vogue spread.

Zooming out: Teaming up with these popular athletes makes sense for high fashion houses, especially when considering the proven success of hype drops. Per Fanatics, 20% of people buying from these collections were first-time Fanatics customers, illustrating how the fashion connection can bring new customers to the sports space.

• And it’s even better when women athletes — who are often elite brand ambassadors — sport these looks on social media and garner sky-high engagement. Athletes like Breidinger and Gauff have a built-in social following that makes advertising lifestyle pieces a breeze. Come for the slay, stay for the play.

The GIST: Last month, Pro Padel League (PPL) — the top U.S. professional padel league — raised a $10M seed round led by Left Lane Capital, a VC firm backing other startup leagues like LOVB and Shaun White’s Snow League. This week, we spoke with PPL CEO Mike Dorfman about why investors and sponsors are seizing the padel opportunity in the U.S. A continental grip.

The growth: Per Dorfman, padel is the world’s fastest-growing sport in terms of participation, and women are increasingly picking up rackets. The sport has about 200K U.S. players, 38% of which are women. PPL estimates the share of women fans to also be around 38%.

The context: Dorfman compared padel to other global sports that are finally having their U.S. moment, like F1 and men’s soccer. With domestic sports “overcommercialized and a bit stagnant,” there’s a strong desire for new sports.

• Padel has a strong following in Europe and Latin America, which is reflected in media rights deals with Tennis Channel, DAZN, Eurovision, Fox Sports Argentina, Bally Sports, and Roku Sports. While global reach matters, so does converting new American fans, with Dorfman acknowledging that “eyeballs and exposure” are key.

The brands: Adidas is PPL’s main court partner, a deal that included creating a custom court for the league and bringing in other potential PPL partners. The league is also attracting affluent cult faves, like NYC’s iconic Eataly chain, recovery brand Hyperice, and fitness company Equinox.

• Dorfman says PPL wants to draw a luxury audience, which means teaming up with luxe brands that want to win over young audiences. While tennis provides a blueprint for such partnerships, padel boasts a younger audience that still loves to spend green. Hitting the sweet spot.

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