This week, we take a look at some of the many fashion brand activations – both official and unofficial – around the U.S. Open. The tournament presents a big opportunity for brands to get in on both the love for women’s sports and the increasing crossover between athletics and fashion. For tips and comments, email me at danny@glossy.co.
The U.S. Open is in full swing, and fashion brands are just as excited as tennis fans.
This year’s tournament is awash in fashion partnerships, athlete collaborations and U.S. Open-themed activations, both official and unofficial. For the brands, it’s an opportunity to cash in on the increased desire for tennis apparel. Circana data showed that sales of women’s tennis apparel grew by 22% last year, and men’s tennis apparel grew by 19%. This year’s tournament is already breaking attendance records, with nearly 240,000 people showing up for the free Fan Week matches that are played before the U.S. Open begins. Nearly 80,000 people showed up for the first of the tournament’s new mixed doubles matches, another new record for the tournament.
Many of these U.S. Open activations involved superstar athletes. The fine jewelry brand Brilliant Earth, for example, used the U.S. Open to debut its first-ever athlete partnership with the 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys. Brilliant Earth designed a custom medallion with Keys, which she wore in her first match of the tournament on August 24. The medallion is on sale to the public, along with a collection of other pieces curated by Keys with the Brilliant Earth team.
For Pamela Catlett, chief brand officer of Brilliant Earth, it was important to make sure the collaboration came across as authentic, rather than transactional.
“For us, authenticity starts with finding the right person whose values genuinely align with ours,” Catlett said. “Madison already valued jewelry as self-expression and understood that precision matters as much in tennis as it does in our craft. The best partnerships celebrate what you have in common.”
The medallion incorporated Keys’s lucky number, nine, along with symbols that Catlett said had personal significance to Keys and her sister.
Brilliant Earth wasn’t the only brand to make custom pieces for players on the court.
Hue, the nearly 50-year-old socks, leggings and apparel brand, worked with Taylor Townsend, the No. 1-ranked doubles player in women’s tennis and the 2025 Australian Open doubles co-champion. In her first match on August 19, Townsend wore a custom-made pair of Hue socks with her personal logo, a stylized TT, embroidered on the side.
Like Brilliant Earth, Hue is also new to sports collaborations. While the brand has worked with dancers, it has never had an athlete ambassador until now.
“It’s really about building awareness for the brand,” said Debra Baum, Hue’s senior director of brand and e-commerce. “We’re in the middle of a refresh. We’re targeting a younger audience who might not know about us since we’ve been around for more than 40 years.”
Baum is a huge tennis fan herself. She’s been going to the U.S. Open every year since she was a child, so she’s seen the tournament’s transformation into a fashion event in real time.
“It’s changed over the years, for sure,” she said. “It’s an event now. It’s all about the blue carpet. Years ago, players dressed in their court apparel, and that was it. But now, people are wearing tennis gear just to watch. They switch outfits from the day matches to the night matches. Fashion is a really important piece of the tournament now, not just for women, but for men, too.”
Baum’s assertion that fashion has become a major part of the tournament was clear after Aryna Sabalenko, the No. 1-ranked woman in the sport globally, won her first match in August. In the post-match interview on the court, in front of thousands of fans, Sabalenko shouted out a new limited-edition bag she created in collaboration with the sportswear brand Wilson.
On the men’s side, the sportswear giant Vuori signed men’s player Jack Draper as an ambassador just before the tournament started and hosted a consumer-facing event with Draper at its Soho store on August 21.
On site at the tournament, brands like Ralph Lauren and Tiffany had in-person activations, including a showcase of the trophy Tiffany created for the U.S. Open and a massive shoppable Ralph Lauren installation. Ralph Lauren also provided the official uniforms for the ball crew and umpires of the matches. And it’s not just fashion brands. American Express hosted an on-site lounge for cardholders, including stations for customized hats and shoelaces.
“We’ve seen the customization trend really take off, especially among Gen Z, and we brought it to life even earlier in the year across our other sports and entertainment experiences around the world, like at Formula 1 races, Wimbledon, Stagecoach and BST Hyde Park music festivals,” said Shiz Suzuki, vp of global brand sponsorships and experiential marketing at American Express. “Sneaker, hat and lace customization has become a strong form of self-expression and a big part of streetwear culture. Bringing this to the U.S. Open felt like a fun and unique way to tap into the ‘tennis core’ trend, while giving card members and fans something that connects them with the sport and culture they love through personalized style.”
The Women’s Tennis Association, taking a cue from other big women’s sports leagues like the WNBA, is well aware of how powerful a force its athletes can be in fashion. On August 21, the WTA hosted an on-site event called the WTA Clubhouse, in partnership with the fashion magazine The Cut. The event, billed as a “celebration of sport and style,” included big-name athletes like Townsend dressed up in luxury brands like Burberry.
“The WTA Clubhouse allowed us to showcase our thriving Tour, incredible players and the sport of tennis through a cultural lens, celebrating the intersection of sport and style while reaching a broader audience,” said Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, the commercial arm of the WTA.
Brett Werner, president of the PR and marketing firm MikeWorldWide, said that tennis-core has become a certified fashion trend.
“Tennis has always had a distinct aesthetic, but what we’re seeing now is a full cultural crossover,” he said. “’Tennis-core’ is no longer confined to the court. For brands, the best way to lean in is to embrace the lifestyle element through capsule collections that nod to iconic tennis silhouettes, or partnerships with athletes who are just as influential off the court as they are on it.”
And if there was any remaining doubt that fashion trends had sufficiently infused tennis: Naomi Osaka also showed off her custom Labubu after her win on August 26. It’s name: Billie Jean Bling.
Executive moves
- Saks Global has a new head of e-commerce: Emily Nahas. Nahas has worked at both Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. She joins the company as it continues its ongoing (and tumultuous) restructure after its merger with Neiman Marcus last year.
- Tiffany & Co. has announced two big shakeups this week. Christopher Kilaniotis is being promoted to the newly created role of svp of strategic business development. His old role as president and CEO of North America is being taken over by newcomer Matthieu Garnier.
- Michael Atmore is taking over as the new editor-in-chief of Women’s Wear Daily. Atmore will handle the role while keeping his previous role, chief brand officer at WWD’s parent company, Fairchild Media Group.
News to know
- J. Crew was called out this week for the use of generative AI in a campaign, leading to both confusion over clothes that don’t appear on the brand’s website and accusations of false advertising. The controversy comes at a time when both the general public and, increasingly, major corporations are starting to question the value of using generative AI in a professional setting.
- Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged this week. An image of Swift’s engagement ring instantly sent jewelry stock prices up in anticipation of her loyal fanbase clamoring for a dupe.
- Speaking of Kelce, American Eagle is the lucky brand that announced him as a new brand ambassador just a day after the engagement was announced. It’s a good opportunity for American Eagle to move on from its last big campaign: the Sydney Sweeney ad that dominated headlines for weeks.
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