So, you’re on the hunt for new sports gear. A tennis racket, a set of dumbbells—or perhaps even a surfboard. Summer is, after all, the perfect time to get a little more adventurous. But before stepping foot into your nearest sportswear store, you might want to check in with your favourite fashion house instead. Because luxury labels have well and truly sprinted, skipped—and yes, surfed—into the sports equipment game. And no, I'm not just talking about logo-stamped sports bras or a pair of monogrammed yoga leggings. I'm talking about fully-fledged surfboards from Fendi, leather-wrapped weights by Celine, and an entire Louis Vuitton golf collection. Welcome to the era of couture cardio.
This trend has been gaining momentum for a while. “Fashion brands truly understand the power and value of sports, especially luxury brands,” says Daniel-Yaw Miller, sports and fashion journalist and writer of the SportsVerse newsletter. Sport, after all, taps into a far more specific sector than the catch-all ‘luxury lover’. In an increasingly crowded market, targeting niche groups such as golf fans, tennis obsessives, padel enthusiasts, allows brands to cut through the noise. And interest is hardly slowing down. According to PureGym’s UK Fitness Report, two million more people started exercising in 2024 than the year prior—and one in four have upped their spending on health-related purchases.
