This week, a look at Fanatics Fest, a 2-year-old sports collecting convention that has drawn in a dizzying number of A-list celebrities and luxury brands, swiftly becoming a centerpiece of the crossover between sports and culture.
A new festival is making waves in the high-end collectible space. Fanatics Fest, hosted by the $8 billion sports collectible, betting and events company Fanatics, is only in its second year, but it’s already attracting massive talent and high-end luxury brands.
Last year’s Fantics Fest, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, hosted 70,000 people. This year’s event, held June 20 through June 22, nearly doubled its attendance, at 125,000. A-listers like Tom Brady, LeBron James and Kevin Hart wandered the event, mingled among the more than 300 booths that dotted the showfloor, and competed in basketball shootouts and chess tournaments with fans. A documentary called “Fanatics Fest: All Access,” which was released on ESPN on July 7, is likely to further cement Fanatics Fest’s positioning as a must-attend event in the world of sports collecting.
Fanatics bills the festival as a sort of Comic Con for sports collectible fans. And much like Comic Con, where actual comic books are the ostensible focus, there is much more to Fanatics Fest than just trading cards. It’s becoming a significant branding opportunity for fashion and luxury brands seeking to target a high-value, sports-obsessed consumer.
Avi Hiaeve, the founder of the luxury jeweler and watch dealer Avi & Co., attended the event alongside DJ Khaled and Tom Brady, both of whom wore his pieces throughout the event. For Hiaeve, Fanatics Fest’s appeal comes from Fanatics’ founder Michael Rubin’s ability to draw in huge names from across sports, fashion and entertainment.
“Mike is a genius,” Hiaeve said. “It’s a brilliant event, and his ability to pull all these different people together and into one place is incredible.”
Avi & Co. didn’t have a booth on the showfloor. Instead, Hiaeve attended as a guest of DJ Khaled and Tom Brady. Khaled made an entrance at the wrestling-themed WWE exhibition at the event, and as part of his walkout, he took his shirt off and called for Hiaeve to come out and deck Khaled out in jewelry.
Avi & Co’s other big moment of the event came when Tom Brady, who made several appearances at Fanatics Fest, wore an Avi & Co. chain and watch. Hiaeve told Glossy that wasn’t planned. He was talking with Brady, who mentioned that he didn’t bring any jewelry, so Hiaeve gave him a chain he had on hand and lent Brady the watch off his wrist to wear for the rest of the event.
“I didn’t pay for any marketing; it was all organic,” Hiaeve said. “But we got so much good footage and so many great moments from it. Next year, I want to be more involved.”
Other brands took a more straightforward approach to showing up at Fanatics Fest, using the event to release limited edition products and connect with a new audience.
Champion, the sportswear brand owned by Authentic Brands Group, used Fanatics Fest this year to debut its new teamwear-focused strategy. At the event, Champion launched an NFL licensing partnership, the first of many such big league collaborations that Champion is pursuing under its new ownership.
Champion offered limited-edition apparel and collaborative team products for sale, along with a customization station on-site. Sean McCabe, operating partner at Ames Watson, a private holdings company that is leading Champion’s teamwear business operations, said showing up at Fanatics Fest was a way to “educate the customer” about Champion’s authenticity.
“The overlap between sports and fashion is continuing to grow,” he said.
Dozens of other brands also showed up at Fanatics Fest, including the sportswear retailer Mitchell & Ness and the luxury streetwear brand Nahmias, both of which dropped exclusive collections at the show. Jeff Hamilton, a Moroccan designer whose embroidered leather jackets have shaped the aesthetic of sportswear, collaborated with Billionaire Boys Club on a series of luxury vegan leather jackets tied to teams like the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat.
Other sports-related brands like Nike, Formula 1, Drake’s October’s Very Own, AntiSocialSocialClub, New Era, Cactus Jack and Fear of God released products at the festival, as well. Celebrities like A$AP Rocky, Kevin Durant, Jay-Z, John Cena and more appeared, some just as guests and others for specific events. NBA player Victor Wembanyama, who is also an avid chess player, for example, played over 100 chess matches against attendees. Instagram posts from the event by celebrities like Tom Brady racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
Last year, Fanatics Fest lost Fanatics $15 million as the company overspent on production costs. This year, the event cost more money to run, but also generated more revenue, leading to it breaking even, according to Fanatics Events CEO Lance Fensterman. The event’s organizers have said their goal isn’t to make a profit from the event — Fanatics as a whole is set to be profitable this year — but rather to keep making the event bigger each year.
For Hiaeve, Fanatics Fest is a symbol of the connectedness of different product categories that inspire enthusiastic collectors.
“Whether it’s sports, cars, watches, or any of these things that people obsess over and collect, they all go hand in hand,” Hiaeve said.
New tariff rates and deadline
The Trump administration’s initial tariff deadline was set to be July 9, but a last minute change pushed it back to August 1. In the meantime, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that several new trade deals will be announced this week, but so far, they have yet to materialize.
Instead, President Trump shared on Monday a list of 14 countries that will be hit with harsher tariffs on August 1: Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand.
These countries, many of which are manufacturing hubs for brands, could face tariffs ranging from 25-40%. But, as is typical of the last six months, those numbers and figures could change significantly in the coming days and weeks.
Executive moves
- Arthur Lamoine was announced as the new CEO of the French department store Galeries Lafayette on Tuesday. Lamoine is taking over for his cousin, Nicolas Houzé, as the top executive of the family-owned business.
- LVMH created a new role, chairman and CEO of LVMH Americas, giving the role to company veteran and former Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke. The current chairman and CEO of LVMH North America and the president of LVMH Latin America will now report to Burke, consolidating all of LVMH’s Western Hemisphere markets under one role.
Other news to know
- Meta is investing billions of dollars into eyewear manufacturer EssilorLuxottica as it seeks to expand the AI-powered glasses market. Meta now owns a minority stake in EssilorLuxottica for which it paid $3.5 billion.
- Haute Couture Week is in full swing in Paris, with big shows from Schiaparelli, Chanel and Giorgio Armani already taking place. The event is known for showcasing some of fashion’s most daring design ideas — this week, that included a dress at the Iris van Herpen show made with bioluminescent algae.
