01 Feb A guide to: Apparel brands in esports
For the world’s most established sportswear brands — as well as select fashion houses — esports and gaming are now very much on the agenda. It shouldn’t be surprising that apparel brands want to remain future-proof by reaching a younger demographic via competitive gaming.
Over the last 12 months in particular, there have been a variety of non-endemic apparel firms partnering with esports orgs to create a name in this new market, or indeed to expand existing offerings. There are also many smaller companies that are esports and gaming-first, that are growing along with the industry.
To keep track of it all, ESI has compiled a guide of apparel and fashion brands in esports, to help you navigate the ever-growing collection of partners.
Note: Esports apparel brands are listed in alphabetical order. This list will be updated periodically.
Adidas
Parent Company: Adidas AG
Country of Origin: Germany
Active in Esports Since: 2018
Esports Partnerships: Athletic apparel giant Adidas has found a new arena in which to battle its notorious rival, PUMA. Esports activations include a sneaker collaboration with Team Vitality, becoming a technical sponsor for Team Heretics, as well as apparel provider for North and GrowUP Esports. In 2019, Adidas partnered with its first individual player, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins.
Most recently, Adidas agreed a multi-year deal with G2 Esports to be the org’s sports apparel provider.
Armani Exchange
Parent Company: Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
Country of Origin: Italy
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Armani Exchange signed Italian esports organisation Mkers as a global ambassador in 2019. Armani Exchange is the main jersey sponsor of Mkers with its logo displayed prominently on the front.
Ateyo
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2018
Esports Partnerships: Founded by Rachel Feinberg and Breanne Harrison-Pollock, Ateyo was called the “Nike of Esports” by Forbes when it first launched. Since then, the female-led apparel line has partnered with Women of Esports, Team Liquid, Facebook Gaming, NZXT, and YouTube Gaming. The company is best known for its oversised hoodies.
Champion
Parent Company: Hanesbrands
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: In 2019, Champion signed a one-year deal with North American organisation OpTic Gaming in which the two parties would work together “on a number of projects,” including the creation of co-branded apparel.
EsportsGear
Parent Company: EsportsGear, LLC
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2018
Esports Partnerships: EsportsGear partnered with the Esports Awards in 2019. Other partners include U.S. Army Esports, Game Arena, Vanguard, and Team Kungarna as well as games Forward Assault and Bullet Force.
FILA
Parent Company: Fila Korea, Ltd.
Country of Origin: Founded in Italy, currently based in South Korea
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: FILA is the official apparel partner of Counter Logic‘s Fortnite team.
Gamers Apparel
Parent Company: Gamers Apparel, Ltd.
Country of Origin: UK
Active in Esports Since: 2013
Esports Partnerships: Gamers Apparel offers official merchandise retail portals for teams including Virtus.Pro, eQuality Gaming, Natus Vincere (Na’Vi), Myztro Gaming, MnM Gaming, Conquer Gaming, and Barrage Esports. Previous partners include SK Gaming, which is now supplied by We Are Nations. Gamers Apparel also collaborated with CDL team London Royal Ravens on a limited capsule collection.
Gucci
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: Italy
Active in Esports Since: 2020
Esports Partnerships: Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci officially stepped into the world of esports in 2020 through a collaboration with British organisation Fnatic. Gucci unveiled a Fnatic-branded watch that quickly sold out — despite the £1,150 price tag.
H4X
Parent Company: Moniker, Inc.
Country of Origin: Canada
Active in Esports Since: 2017
Esports Partnerships: H4X (pronounced ‘hacks’) is backed by BITKRAFT Ventures. It became the official apparel supplier of several ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters and DreamHack events through 2018. It also became an official apparel partner of the Game Awards in 2018. Its products can be found in at least 49 Macy’s stores. The company also partnered with compLexity Gaming and recruited some high-profile brand ambassadors: CS:GO player Tarik ‘Tarik’ Celik, FIFA player Mike LaBelle, Dota 2 player Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik, and Call of Duty player Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter.
H&M Netherlands
Parent Company: Hennes & Mauritz AB
Country of Origin: Sweden
Active in Esports Since: 2020
Esports Partnerships: In 2020, H&M Netherlands entered into a two-season sponsorship deal with the official Netherlands FIFA esports league eDivisie.
Kappa
Parent Company: BasicNet S.p.A.
Country of Origin: Italy
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Legacy sports brand Kappa entered esports in 2019 by partnering with Vexed Gaming, with whom it released a limited-edition collection. The following year, Chinese organisation Royal Never Give Up (RNG) entered into a Dota 2-specific partnership with Kappa. Since then, the Italian brand has doubled down on its esports presence, forming strategic alliances with Diabolus, MAD Lions, Demise, ESL Premiership, Audacity Esports, London Esports, and Tundra.
Louis Vuitton
Parent Company: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH)
Country of Origin: France
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Louis Vuitton entered esports in 2019 when it partnered with Riot Games to create a trophy travel case for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. The activation continued LV’s tradition of creating one-of-a-kind trophy cases for other sporting events including the FIFA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup.
In addition, Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Women’s collections, Nicolas Ghesquiere, designed unique champion skins and a capsule collection as well as digital items for League of Legends.
New Era
Parent Company: New Era Cap Co.
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Essendon Football Club’s (Australian rules) esports team Bombers added New Era as its official apparel partner for the 2019 season of the Oceanic Pro League (OPL). The apparel brand provided headwear, a match-day uniform, and travel clothing for the team to wear throughout the competitive season.
Nike
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2018
Esports Partnerships: American sports and lifestyle apparel giant Nike has proved to be an active sponsor in the esports arena. In 2018, Nike signed an endorsement deal with Jian ‘Uzi’ Zihao, a League of Legends player for Chinese organisation Royal Never Give Up.
Since then, Nike China became the official apparel partner of the Chinese League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and entered a multi-year deal with Brazilian esports organisation FURIA. In addition, Nike has become the exclusive apparel sponsor for SK Gaming and T1 and a collaboration partner with Vodafone Giants.
ONWEAR
Parent Company: NPCG Gaming
Country of Origin: China
Active in Esports Since: 2017
Esports Partnerships: Chinese esports apparel company ONWEAR has an apparel partnership with CIS organisation Syman Gaming, providing official team jerseys for the 2019-2020 season. ONWEAR is the apparel sponsor of multiple esports teams in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. It has also become the partner of Korean organisation Team SELECTED.
Outerstuff
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Outerstuff, a manufacturer of licensed youth-sports apparel, partnered with Misfits Gaming in 2019 to create a global esports apparel venture. The partnership includes a new line of licensed apparel for both Misfits Gaming and its Overwatch League franchise Florida Mayhem.
PUMA
Parent Company: Puma SE
Country of Origin: Germany
Active in Esports Since: 2019
Esports Partnerships: Athletic apparel giant PUMA has become involved in esports through partnerships with organisations Cloud9, Gen.G Esports, AGO Esports, ORDER, and Entropiq. PUMA’s esports lead Matt Shaw shared his insights and ongoing strategy on the very first episode of Esports Insider’s podcast series, ESI Focus.
Raven
Parent Company: Raven.gg, Ltd.
Country of Origin: UK
Active in Esports Since: 2020
Esports Partnerships: Following a successful $1.4 million (£1.13m) seed funding round, Raven struck lucrative apparel deals with the Call of Duty League and several teams, both grassroots and pro including DarkZero, SpaceStation Gaming, Rogue, Tribe Gaming, SNG Esports, as well as the British Esports Association.
Sector Six Apparel
Parent Company: We Are Nations, Inc. (previously Infinite)
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2016
Esports Partnerships: Sector Six creates and sells merchandise for a number of pro and amateur teams including Zero Chill, Animocity, and Empire Gaming. Most recently, the company partnered with ESE Entertainment to handle merchandise for K1ck Esports Club.
The Smiley Company
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: France
Active in Esports Since: 2020
Esports Partnerships: BLAST, the company behind the BLAST Premier series for CS:GO, collaborated with the Smiley Company in 2020, marking the apparel brand’s first foray into esports. The BLAST x Smiley Collection consists of a t-shirt, hoodie, and bucket hat, each with a pairing of the two brands.
SNIPES
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: Germany
Active in Esports Since: 2018
Esports Partnerships: German sneaker and streetwear chain SNIPES partnered with global esports organisation ESL in 2018 to launch a co-branded collection. SNIPES became the official fashion retail supplier for select ESL One tournaments. That same year, the streetwear chain became the official apparel partner of Berlin-based esports team mousesports. The three-year deal entailed a collection of official team apparel, as well a co-produced and co-branded streetwear-themed and “early-2000’s-inspired” collection.
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: UK
Active in Esports Since: 2020
Esports Partnerships: Tokyo Time made its first esports sponsorship deal in 2021 with Misfits Gaming Group.
ULT Esports
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2017
Esports Partnerships: In 2017, California-based esports apparel and fashion brand ULT teamed up with Versus Sports on a clothing and content collaboration. Currently, ULT offers a line of products around its partnership with Los Angeles-based esports organisation Sentinels.
Under Armour
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: USA
Active in Esports Since: 2017
Esports Partnerships: In 2020, Under Armour signed a one-dear partnership deal with Singaporean organisation Team SMG.
We Are Nations
Parent Company: N/A
Country of Origin: Australia
Active in Esports Since: 2016
Esports Partnerships: Esports merchandising company We Are Nations quickly made a name for itself and established high-profile partnerships through its main brand, Nations, as well as Sector Six Apparel. Several deals include the creation of a dedicated esports merchandise store for Cloud9, as well as apparel and merch operations for Team Reciprocity, OG, North, BLAST Pro Series, Echo Fox, FACEIT, G2 Esports, LCS, MIBR, OpTic Gaming, Origen, and the late Echo Fox.
In 2019, We Are Nations teamed up with Nerd Street Gamers to offer merchandise sales inside the company’s gaming facilities. In 2020, the company entered into a marketing partnership with Ultimate Media Ventures that would allow We Are Nations to license the intellectual property of ULT. It also entered into a partnership with footwear brand, ISlide, a long-term licensee with leagues such as NBA, NHL, MLB, NBA 2K League, and Overwatch League.
The same year, We Are Nations became a partner of Brazilian esports organisation Good Crazy founded by professional footballer Dani Alves and S2V Digital Sports.
In May of 2020, We Are Nations formed Nations Ventures, an investment vehicle for esports. Subsequent investments have included social platform Smerf and influencer merchandise firm Hypr Carry.
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