There was a time now pretty long ago when athletes…well almost everyone… had to seek out others to tell their story or show off their expressionism. When fashion came up around the games we love, Walt Frazier, Chris Evert, Muhmmad Ali, even Bill Walton in a different way, were the exceptions to the nod to style, not the rule. For many athletes, everything in terms of style was left to the court or the field or the ice. Expansive storytelling, especially visual stories, were done by others with cameras. Many time fashion trends or statements were set by entertainers, or musicians, whose time being chased by flashbulbs or in front of broadcast cameras or even on fashion runways, gave them the window of opportunity to create and grow the trends that were en vogue at the time.
Now there were exceptions from time to time in the 1980’s. The New York Rangers and Sasson jeans created quite a buzz for a time, but that was brand driven much more than athlete driven. Sneaker companies always built campaigns around their stars, but they were the chosen ones, rarely the ones that chose the brand to create their own style.
That aspect of athlete’s fashionable vice slowly changed over time, as leagues, agents, non-athletic apparel brands, sneaker companies and of course the athletes themselves saw the opportunity of controlled self-expression and creativity that they could drive with their own platforms to their own audience. Suddenly no one had to wait for a photographer to show up…you could use your own device, and amplify it with the platforms a team, a league, a governing body had…to make your own fashion statement. The athlete away from the field of play now had a share of voice that didn’t exist when Clyde and company ruled the fashion roost. Now the self-created audience follows and engages regardless of what third parties sought them out. This has led to influencer culture as we know it today, where the fan and the consumer listens, watches and follows the engaged subject, in this case the athlete, on whatever device he/she/they chooses to see what they like, what they wear and what they endorse 24/7.
Now every effort is not click and go all the time. It takes time, interest and focus to drive awareness consistently for any area, and there is an issue of critical mass tied to authenticity and even quality that makes some efforts fall short. There is also the very human aspect for any engaged topic that some people, let alone athletes, are just not interested in a space like music or fashion, so they choose to sit it out. Personal choice, personal authentic storytelling tied to the right product or genre is still key.
Now let’s go one step further on the engaged athlete tied to fashion, or what we will all “Sportculture.” Namely the catch all for how sports…especially athletes and coaches…is so intertwined with the fabric of other genres of popular culture…high end fashion, athleisure, music, art, and the like. It used to be on the fashion side, that the biggest and brightest athletes…take Serena Williams or Cristiano Renaldo…would be selected to take the biggest stages of the fashion world at a time of fashion’s choosing. They would literally go to walk the runways of Paris, London, Milan, New York, Miami, Tokyo as a part of whichever mega Fashion Week fit a schedule or a product release. The shiniest of stars gathered, cameras and video devices a blazing to catch the moment on the runway for all of the pop culture world to see. A wow moment.
However, the interest in “Sportculture” has again flipped that dynamic on its head. The interest in everything from sneaker culture to stadium entrances has created an opportunity of a daily runway experience for millions of fans every time a game happens. Now athletes are the focus themselves as they arrive and leave, showcasing their collaborations either self-curated or created for them EVERY TIMME there is a game. Teams and leagues can capture and curate and share along with each athlete who chooses to make a statement with whatever they wear, and the runway, which once they had to be summoned to, is now filled and created by the athletes every day as a part of the game day experience, whether you play college football or basketball or are in the WNBA or the NHL. It is a slice of engagement and creativity that spawned collections and collaborations for athletes with a following large or small, and again brought the attention of millions to every day, not just when a fashion house chose to do the setup. Tunnel walks are now a thing.
The creators and their platforms have taken another aspect of live…and let’s not forget the only thing that is still appointment viewing around the world is live sports…and built its own daily runway show, curated and delivered to whatever device the consumer wants. No need to wait for Fashion Week, it is every day.
Usually one looks at these pop culture moments as buzzworthy times that come and go, but there is no real reason to see the daily runway experience as fading so long as athletes and those creating the moments stay engaged, and media rights holders amplify those walk ins as part of the storytelling. What can be next? How about branded entrances that capture the moments set up by teams or rights holders. How about more of an emphasis put on coaches who are part of the walk-in experience? How about live streaming…doubtful that the space pregame walking towards locker rooms will be dominated by photographers or fashion reporters…where pundits gives us some thoughts on the outfits or themes of the day, brought to you by a third party, or where some designers tell us the story behind what’s being worn. In the growing world of streaming, fashion cam might not be that far away, and if it can gain expected scale, it becomes a new sellable item for those paying the bills.
So while renting the runway has been a buzzworthy topic for some time, creating and owning a daily runway as an additive aspect of live sports is a growing opportunity, one that millions of casual and diehard fans are interested in, and one which the creators and the participants, the athletes, can control and exploit for fun and profit.
Clyde would certainly approve.
