SGG Weekly: Women's Day Wrap Up
PWHL Wins, Nike Narratives and Fashion's Not So Stellar Report Card
Hi Friends and Strangers,
Happy International Women’s Day! I originally planned on penning my comparison of Stefon Diggs and Jason Kelce’s style through the lens of using personal style as effective marketing and branding - but it seems a little short-sighted to give men so much attention when they already make so much money than women. So instead, we’ll wait for Monday to dive into that topic (you can check out Diggs’ new brand Liem now) and get into a few female-focused and brand-centred topics.
But before jumping in, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my re-designed site and professional services, which now include the launch of my personal styling services at MeganAnnWilson.com since my work visa has been renewed for another three years. As always, I’d appreciate a share or a recommendation too. Now, enough housekeeping that will (hopefully) make my accountant happy, onto the newsletter.
The PWHL Wins Again with See My Name
There has been so much talk about sports jerseys going downhill, between the MLB x Nike x Fanatics mess of semi-transparent baseball uniforms and awful font choices, and hockey fans nervously awaiting the Fanatics deal to take over NHL licensing next year (see a trend?) but at least - there is some good sports apparel-related news! The PWHL continues to elevate their marketing moves, this time by moving the name placards of the players from the shoulders and above the numbers - to underneath. It’s part of the new Molson marketing campaign called “See My Name” (“Faire Son Nom”en Français), with Molson decreeing that they are covering their name so it’s easier to see - the celebrate - the athletes’ name since they are often covered in hair. As per the press release:
These updated jerseys will make a special appearance for International Women's Day at the March 8th Toronto vs. Montréal game at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. This initiative will kick off a multi-year partnership between Molson and the PWHL, showing the brand's clear commitment to the league and elevating its players.
So far, the news and commercial are both giving fans plenty to cheer about, and honestly - it’s pretty great. I love that the tailor is making the jersey in the video is also a woman.
Now, it should be mentioned that this isn’t the first time a women’s hockey league has played around with name placards. The National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), which then became the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) - which was bought out to create the PWHL had the name underneath the numbers - for both merchandise and on-ice jerseys.
However, what makes this launch unique is that the PWHL is capitalizing on the new sponsorship. Nowhere on the press release does it mention that Molson was not even on the jerseys before, but merely they’re offering up a big area of sponsorship in favour of highlighting the athletes’ names. It’s smart - they are spinning it as the first marketing campaign to highlight women’s hockey, and the game that they are using as the concept test is today, International Women’s Day, March 8th, between Toronto and Montreal - two major hockey cities that also happen to be the two biggest cities in Canada (with somewhat underperforming in the post-season men’s teams - just saying). If you want to tune in live, the game will be broadcast on Sportsnet and SN+ in Canada and in YouTube in the US and internationally (a full listing of the PWHL broadcast schedule can be found here). It’s a great way to test what fans and players think - and an opportunity to potentially raffle off some of these jerseys for charity and give that money back to female hockey programs or sports programs in general and get real-time feedback from their fans. It also plays into Canadian history, as so many of us were raised on Molson Hockey Night in Canada - this is sort of the next iteration but for the women’s league too. And as someone with a lion’s mane of hair - I sort of love the option and I'm curious to see how it would be adopted with other teams and sponsor patches in the coming seasons.
Big Fashion Brands’ Sustainable Future Continues to Disappoint
The Remake Fashion Accountability Report for 2024 was released today and out of a possible score of 150 - the highest score was 40 - which is as dismal as it sounds. Remake functions as an industry watchdog, and was previously used to publish their brand directory that helped consumers shop more sustainably. It should be noted that they only audited and analyzed 52 companies whose revenue is above 100 million dollars a year - which perhaps shows that no giant company can ever be truly equitable or sustainable, especially under capitalism.
The report rates fashion companies in six different areas: traceability, wages and well-being, commercial practices, raw materials, environmental justice and governance. Brands can choose to engage in the report, which can help improve their grades by volunteering information. There were some in the sportswear space that did engage including AllBirds, Puma and VF Corporation which includes Vans, Timberland, and The North Face. Many more brands did not engage including Adidas, Lululemon, Nike, Patagonia, and REI - which is interesting since most all claim to be heavily invested in circular design and more sustainable practices. Fashion journalist Amy Oddell has a piece in her Substack today that includes quotes from Remake Senior Manager of Advocacy Becca Coughlan and it dials into the fact that Kim Kardashian’s brand SKIMS got a zero out of 150, alongside fast fashion brands like TEMU and Fashion Nova. Personally. I don’t find it surprising. the Kardashians’ have been vague about their environmental efforts for as long as they’ve been in the public eye (and getting fined for water usage) and a brand with that many SKUs and collections and retail accounts can’t fully be circular with that much product going on.
As someone who’s worked on both the front-end and back-end of product development and marketing - I find the materials, tracing and circularity areas most frustrating. It seems that lately, almost every large footwear brand is heralding their use of recycled polyester materials, often made from water bottles. However, one of the main issues seems to be the amount of product they want to create (much of which may go unsold) - there isn’t the scale to create the material.
Adidas, for example, says all of its polyester will be from recycled sources by 2024, and that it wants to switch to synthetic fibers made from recycled fibers instead of bottles. But that technology is not yet available at the volume a large fashion company like Adidas would require.
Additionally, do you know all those take-back programs telling you to recycle your product for credit? According to the report, “no company was sufficiently transparent about what happens to clothing collected through its take-back programs, such as what percentage is exported for resale to the Global South” and only one conglomerate, Fast Retailing (Uniqlo, Theory, J Brand, Helmut Lang) was transparent about how many items were being sent to specific regions.
Now, I don’t want to dissuade you from using recycling and upcycling programs or trying to buy pieces from more sustainable materials and (most ideally) reusing and repairing what you already have - but I think it’s proof that greenwashing is still rabid even at companies that appear to be more ethically minded, like Patagonia. It’s important to keep brands accountable and ideally, to set up better supply chains and systems in the future so it is not a constant game of catch-up due to the massive suppliers and sourcing that goes on for giant companies. Also, it’s a reminder that shopping for small or local brands can be more equitable, especially if they’re manufacturing locally and ideally, more transparently.
Can Nike Athletes Reinvigorate the Brand?
One of the reasons I became both a sports fan and an athletic apparel and sneakers obsessive were the stories and truthfully, for many years the brand that has led the way with storytelling has been Nike. They’re known for iconic taglines and quite frankly - the 90s and 2000s were when Nike went from underdog to the behemoth we know now. And of course, it should be noted that most of these moments were created by Wieden+Kennedy, including the first Just Do It ad.
As someone who was born in the mid-80s, it’s been interesting to see how much the brand has evolved. Many have pointed to sneaker resellers as the main problem for diluting the narratives behind footwear, but is it simply the product can’t live up to the image we buy into? Is there just too much quantity and not enough quality? Or are the athletes not as marketable? For years, Nike has been working on finding these signature athletes - lately, many have left. Tiger Woods departed in 2024 after 27 years and started his brand Sun Day Red in collaboration with TaylorMade, Roger Federer left Nike for Uniqlo in 2018 and marquee athlete LeBron James getting closer to a potential retirement age (if one more broadcaster calls him old during the game, I’m starting a fight - he only has 9 months on me!) - who leads the next generation?
I think that’s one of the reasons why Nike’s ads surrounding Caitlin Clark stood out so much. In case you were living under a rock, you probably know that Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA scoring title in February. Nike did some key media buying, placing billboards across Iowa City, detailing her story.
They also put a billboard of her shooting and later, a hoop with the tagline “This was never a long shot” on the other side of the street. Along with the commercial and tees, the effort was lauded all over social media - for a good reason. This led me to wonder - when was the last time I was this excited about a sneaker that gave me that same energy? It helps that Clark is a dynamic athlete setting records and women’s NCAA basketball is also averaging more viewings than men’s college hoops at this time.
Product-wise, Devin Booker’s debut signature sneakers, the Book 1, remain hard to get for the average fan - you can’t even properly access them on Nike’s main site. Yet, they’re constantly releasing Jordan legacy sneakers in similar colorways. For a brand that is so good at capitalizing on moments - why are they do stuck in the past when it comes to product creation? Is the company both too big to fail and to adapt at this point? This isn’t a knock on designers, developers or anyone at those levels - I’m talking about senior executives, like President and CEO John Donahoe, who I doubt will last until the end of the year at this point. I can’t help but wonder if the product will ever match the message again.
Extra Credit
ESPN is once again producing an all-female-led NBA broadcast tonight for the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game. This is the fifth time the worldwide leader is showcasing an all-women broadcast team for IWD, along with women-centred content on all their platforms. While it’s great to see the initiative containing the fact that it is only once a year and pushed as such a big deal shows the lack of time for women’s sports on ESPN and other platforms.
My sort-of alma mater (while it was Pensole Footwear Academy - for one month at Parsons and an under-publicized reality show) Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design (PLC) opened up the Foot Locker Footwear Creation Stu/deo. PLC is the first HBCU that focuses primarily on design, based in Detroit. The studio is over 5000 SQ Ft., and has according to Footwear News, “shoemaking workshops, sample making services, small footwear production capabilities and more.” The next space will focus on apparel creation and be in partnership with Champion and dedicated to the amazing costume designer Ruth Carter. Congrats to D’Wayne and the whole PLC family!
This Front Office Sports: Second Act series on Instagram has this great carousel on the amazing Alyson Felix and her footwear brand Saysh. I love that Saysh has a maternity return policy to help pregnant women dealing with swelling feet and it’s a reminder that I need to test out her sneakers soon.
I hope you all continue to have a fantastic March, I’ll be back Monday with more with a little athlete style and maybe some Oscars fashion musings. As always, if you’re looking for a product recommendation feel free to ask on social media for the next Shopping SOS edition.
Stay safe and stay true,
Megan