The line between fashion and sportswear has never been murkier. The long list of athletic brands and fashionable entities that have come together includes the likes adidas and Kanye West, adidas and Pharrell, Supreme and Champion, and Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci and Nike. Racked spoke with a number of the companies involved in these collaborations to find out why these collaborations are so important to athletic brands, even if they aren't filling up their bank accounts.
"Training tops, training shorts, sports bras, black leggings—those do big volume for Champion," the brand's global chief design officer Ned Munroe told Racked. However, Munroe believes that consumers are now looking for something more specialty, which is how it wound up collaborating with one of streetwear's most prestigious brands and Urban Outfitters. "We talk about cool factor," he says. "We have to make sure that our brand expands across audiences."
The quote-unquote cool factor seems like the driving force behind many of these collaborations and offshoots, like adidas Originals or NikeLab. The latter exists to "[look] to innovators from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to help breathe new life into our time-honored sport classics and silhouettes to connect to culture in unique way," a Nike representative tells Racked. A designer for adidas Originals tows a similar company line, explaining that the collaborating with fashion brands "connects culture with adidas."
Another reason for the rise of fashion and athletic collaborations is the athleisure trend. "It's really changed the definition of athletic apparel," Munroe says. Clare Varga, an executive for the trend-forecasting company WSGN also tells Racked, "The lines between fashion and sports are completely blurred. Consumers are demanding transitional sports products that deliver style and function."
To read more about why these types of collaborations are beneficial for both sides, how hype plays into all this, and the potential next wave of gym collaborations head here.
