Jewelry brands are going all in on sports.
The southern California-based Gorjana just inked a slew of partnerships with women’s sports stars, including Lauren Betts, a college basketball player recently named the 2025 Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year. The DTC jewelry brand Ring Concierge partnered with the golf brand Malbon for a collection that sold out in 10 minutes — it was announced with the Instagram caption, “We’re sporty now.” And, most recently, the DTC jewelry brand Mejuri created an entire new vertical called Mejuri Play dedicated to a rotating series of sports-themed product collaborations.
While the rest of fashion has been crossing over with sports for years, jewelry is newer to the arena. The contrast between the intensity and performance of sports and the luxuriousness of fine jewelry makes for an odd pairing. But as the line between sports and the rest of culture increasingly blurs, jewelry brands are finding the massive audience of sports and NIL athletes too tempting to ignore.
For Mejuri, the decision to move into sports has already borne fruit. The brand activated at Wimbledon this year, from the end of June through mid-July, with a two-day pop-up event featuring tennis player and brand ambassador Emma Navarro. The activation drove a 172% revenue lift, a 181% increase in foot traffic, and 63% net-new customer conversions. On August 21, Mejuri is launching another pop-up in New York City, timed to the U.S. Open. It’s collaborating with Los Angeles fashion brand Madesome on a tennis-themed collection as part of the activation.
“Being a woman and being an athlete don’t need to be mutually exclusive; they coexist in a way that is both inspiring and powerful,” said Jacob Jordan, Mejuri’s chief brand officer. “Jewelry complements this duality, offering a means to celebrate individuality, embrace femininity and project confidence, even while performing at the highest level.”
Mejuri is planning more sports-themed collaborations through Mejuri Play into 2026.
Some sports are better suited to jewelry collaborations than others, according to Marcilla Bailey, a jewelry designer and founder of her eponymous brand.
“Sports have long been a platform for personal style, and jewelry is a natural extension of that,” she told Glossy. “NBA and NFL players have worn high-end jewelry for decades, but they’ve historically only been able to show it off during tunnel walks and pregame or postgame interviews — not usually during the actual game, besides with the occasional exception of earrings. That’s different for Major League Baseball and tennis players, who can (and do) wear their jewelry in play.”
Recently, Van Cleef & Arpels’s Alhambra necklaces have become an unexpectedly common sight on the baseball field, with players like Miguel Rojas and Junior Caminero wearing them during games. Tennis player Jasmine Paolini wore the same necklace on the court earlier this summer, and diamond necklaces, bracelets and earrings are common sights among the highest levels of tennis competition.
“Baseball players have long worn jewelry as talismans, so introducing an Alhambra clover which symbolizes luck feels authentic,” said Olivia Landau, founder of The Clear Cut. “In tennis, the ‘tennis bracelet’ has a decades-long legacy tied directly to the sport’s history. Leaning into these traditions, rather than forcing a fashion narrative, helps brands earn credibility.”
Jewelry brands have been flocking to tennis for this reason. Also tied to the U.S. Open, the tennis magazine Racquet is hosting a three-week pop-up where the watch and jewelry brand The 1916 Company will debut a new collection called Aces by Paula Badosa. Badosa is a Spanish tennis player, and the collection is themed around tennis.
Racquet’s co-founder, Caitlin Thompson, said brands that want to latch onto the appeal of sports, particularly women’s sports, need to pay careful attention to doing so authentically.
“The brands that show up authentically in sports lead with storytelling,” Thompson said. “Being organically able to ground a brand’s connection to sport should be at the forefront. Maybe there’s a founder who played seriously or has a lifelong devotion to the sport’s history and growth, or the brand has a relationship with athletes who have made a real impact on the product line.”
In other sports, the jewelry opportunities tend to be in the surrounding moments of the game itself. While women athletes like WNBA players can’t wear bold jewelry during play, they’re signing sponsorship deals with jewelry brands, WNBA star Nyara Sabally did with Catbird. Karla Witukiewicz, founder of the NYC-based fine jewelry brand kWit Jewelry, said that soccer has been the best place for the brand to start with sports, thanks to its authentic connection to two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner Ali Krieger, who is a fan of the brand and a frequent buyer of its custom pieces.
“We’re rolling out other sports in this collection, but we’re so proud to start with soccer,” Witukiewicz said.
But the crossover between sports and jewelry is also extending to the world of WAGs.
“We’re seeing a cultural shift where women in sports are not only competing at the highest levels but also receiving the recognition they’ve long deserved as cultural icons,” said Simone Kendle, CEO of the jewelry brand Wove. “This spotlight has extended to the broader sports community, where WAGs are celebrated as influential style leaders with their own massive platforms. Sports are now intersecting with fashion, beauty and lifestyle more than ever, and jewelry is a natural fit in that space.”
Wove experienced this first-hand when it collaborated with one of the most celebrated women in golf, Michelle Wie West, in 2023. That collection inspired the creation of Wove’s TNT Bracelet, which was later gifted by football player Travis Kelce to his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, creating a moment that Kendle said “resonated across sports and pop culture.” The moment led to a 2,000% increase in sales for Wove in the weeks after Swift wore the bracelet.
