welcome to gameface
a newsletter about sports and style
Welcome to gameface, a weekly newsletter about the intersection of sports and style, written by two friends who came to the same conclusion: Everything. Is. Sports.
In this newsletter, we will explore how fashion, media, culture, power, and influence converge through sport.
More to come…
The Row…ing
There has been much written about tenniscore, but there has been meaningfully less penned about the rise of rowing, which is, in our view, poised to be the next sport with a major resurgence. This is the moment for The Row to do an absolutely iconic thing, but I’ll leave their partnerships to them.
Where do we begin?
Chanel announced they’re sponsoring the Boat Race, the iconic Oxford vs. Cambridge rowing regatta. The news was announced a month ago. I chatted with two friends who went to Oxford about this last night and they were…surprised by this sponsorship to say the least, as they remember the race to be a rather grungy drinking event for students, usually sponsored by a financial services firm. (It looks like the previous sponsor was the now-bankrupt crypto company Gemini founded by the Winklevoss twins.)
The sponsorship will go on for at least 5 years until 2029 and the race, which will occur on Sunday, April 13th 2025, is historically attended by 250,000 people (it’s free to attend) and watched by millions on the BBC, according to The Boat Race.
Why does this matter?
The BoF did a great analysis behind Chanel’s motivation for the partnership, which is notably their first sports event sponsorship in brand history. Journalist Simone Stern Carbone noted that Chanel has been doing a large UK push after moving their corporate headquarters to London in 2018 (with their new office to open in 2025).
The primary motivation seems to be to “raise awareness of [Chanel]’s watch offer, particularly the flagship J12 model,” and BoF reported that sponsoring timed-based sports is a part of the playbook for luxury brands to push their watches: Rolex has Wimbledon, Louis Vuitton became the lead sponsor of the sailing regatta America's Cup this year (and recently announced a 10-year $1B partnership with Formula One), Omega sponsored the Olympics, and so on.
Prediction: As major professional sporting events get oversubscribed with sponsorship, we predict that luxury brands will move to new audiences by reaching into the collegiate level, something that is now more possible than ever with changes in NIL rules.
A secondary effect might be that more brands will look to the UK and international universities, because without the NCAA governing body, there might be significantly less red tape when it comes to sponsorship.
Brand equity-wise, Ivy League schools and universities with a storied history and preppy sports like rowing, sailing, and polo might be prime for partnership.
Will we see iconic collegiate sporting showdowns like the Harvard vs. Yale football game (referred to as The Game) or the Head of the Charles Regatta take on a luxury fashion sponsor in the future? Our money is on yes.
That’s not all..
Rowing Blazers x La Veste launched a collab on November 13th. Rowing Blazers’ founder Jack Carlson was captain of the Georgetown rowing team in undergrad and rowed at Oxford during his graduate program.
According to the press release about the collaboration, Rowing Blazers is “continuing its expansion into the womenswear arena following its acquisition by Burch Creative Capital earlier this year” through its “collaboration with Blanca Miro and Maria de la Orden’s cult Spanish womenswear brand La Veste. (Fittingly, “La Veste” is the French word for “blazer”.)” I simply need all of it.
Jacquemus took to the the rowing erg: Have you been on Instagram if you haven’t seen the absolutely phenomenal creative with model Alex Consani on the rowing erg that the brand used to launch its winter retreat collection? Incredible work by multidisciplinary photographer and videographer Lisa Jahovic.
Boathouses as Setting. The Central Park Boathouse recently underwent a $2.9M renovation and opened in March with a new menu. I’ve also seen several absolutely gorgeous weddings at the Prospect Park Boathouse. In the same vein, I can’t stop thinking about the Belle Isle Boathouse, the absolutely gorgeous building in Detroit that has fallen into disrepair. Recent news noted that there is proposal for restoration that will require between $30-35M. Rowing Blazers published an amazing tour of the building in 2017. Finally, I went to Gem House two weeks ago and clocked these vintage nautical flags on the wall. I’m all in on the revival of boathouses and their inspired decor.
The Boys in the Boat came out over the summer, and it’s possible that this film plus an Olympics year might have been the perfect fertilizer for the rowing resurgence.
Not rowing, but the aforementioned America’s Cup in Barcelona was sponsored by Louis Vuitton and the images of Blanca Miro and other celebrities and creators were absolutely amazing (and taken by one of my favorite photographers Georgina Millet)
Formula One, Gladiator Two
A bigger deep-dive on F1 and fashion to come, but in quick news, Ferrari announced a partnership with Gladiator II which meant drivers Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc attended the Gladiator II red carpet in London on Thursday, both donning “custom-made tuxedos designed by Ferrari's Creative Director, Rocco Iannone.” The partnership was revealed in this announcement video.
The TikToks of the duo with Paul Mescal have thus since gone viral. Leclerc’s partner Alexandra Saint Mleux (who recently collaborated with Rhode) wore Clio Peppiatt (one of her favorite brands according to Prestige).
Sainz’s partner Rebecca Donaldson wore a dress by Ferrari Style, which makes sense as The FT reported in May that Ferrari’s clothing brand had “broken into the ranks of high fashion with its seventh collection unveiled in February at Milan Fashion Week.” Our prediction? Prepare to see a lot more of the Ferrari drivers on the red carpet as Ferrari Style makes a full-court press into high-end luxury.
Major Movers…
Lindsey Vonn Plans a World Cup Return as She Rejoins the U.S. Ski Team at age 40 (NYT). “Vonn is trying to join a growing list of professional athletes — including the N.F.L. quarterback Tom Brady, who won a Super Bowl at 43; Serena Williams, who left tennis just days before her 41st birthday with 23 Grand Slam titles; and Tiger Woods, who won the Masters Tournament at 43 — who extended their careers into their 40s.”
Aryna Sabalenka unboxed her newest Birkin to 340k views on TikTok. Some eagle eyes in the comments IDed it immediately as a 35 Cargo with palladium hardware. Is this the lead up to an Aryna custom Hermes Tennis bag on the courts next season, a la Gucci x Jannik Sinner?
Off the back of her US Open win, Aryna is showing us more of her fashion sense, attending Off-White at NYFW and voicing her dream to create her own Nike Line.
The Offseason, a reality series about 11 players on the National Women’s Soccer League who trained together during the 2024 off-season came out last month (episode 1 got 2.5mm views within 24hrs). The show was produced by Alex Baskin of Vanderpump Rules and RHOBH alongside player Midge Purce and investor Alexis Ohanian (Variety). Hopefully this is the first of many.
That’s all for this week!
SWG & DLM
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Rolex also sponsors some of the largest sailing regattas in NE
such a delightful read and so excited for more!