This week, a look at the brands working with college athletes and examining the unique benefits of working with a star player before they turn pro.
As fashion’s crossover with sports continues, not all of the athletes who are signing deals with big apparel brands are professionals.
College athletes, through their name, image and likeness (NIL), are increasingly showing up in the marketing campaigns of major apparel brands like American Eagle and Hollister. These athletes simultaneously serve as cultural icons and conduits to a valuable younger audience who can relate to brand ambassadors who are still students themselves. The total market size for NIL partnerships was $1.67 billion for the 2024-2025 season and is projected to break $2 billion next season.
On Thursday, Hollister debuted a collection of more than 130 new pieces tied to college football teams, along with an accompanying marketing campaign featuring six college football players. They include Colin Simmons (University of Texas), Julian Humphrey (Texas A&M University), DJ Lagway (University of Florida), Tommy Castellanos (Florida State University), Carnell Tate (The Ohio State University) and Bryce Underwood (University of Michigan).
The collection is timed with the final month of the regular college football season, when some of the most intense rivalry games are played. College football in the U.S. has been growing quickly, with average viewership of Saturday night games reaching over 7 million viewers on ABC, a 23% increase from 2024.
Notably, the products in Hollister’s collection are co-designed by its partner athletes.
“Over the past year, we have had student-athletes featured in our campaigns, but this marks the first time they have been part of the design process,” said Corey Robinson, chief product officer at Abercrombie & Fitch Co, the parent company of Hollister.
While only six athletes were involved, over 50 schools are represented in the collection. In the campaign, Hollister paired up players from rival schools, like Ohio State and Michigan, to model their dueling merchandise.
The upsides of working with student athletes are manifold. For one, it’s more affordable. The average student athlete sponsorship can cost tens of thousands of dollars for brands, while for pro athletes, it could easily reach into millions. At the same time, there are many untapped talents. Only about 17% of Division 1 athletes in the U.S. have NIL deals at the moment, but 65% say they’re interested in signing deals.
“Athletes are the natural influencers on their campuses,” said Megan Brophy, vp of brand marketing for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. “Partnering with them allows us to tap into their authentic influence in a way that feels organic, not forced. They genuinely love wearing Hollister, which makes the partnership real and relatable. Our goal is always to create deep, trusting, collaborative relationships that reflect how our customers actually live and connect with one another.”
For many college athletes, working with brands like Hollister is their first taste of the kinds of brand sponsorships that may become the norm for them as they go pro.
“I love clothes. I love fashion. And I love football,” said University of Texas’s Colin Simmons, in a press release provided by Hollister. “Getting to bring it all together is really dope.”
“[The players’] schedules are intense, but that’s exactly what makes these partnerships so special,” Brophy said. “Their drive and energy are unmatched, and they bring a deep appreciation for every opportunity under the new NIL landscape.”
Hollister has been a particularly bright spot in Abercrombie’s already stellar performance, with sales at the brand growing by 19% last quarter.
Hollister isn’t the only brand embracing NIL athletes. In August, American Eagle started a collaboration with NFL player and Taylor Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce. The campaign also featured college football players Jeremiah Smith, Azzi Fudd and Drew Allar, along with college tennis player Anna Frey and basketball player Kiyan Anthony. Olympic gymnast Suni Lee also participated, though she recently left Auburn University to compete professionally.
Craig Brommers, American Eagle’s CMO, told Glossy that NIL athletes present a significant marketing opportunity for the brand.
“When Gen Z is your primary customer base, these NIL athletes are super attractive,” Brommers said. “Because they all have stories. They’re going to school. They’re involved in their community. They have their own taste. There’s a realness to them. They feel more relatable.”
Brommers referred to NIL athletes as an important part of American Eagle’s talent mix, alongside more traditional A-list celebrities like Travis Kelce and Sydney Sweeney. American Eagle has been working with student athletes since 2021, when NIL rules were first loosened to allow student athletes to profit off their image. At the time, American Eagle worked with college football players like Travis Hunter, who has since become a pro NFL player.
“Working with NIL athletes offers brands cultural resonance and agility,” said Britt St. George, co-founder and CEO of talent agency Smith & Saint, which represents a number of NIL athletes. “NIL athletes bring loyal, grassroots communities and unfiltered voices, making their engagement feel authentic, trusted, and native. For brands, that means content that doesn’t just perform, it really connects. Plus, many NIL talent operate with nimble deal structures, which enables brands to test campaigns, iterate quickly, and seize cultural moments in real time.”
Beyond Hollister and American Eagle, plenty of other brands are signing NIL deals. Just in the last month, Nine Balance signed nine new NIL partnerships and New Era started working with Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams. And Blenders Eyewear has partnered extensively with athletes from San Diego State University. This week, Blenders’s founder, Chase Fisher, an alumnus of SDSU, donated $5 million to SDSU’s basketball program last month to help support its athletes’ NIL options.
“What we find is that, in terms of the actual performance of individual NIL athletes, it’s less about their stats, whether they’re the best wide receiver or not, and more about the way they tell their story,” Brommers said. “The ones that work best tell a great story. It’s a reminder that, in everything with modern marketing, the heart still matters. It’s an emotional business.”
Stat of the week
This holiday season, there’s a shift in who consumers are trusting for shopping recommendations. 69% of customers are comfortable with using AI to deliver faster customer service this year, according to Sprout Social. And user-generated comments now slightly outrank influencer recommendations as customers’ most trusted source of gift ideas, with 38%, versus 35%.
News to know
- After 14 years in the role, Olivier Rousteing is stepping down as the creative director of the French brand Balmain. He joins the long list of creative directors who have left brands in the last year, and leaves Balmain as yet another luxury brand looking for a new creative lead.
- As part of its ongoing restructuring after buying Yoox Net-a-Porter, luxury e-commerce giant MyTheresa announced it is selling The Outnet. The Outnet’s off-price business model will become a standalone company under its new owner, The O Group.
- The saga of Shein and France continued this week when the country moved to block Shein’s website over the alleged sale of child-sized sex dolls. The move comes shortly after Shein opened its first physical store in France, which has drawn criticism and protest from both French authorities and the French population.
