Fashion went for it at the Super Bowl.
Even before kickoff in New Orleans, Bode staged a runway show in the city on Friday in partnership with GQ for its sportswear focused Bode Rec. line, while Rhude held its own show with Verizon, previewing select looks from the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2025 collection.
Just before the big game, the NFL itself aired its first live red-carpet pre-show with host Olivia Culpo as well as guests such as Kyle Smith, who was named the league’s first-ever fashion editor in September, on Fox-owned streaming service Tubi.
And at halftime, when Kendrick Lamar stepped out in a custom leather jacket designed by his creative services company pgLang and the British designer Martine Rose, his fans were wearing merch tied to his blockbuster performance designed in collaboration with Willy Chavarria.
“It’s a more personal approach to communicate with my customers and how Kendrick likes to communicate with his fans,” said Chavarria, speaking on the benefits of creating collaborative merchandise with pgLang in an interview days before the game.
With fashion increasingly looking to sport as its favourite new high-visibility marketing platform, it was only a matter of time before brands came for the biggest sporting event in the US — even if fashion hasn’t historically had as close a relationship with American football as it has with other sports such as basketball or that other football, aka soccer. But the Super Bowl is perhaps too good an opportunity to pass up. Last year, Launchmetrics estimated that the game generated a media impact value of up to $1.3 billion, and found that even a three-second Fenty makeup touch-up during Rihanna’s halftime show in 2023 drove $11.3 million in MIV alone.
This year’s rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, which saw the Eagles take home the win, was sure to be a huge event, offering a stage to brands also hoping to reach all the athletes and fans who were in New Orleans for the game. Bode cast pro football players including Alvin Kamara and Ja’Marr Chase in its runway show and dressed Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam for Lamar’s halftime show performance. Rhude founder Rhuigi Villaseñor told The Business of Fashion that a Super Bowl play felt intuitive for his Los Angeles-based label. It counts a number of professional athletes among its customers and has been deepening its ties in sport, with Villaseñor even being named chief brand officer of Italian football club Como 1907 last year.
Villaseñor also noted that presenting off-calendar at a major sporting event like the Super Bowl provided the opportunity to produce something more focused and intimate without succumbing to the fast-paced pressure of traditional fashion weeks.
“I wanted to try some new things, and the risk would be very low for this on the attendance side,” said Villaseñor. “The higher risk would be the perception of it or business structures changing. But we’ll see, because there was really no big plan. It just felt right.”
For Chavarria, working with Lamar on his halftime show merch was a chance to reach a wide range of fans and viewers. The collection included everything from $55 graphic T-shirts to $750 oversized bomber jackets crafted with Japanese nylon.
“We wanted to do something that was cool with a range of price points, so that people could actually buy it, wear it and enjoy it,” said Chavarria, who pointed out that the product was released 10 days before the game so that most orders would arrive before kickoff.
Chavarria said it was a “tedious” process that required approvals from several partners involved and took five months to create from start to finish. But reaching a moment like the Super Bowl offers is part of what makes the effort worthwhile. The designer has also collaborated with Adidas on a recent collection that he said similarly allowed him to connect with new audiences.
“I like those sports people,” he added. “You know, they’re less finicky than fashion people.”
Fashion’s play for the Super Bowl comes at a moment when the NFL — both the organisation and its players — is trying to establish its own place in fashion. Moses Anoh, founder of Blitzfits, a multimedia platform unaffiliated with the NFL that’s covered the fashion and lifestyles of American football players since 2020, said the league’s style has been improving. He pointed out how players such as Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce and Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts have been known to create fashion moments during game days.
“We all know the Super Bowl is a fashionable moment for the players, but it’s also a fashionable moment for the fans as well,” said Anoh, who still wears halftime show merch that was made in collaboration with Rihanna’s Fenty label in 2023.
