The fashion and sports boom has just begun, according to Carine Roitfeld.
Players, her new sports-centric bi-annual fashion magazine, teased late last year, is officially launching in May. The veteran editor will serve as head of fashion, while her son Vladimir Roitfeld, also chief executive of CR Fashion Book, will lead the title as editor-in-chief.
The publication’s approach is best described as covering ‘sport’ from fashion people’s vantage point and ‘fashion’ from sports’ people’s vantage point. In print editions positioned as collectibles and on a regularly-updated website and social media page, Players will give sport and athletes the high-fashion treatment. It also includes a partnership arm aimed at helping fashion ride the cultural wave with an offer of custom content, events and eventually merchandise collaborations. Retired NBA player Dwayne Wade guest-edited the first issue, which will include around 6 covers featuring models, athletes, teams and other talent, on stands in May.
“There is a niche gap in the market. There isn’t any publication that creates stories with athletes that are at the level of fashion stories that we would want to see,” said Vladimir. “Because of Carine’s vision, experience and talents and my sensitivity for the two worlds, we are the perfect team to grab that.”
Recent years have seen sport and fashion become more intertwined than ever. Luxury conglomerate LVMH has inked partnerships with the Olympics and Formula 1, while NBA and WNBA tunnel walks have become something of a runway moment themselves. Hugo Boss is sponsoring athletes like American tennis player Taylor Fritz, and even Chanel now sponsors the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.
That growing overlap and a general love for sport first sparked the idea for Players in Vladimir’s head, while for Carine, getting to know athletes at fashion shows piqued her curiosity from an aesthetic perspective.
“I don’t understand the rules of football, but the look is very interesting,” she said, adding many athletes have a different approach to dressing than the typical fashion insider — which makes their style compelling: “[Athletes] are such big stars, I realised, ‘oh my god, they’re bigger than [the] top models. So many kids follow them, it’s a big strength in fashion.”
The magazine isn’t alone in trying to tap growing interest in sport. Men’s magazine GQ, for example, religiously documents what athletes wear and just upped the ante on partnerships, hosting a dinner and fashion show at the Super Bowl. There are a number of sports-and-lifestyle focussed — but low circulation — publications including tennis magazine Raquet and ZeroCircleEight, a biannual sport and style magazine launched in 2022 by former British GQ editor Elgar Johnson, featuring contributors Katie Grand and Saul Nash.
Of course, Players is gunning for a specific — and with print issues going for $40 — affluent audience. From a commercial standpoint, that’s a savvy move: in recent years, as mass market magazines like Glamour, Allure and InStyle have suffered from shrinking ad sales, independent titles catering to niche audiences have fared better.
“Athletes have never had an opportunity to work with a team and a publication with this high level of aesthetic or create an image that is something like brands are used to seeing,” said editorial director Robert Cordero, who has served as a contributor to The Business of Fashion.
While the magazine is the calling card, the commercial potential lies in the partnerships: custom fanzines, merchandise drops, dinners and digital content, said Vladimir. Players will bill itself as the premium media partner for luxury brands looking to harness the marketing power of sport — but “through a strong, elevated fashion eye.”
“Brands want to collaborate more and more with athletes, there’s such a pure, engaging and inspirational message behind their stories,” said Vladimir.
Learn more:
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