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Football players, and their fans, have never been more fashionable — and you can thank Kyle Smith for that.
Smith was named the NFL’s first-ever fashion editor in the fall of 2024, as more players and consumers were leveraging the locker room tunnel as a runway and more brands were tapping sports audiences through product collaborations. As such, the Super Bowl is his Super Bowl, and top athletes make up his client base. In the second season of the Netflix documentary “Quarterback,” released this year, he can be seen convincing Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to carry an oversized Bottega bag. “I’m not trying to push this on you,” he says. “It’s just a very chic fashion decision.”
As Smith explained, his role encompasses three buckets: There’s the consumer products bucket, which involves making NFL products more appealing to young and fashionable consumers, including through brand collaborations. There’s also the social media component of the job, which includes populating the NFL’s channels with style content and also creating personal style content for players’ channels — an NFL Instagram post from October 25 shows Smith thrift-shopping with Ravens wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for a game-day look. And finally, there’s the player-focused aspect, focused on educating players on fashion and supporting their fashion-related goals. In October, Smith took a Falcons player to the opening event for the Andre Leon Talley exhibition at the SCAD FASH Museum.
“The [players] want to be a part of fashion, but it’s part of my job to ask, ‘What does that mean to you?’” Smith said. “Some just want a really good tunnel fit and are curious about the role of a stylist. Some want to attend events like Fashion Week and the Met Gala to gain attention, to help grow their brand and be recognized as a fashion leader. And some players are interested in the business side of fashion and want to create their own line or be the creative director of a brand.”
Smith joined the NFL with a fashion resume that included writing for magazines, doing brand PR and styling under Karla Welch. His work plays into the league’s “helmets off” strategy, which aims to showcase players’ faces and personalities off the field.
Consumer products deals kept Smith busy this year, with the NFL securing its first fashion partner, Abercrombie and Fitch — Smith traveled to Ohio for the pitch meeting, he said — and its first watch partner, Breitling. The league also rolled out several product collaborations. For example, there was a collection with Naadam, “for the fan who loves cashmere, but also may love the Eagles,” Smith said, and a collaboration with Nahmias, a streetwear brand worn by players including Burrow and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“My goal is to allow people to express themselves through fashion who, maybe a few years ago, couldn’t do that because they didn’t feel sports and fashion had any kind of intersection,” Smith said. “I’m really proud that the NFL is getting recognition for being very fashionable and that players are getting recognition for being style leaders.”
As Smith sees it, players today are about as influential as they come. “Anybody interested in fashion and culture should be watching the tunnel so that they can be cued in on what’s next,” he said. “Because I always see something from the first couple weeks of the season start to trend, and then by the end of the season, every kid and every fan and person interested in culture is wearing the same thing.”
Fashion brands have become aware of players’ selling power, Smith said, and it has made working with them a breeze.
As for the Smith’s Super Bowl, he hinted that the GQ Bowl may return to the event, which would involve him working with the players walking in the show and sitting front row. In addition, the NFL will introduce new Origins collections, developed with small brands and artists from the Super Bowl’s hosting city — this year, it’s Santa Clara, California.
