It’s no surprise to see the likes of LeBron James and Lewis Hamilton mingle with the stars at Paris Fashion Week. But lately, even rookies and unfamiliar athletes in niche sports have found their way to the front rows of Louis Vuitton and Moncler.

The brands are happy to have them: Emerging athletes can serve as effective brand ambassadors, as the proliferation of streaming and social media has allowed them to cultivate international followings.

For athletes, an endorsement deal with a luxury brand could be a lucrative second revenue stream and can help develop their commercial prospects long beyond their sporting career. Attending shows — and being seen as a fashion insider — is an important first step.

At Louis Vuitton’s men’s show in June, Marcus Rashford of Manchester United Football Club shared a red carpet moment with Kim Kardashian. Track star Alica Schmidt has walked the runway for Hugo Boss at Milan Fashion Week twice.

Later this month, rising French rugby player Cameron Woki is expected to attend the Sacai and Botter runway shows at Paris Fashion Week, and track-and-field athlete Elodie Clouvel will attend that of Patou, according to Frederic Vilches, co-founder of Paris-based sports-fashion agency L’AM.

As the fashion and sports industries continue to converge, it will likely become the norm to see all types of athletes flock to fashion weeks, especially in June when many leagues are in their off-season.

“Brands need athletes in their universe,” said Nayaab Tania, founder of London-based agency 9inety6ix. “They’re ready-made ambassadors who wear a brand’s clothing because they genuinely love it, and can have more of an organic influence than content creators whose job it is to be there.”

Tania’s firm provides a range of services to elite Europe-based footballers and rappers, including image consultancy, personal shopping, editorial placements and procuring invites to fashion shows. She placed Rashford and fellow Premier League footballer Saïd Benrahma at the Moncler Genius showcase in London last year. This month, seven of Tania’s clients will attend shows across Milan and Paris.

Whereas in the past, athletes were seen only at the biggest brands, today they’re also looking to attend shows of smaller, indie brands and emerging designers as a way of cementing their fashion-insider status. In June, at Pitti Uomo — fashion’s nerdiest menswear convention typically reserved for industry insiders like buyers and sales agents — NBA player Myles Turner attended ERL’s runway show before heading to shows in Milan and Paris.

A New Class of Dealmakers

Fashion’s deepening ties with sport has given rise to a fast-growing network of start-up agencies and image consultants such as Tania and Vilches — many of whom are former sportspeople or agents themselves — dedicated to bridging the gap between the two industries, acting as vital conduits between athletes and fashion brands.

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Former US national team footballer Danny Williams is one such person. Since retiring from football three years ago, Williams has quickly built a reputation for his fast-growing, Paris-based streetwear label, Beautiful Struggles. His experience has made him well placed to help fashion brands navigate working with athletes, whilst simultaneously aiding sportspeople make connections in the fashion industry. In June, he worked alongside fellow former footballer-turned-creative director David Bellion to take popular German footballer Leroy Sané around Paris Fashion Week, sitting front row at shows such as Kenzo and Taiwanese menswear label Namesake.

Demand for these kinds of services is soaring, as more athletes — and more brands — are looking to work together during fashion week.

“I’m now in conversations weekly with footballers from all over, asking me how to get invites to certain shows, how they can begin to break into the fashion industry and work with brands,” Williams said.

Seeking Emerging Athletes

While big-name athletes are increasingly interested in attending the shows of indie brands, established labels are also looking beyond sports like basketball and football to work with less conventional athlete names.

Discovering lesser-known, successful athletes from niche sports with small but engaged audiences is becoming more of a priority as brands get savvier about the world of sport, said Vilches, who also counts Olympic champion judoka Teddy Riner among his clients.

In the eyes of some fashion houses, there is as much value in “discovering” an emerging talent with an inspiring story rather than breaking the marketing budget to sign a popular athlete who already works with several brands, Vilches explained.

“When you work with Hermès, for example, they do not care how many followers an athlete has or the size of their online audience,” he said. “It’s more about how their image, their career achievements and their discipline fit with what the brand wants to reflect,” he said.

Vilches and his team work on “image architecture” for such athletes, helping to position them as fashion tastemakers over two to three years, directing the content they post on social media, the events they attend, the brands they wear, and educating them on the fashion industry to transform them into ideal partners in the eyes of brands.

“Cameron Woki is the perfect example of the work we do,” Vilches said. “When we first started working with him, he was unknown outside of rugby in France. Now he has a great relationship with Jonathan Anderson and Loewe and sits front row at fashion week.”

Rules of the Game

Working with athletes at fashion week, however, is not all smooth sailing.

This month, the men’s shows in Milan and Paris will feature fewer athletes than in June, because it falls right in the middle of most professional sports seasons.

“For brands, understanding how intense these players’ lifestyles, training regimes and media commitments are on a daily basis, is essential if you want to work with them,” said Tania. “A lot of the time they can’t make engagements at the last minute, because of changes mandated by their team or a competition.”

Aside from getting to grips with athletes’ relentless schedules, brands must also understand the added complications of working with athletes in certain sports, such as football, where fan culture can sometimes influence the boundaries of a player’s social life.

This time last year, German footballer Serge Gnabry of Bayern Munich found himself taken out of the team starting the next game — and labelled by his sporting director as “amateurish” — after he made the short trip from Munich to Paris on his day off to attend the fashion week shows of KidSuper and Namacheko. Several of the comments under his Instagram post showing off his front row looks demonstrated the tension athletes still face when exploring their interests in fashion. “Please don’t play with the team if [you] continue to do this,” one comment read; another user demanded “more football, less lifestyle,” with a series of angry-face emojis.

“Sometimes if an athlete or their club isn’t performing well, we literally cannot put any brand work out on their social media because of the negative reaction it will get from fans,” Tania said. “It’s common that entire projects are scrapped because of it.”

But times are changing, albeit slowly, as sporting organisations increasingly embrace collaboration with the fashion industry.

“Perceptions of the role of athletes have changed massively in the last two to three years,” said Williams, the former footballer, who alongside David Bellion recently co-founded Ultra, an agency designed to help fellow athletes boost their profile and secure commercial opportunities in the creative industries. “The culture that was pioneered by athletes in the NBA and NFL has helped both brands and fans realise the potential of sportspeople beyond their day jobs.”

John Lewis is bringing back its former fashion boss Peter Ruis to lead the department store chain – after more than a decade running retailers including Jigsaw and Anthropologie – in its latest effort to turn around the business.

The appointment of an experienced retailer, with 30 years in the industry including stints at Marks & Spencer, Ted Baker and Levi’s before joining John Lewis, and most recently as chief executive of Canada’s Indigo books and homewares chain, comes amid falling sales and profits at the department store.

Ruis, who worked at John Lewis between 2005 and 2013, will start next week, replacing Naomi Simcock, who has been interim boss since the abrupt exit of Pippa Wicks almost a year ago. Simcock will take up a new role as operations director for the chain.

Ruis will have a long to-do list when he returns to the business, which calls its employees partners as they are co-owners. The department store has struggled amid improved competition from Marks & Spencer, especially online, and the high cost of running its large stores as footfall on high streets has yet to fully recover since the pandemic lockdowns.

Wicks was responsible for initiatives including replacing John Lewis’s century-old price-matching pledge, which had weighed heavily on profitability, as well as parting ways with the agency responsible for its famous Christmas campaigns for more than a decade. She also launched its low-cost Anyday range. However, sales continued to decline and the new agency’s Christmas ad was not seen as a major change of direction.

Ruis said: “It’s a great privilege to return to the John Lewis Partnership after 10 years. The John Lewis brand is iconic, loved and trusted by millions of customers across the UK and I’m excited to lead the next phase of the transformation. As the biggest employee-owned business in the UK, we have a huge opportunity to make even more of the unique partner difference to provide exceptional products and service for our customers.”

Nish Kankiwala, the former Hovis boss who is chief executive of John Lewis Partnership, which owns the department store chain and Waitrose, said Ruis would bring with him “a deep understanding of customers, brands and product from his 30-year career spanning a variety of major high street and online retailers”.

“He also brings a clear and proven passion for the John Lewis brand and the partnership model, and I have no doubt he will be integral to our future success,” Kankiwala said.

Ruis’s appointment comes amid criticism of a lack of retail experience at the top of the John Lewis Partnership since the arrival of its chair, the former Ofcom boss Dame Sharon White, in early 2020.

White has overseen a restructure, including job cuts and store closures, helping the business slash its debts, but also poor retail performance amid increased emphasis on non-retail ventures including financial services and building homes to rent. She is due to step down in February next year.

By Sarah Butler

Learn more:

British Retailer John Lewis Says Turnaround Delayed by Two Years

The employee-owned group, which runs John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, reported a narrowing in first-half losses and forecast an improvement in full-year results.

Fashion and beauty brands seeking investment in 2024 have a reason to be optimistic.

In 2023, an uncertain economic landscape, rising capital costs (thanks to higher interest rates) and persistent inflation made investors more cautious across sectors. But in fashion and beauty, woes plaguing one-time investment darlings like sneaker brand Allbirds, Gen-Z intimates label Parade, hair care brand Olaplex, beauty incubator Amyris and Warby Parker made that trepidation even more pronounced.

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But this year, inflation is cooling and it’s expected that interest rate hikes are over, there may be more investment opportunities for fashion and beauty brands. The lessons investors learned last year, however, remain, and they’re more closely monitoring customer acquisition costs and seeking diverse retail distribution networks. For companies to nab capital they have to have it all: strong founders, innovative products and a clear path to profitability.

“Just a few years ago, investors were more willing to take risks … the context has changed,” said Virginie Birade, partner at Paris-based premium consumer brand focused private equity Experienced Capital. “Now they’re looking for brands that strictly adhere to their theses.”

Efficiency is Everything

Whereas prior to 2023, investors prioritised high-growth companies, now, they’re placing equal importance on the bottom line.

“Unless you are a growing business with attractive margins and capital efficiency, you’re not getting a ton of traction,” said Cristina Nunez, co-founder of True Beauty Ventures, a beauty-focussed growth fund which invested in fragrance line 7 Virtues and Iris&Romeo in late 2023.

Chasing growth, however, is more difficult than it’s been in recent years thanks to increased advertising costs and investor wariness around bloated marketing spend. Investors don’t want to see brands advertise exclusively through routine Instagram ads or influencer campaigns, but instead that they’re getting unpaid engagement and being strategic about where and how they appear to customers, said Birade. A high percentage of repeat customers and low discount rate are among the success metrics they’re looking for.

“Customer acquisition costs aren’t down any time soon ... It doesn’t work to just be a performance marketing-based company anymore,” said Sonya Brown, partner at Norwest Ventures. “People have to lean into more traditional brand work.”

A Master of All Channels

With investors scrutinising advertising spend more closely, many brands are turning to more traditional channels to reach customers — namely, wholesale.

“Before, some investors wanted only digital brands, and were completely afraid of retail. Now investors don’t look at it like that. If you want to create value … you want to master every channel,” said Birade. “When you’re only in one channel, it can be a weakness.”

For skiwear label Halfdays, the fact that it entered retail just a year after launch in 2020 — it now sells in Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods — has been a major selling point for investors, said co-founder and chief executive Ariana Ferwerda, who closed a $3.3 million seed round in October and hopes to raise a Series A in early 2024. Plus, wholesale has ended up being just as profitable as direct-to-consumer, because the brand saves on marketing and shipping costs.

Wholesale can aid in brand perception, too. High-end retailers like Moda Operandi and Neiman Marcus have helped sustainable apparel brand Bite Studios cement its luxury identity, said co-founder Veronika Kant. That’s key to getting customers to buy its $200 merino tank tops $1,000 silk skirts.

But maintaining the inventory necessary to operate a wholesale business requires capital and entering multi-brand retail too early can put a strain on a young brand’s finances. Brands also must manage their wholesale relationships, which means navigating different development timelines if they have multiple stockists. Failing to deliver on deadlines can sour a relationship, and if products don’t sell, they could end up in the discount aisle.

“You don’t want a retailer to buy a ton of products and not be able to sell through all of them, there is this push and pull, especially starting out,” said Ferwerda.

Wellness-centric fragrance line Brown Girl Jane, in the midst of a retail expansion, thinks about what particular customer it would capture with each new retailer. Since launch in 2020, the brand has raised over $1 million, is in Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s. It participated in Sephora’s 2023 accelerator programme and is gearing up for launch into the retailer this year.

“We look at if is there a demographic this retail partner is going to help us speak to that we currently could not touch in the same way. And is that going to account for the change in margins when we’re there?” said Malaika Jones, founder and chief executive of Brown Girl Jane, which also runs a grant programme for Black woman founders with SheaMoisture.

Amid tough conditions and rising investor expectations, especially around retail, it’s particularly difficult for founders of colour, who already receive a fraction of institutional funding to raise, added Jones.

“Some of the performative investments earmarked for founders of colour are falling to the wayside,” said Jones. “Everyone is saying ‘We need retail distribution because that is what will attract institutional investment.’”

It’s Who You Know

Relationships matter in more than just retail. In a slower, more risk averse environment, investors are more likely to go with the founder they know. For example, all of True Beauty Ventures investments in 2023 were with founders the firm already had relationships with, Nunez said.

Ferwerda tries to turn investors into friends of the brand. When Paul Hedrick, founder of direct-to-consumer boots brand Tecovas invested in Halfdays in 2023, he became a formal advisor to the brand. He and Ferwerda now have a standing meeting on their calendars.

“Make them a champion of the brand,” said Ferwerda. “I look at fundraising as a function of my job, not an initiative I’m going about every six or 12 months.”

Bite Studios, which closed its latest round in December, seeks out impact investors and family offices — including organic denim brand Nudie Jeans — who share its principles. It sets and communicates expectations for growth, currently around eight percent each year, said Bite Studios co-founder William Lundgren.

Keeping up the ongoing conversation with investors and continually showing them a brand’s progress is essential to maintaining a positive relationship in the long-term.

“There’s more hesitancy [from investors] to put money into something from the outset, now it’s ‘Do well without money, and then we’ll give you money.’’” said Jones.

Spanish beauty and fashion conglomerate Puig has acquired a majority stake in German premium skincare brand Dr. Barbara Sturm, bolstering the group’s position in the luxury skincare market.

Brand founder and celebrity doctor Barbara Sturm will retain a minority stake in the business and stay on as chief product officer and brand ambassador.

Dr Barbara Sturm has a cult following, including high-profile celebrities such as Angela Bassett and Victoria Beckham. Dr Sturm popularised an in-clinic facial treatment known as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) that uses proteins from blood for an anti-aging result. This procedure inspired a product known as MC1 cream, and positioned Dr Sturm as a leading authority in anti-aging, as well as anti-inflammation, another current consumer preoccupation.

Puig owns 23 brands, including Charlotte Tilbury, Byredo and Paco Rabanne. In Sept. 2023, the family-controlled group confirmed reports that it was considering an initial public offering among other strategic options.

In a statement announcing the Dr. Barbara Sturm deal, Puig said it aimed to expand the brand internationally, growing its existing network of spas and boutiques.

Science-backed brands continue to outperform. In Dec. 2023, Shiseido acquired skincare line Dr Dennis Gross, while Unilever acquired K18, a hair care company with a proprietary molecular ingredient.