There’s been a groundswell of fashionable sports merchandise over the last year, and some of the most innovative fashion-sports crossovers have focused on the NBA.
Off Season, the fashion brand founded by designer Kristin Juszczyk, has been primarily focused on the NFL through Juszczyk’s connection — her husband is San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk. But on Tuesday, Off Season idebuted its first NBA-centric ready-to-wear collection as it seeks to both expand its business and the types of products it makes with its team partners.
This is the second collection Off Season has done with the NBA, after a small capsule collection focused on puffers and vests last year. The new collection is larger and broader, with everything from halter tops to track pants and jackets.
Like many of Off Season’s collections, the new capsule focuses on just a handful of teams, including the New York Knicks, the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. One piece, the track jacket, is also available with the logos of the Los Angeles Clippers. Juszczyk said the goal is to eventually start doing collections with every team in a given sports league, but for 1-year-old Off Season, it was easier to start with a smaller subsection.
The new collection is also Off Season’s first that will be sold with its new retail partner Revolve. The brand has already been sold through another partner, Nordstrom, but Juszczyk said the Revolve partnership represented a “perfect alignment of customers.”
“‘Game day’ is one of Revolve’s most-searched terms,” Juszczyk said. “The customer shopping Revolve for stylish game-day apparel is exactly the same as the customer who is coming to Off Season.”
Juszczyk said expanding the brand’s retail partner network gives Off Season greater merchandising flexibility. Something more fashion-forward and subtle, like the halter tops in the new NBA collection, may be a better fit for a Revolve buyer, while something more classic, like a track jacket with a team logo, may sell better at a team store in a stadium.
The collection comes at a time of great interest in professional sports from fashion brands. Abercrombie & Fitch, for example, is investing in sports league collaborations, while Champion is putting a renewed focus on licensed teamwear. And then there are brands like Off Season and Wear, which are putting fashion-forward licensed sports apparel at the center of their business models.
“Basketball and fashion have always been intrinsically linked,” Juszczyk said. “The NFL has taken a traditional [approach], while the NBA has a lot more room for expanding into fashion.”
The NBA, in particular, has become a major driver of merchandise revenue. In 2024, NBA teams together surpassed $11 billion in annual revenue, with their total valuation reaching over $130 billion. NBA licensed merchandise revenue alone is over $1.15 billion per year, accounting for 9% of total team revenue. Women make up around 40% of NBA viewership. Data provided to Glossy from Circana found that sales of apparel with sports logos grew 22% last year and, while jerseys are the primary seller, there has been growth in categories like outerwear, sweatshirts and sports bras.
“Sport has always been big business, but major franchises and apparel companies have now cottoned on to a large, previously untapped opportunity and are diversifying their offerings to reflect a broader audience,” said Helen Firth, executive director of brand strategy at the brand consultancy Landor. “This is driving significant growth in products designed specifically with women in mind, from materials and sizing to design details, as well as an increase in marketing activity and collaborations with fashion brands and influencers that resonate culturally. Much of this growth is being targeted at women. After all, who spends more on fashion apparel?”
