The Real September Issue: New York Fashion Week Has Some (Tennis) Competition
The U.S. Open Grand Slam is outshining New York Fashion Week. Here's why this matters.
Fashion and sports have been playing quite well together lately. In the constant battle between fashion brands for consumers’ eyes and attention and, ultimately, their wallets, the playing field has moved beyond runways and toward sports stadiums. And the proof is everywhere.
Last year, the biggest fashion company on the planet, LVMH, announced a 10-year global partnership with Formula 1. In the U.S., both mass-market underwear brand Skims and high-fashion icon Coach are official partners of the WNBA. New Balance and Italian luxury brand Miu Miu launched a collaboration to dress American tennis champion Coco Gauff both on and off the court. Real Madrid soccer star Eduardo Camavinga walked Balenciaga’s runway. Olympian Noah Lyles walked Willy Chavarria’s. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Despite this sports-fashion synchronicity, though, there is one important time of the year when the two compete against each other. The rivalry reignites every September in New York City when New York Fashion Week coincides with the U.S. Open Grand Slam.
THE COMPETITION IS HEATING UP
Tennis viewership has skyrocketed in recent years. The Women’s Tennis Association announced that, last year, viewership increased by 10% to a striking 1.1 billion. That’s a lot of views. From a brand’s perspective, that’s a lot of potential consumers. And they know it. As one of my favorite fashion writers and author of the Sportsverse Substack, Daniel-Yaw Miller noted, “luxury brands are flooding into tennis.”
So, when the U.S. Open returns to Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens every fall, a lot of people, including fashion aficionados, are watching. But if New York Fashion Week runway shows and events are happening just a subway ride away, which will fashion folks prioritize?
I first started noticing that U.S. Open buzz was competing with NYFW’s two years ago, in September 2023. Even my fashion-focused algorithm was feeding me more fashion from the Open (Emma Watson in Isabel Marant; Justin Bieber in big Loewe sunglasses; Anna Wintour with her signature bob-with-floral-dress combo) than from the NYFW runways.
Of course, I had to see if there was data to back this up. I scraped and analyzed tons of press articles referencing fashion from both events*, and found that online sentiment for fashion at the U.S. Open was 22% higher on average than that for NYFW style.
*This specific analysis involved scraping online news and press articles via a public API, and running a sentiment analysis to assess the average positivity of each article’s language.
And this wasn’t an isolated incident. It happened last year, too. In September 2024, there were nearly 690% more online articles and press written about the U.S. Open than about NYFW, with the former generating over 20X more Google search traffic. Wow. Tennis is beating NYFW by a long shot.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
For American brands, deciding where and how to spend their time each September is more than just a scheduling decision. Do you invest in the runway, where your luxury peers and favorite fashion editors are watching, or courtside, where the audience is bigger but less fashion-centered? Ralph Lauren has managed to do both.
Ralph Lauren—one of the most prominent American luxury brands, and who consistently presents their runways in New York—is about to celebrate its twentieth year as the official outfitter of the U.S. Open Championship. Beyond dressing the hundreds of tournament ball crew and officials, Ralph Lauren also drops capsule collections Open spectators and tennis fanatics alike can enjoy, in the brand’s signature preppy, tennis-appropriate fashion.
Ralph Lauren also has a front-and-center physical presence at the Grand Slam. Last year, Vogue called Ralph Lauren’s private box at the U.S. Open, which featured guests including Usher, Andrew Garfield, and Emma Roberts, “the hottest spot during NYFW”. That says a lot, coming from Vogue.
It also doesn’t hurt that preppy fashion—integral to tennis culture—is having a big moment right now. Based on my analysis of online posts as well as Google search data, preppy fashion spiked 66% in popularity this June versus the last 12 months on average. So, for an already classic and tailored and preppy luxury American brand like Ralph Lauren, a U.S. Grand Slam is certainly its time to shine.
It’s a good idea, then, for a brand to put its eggs in the tennis basket. It’s also not that simple. With NYFW runway shows often costing a minimum of $300,000 to pull off, few brands have the bandwidth or Ralph-Lauren-sized budget to do both. But, if more brands start choosing tennis over NYFW, who—and what—could they be leaving behind?
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH NEW YORK FASHION WEEK?
New York Fashion Week’s posture on the global fashion calendar has been questioned and challenged. Historically, presenting at Paris fashion week has been seen as one of the industry’s big stamps of approval, as well as a city where designers can realize greater impact.
As a result, many New York-based designers have traded the city for the glitz and glamour and sparkly-Eiffel-tower-ness of Paris. The Row, Tom Ford, Willy Chavarria—all these prominent American brands chose spots on the Paris calendar. And this upcoming season, Thom Browne is joining them, too.
It’s great to see these brands be recognized on the global fashion stage. And it’s not like the NYFW calendar is left empty or unexciting, either. Veronica Leoni will present her highly-anticipated second collection for Calvin Klein. Coach, who is currently on a tremendous comeback arc, will show their new collection as well. Carolina Herrera, PatBo, and Prabal Gurung, too. But, designers fleeing to Paris does set a tone for what NYFW is. Or, what it isn’t.
Recently, on the latest episode of WWD’s podcast, Savage Fashion, Michael Kors—a consistent name on the NYFW calendar—stated “I think that American designers need to show in New York.” He explains that the “strength in numbers” of American brands is essential to maintain not only New York fashion’s reach and relevance, but also its community.
Kors continues to note that every fashion city has its strength. Paris has couture, Milan has tailoring, and so on. New York’s power, then, is in showcasing and building up American fashion on its own terms and on its own turf. The question is if this power can hold when September’s brightest fashion spotlight seems to be shifting elsewhere.
IN CONCLUSION…
The rivalry between the U.S. Open and New York Fashion Week, and where American designers ultimately choose to show up, will say a lot about the fashion industry’s priorities going forward. And, how it will (or won’t) reconcile with sports often presenting bigger and better opportunities to reach and resonate with consumers than the fashion industry itself can offer.
But NYFW remains such a historically important and culturally relevant moment in the fashion world, with the potential to grow even bigger and brighter and more relevant in years to come. Only if American brands decide to commit to it.
you always have such interesting takes no one else is talking about, i love it
Enjoyed so much this read!