Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans became a spotlight for apparel brands this weekend, who seized the moment to launch exclusive collections and activations that captivated fans and turned the big game into a stylish celebration.
The inaugural GQ Bowl on Friday featured a Bode runway show and brought out celebrities like Diplo, Leon Bridges, Lucky Blue Smith, Offset, Pete Davidson, SZA, Taylor Hill ,and more. On Saturday, True Religion celebrated the launch of “Own Your True,” a new campaign featuring Brazilian pop star Anitta, by hosting customization stations and other interactive activations at Sports Illustrated’s The Party.
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Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) hosted a one-day retail experience in New Orleans leading up to Super Bowl LIX, following the success of its popular licensed collection with the National Football League (NFL). The pop-up offered a robust selection of Kansas City Chief and Philadelphia Eagle T-shirts, knits, and sweatshirts, as well as exclusive products including team dresses and Super Bowl LIX sweatshirts. The fan gear was complimented by an assortment of spring denim, including barrel jeans, leopard and camouflage print pieces, and mid-rise miniskirts.
A&F is in its third season offering licensed NFL products and second with all 32 teams. While A&F dabbled in the Super Bowl last year, Megan Brophy, A&F VP of marketing, said the brand wanted to go “bigger and better” this year to match the “incredible growth” it has seen in its licensing business.
In addition to the open-to-the-public retail experience and a meet-and-greet with NFL stars Nick Chubb, running back for the Cleveland Browns, Fred Warner, linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, and Drake Maye, quarterback for the New England Patriots, Abercrombie House also held a private brunch for the wives and girlfriends of football players. The brand also hosted podcasts onsite, including The Squeeze by Tay and Taylor Lautner.
For A&F, activations like this are key to building brand awareness, especially for its role in sports. “We are playing in football culture and want people to celebrate that with us,” Brophy said.
Fashion was a central theme for Verizon’s Super Bowl LIX activation. “House of Verizon” brought exclusive experiences to Verizon customers including a showcase of streetwear brand Rhude’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection and a styling event with Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of San Francisco 49ers fullbackKyle Juszczyk and co-founder of Off Season.
Co-founded by Emma Grede, the CEO and co-founder of Good American and founding partner of Skims, Off Season launched in January with a collection of unisex puffer jackets inspired by a selection of iconic NFL teams. The brand aims to redefine sports and licensed fashion with bold, on-trend designs.
The new venture marks Juszczyk’s introduction to producing collections at scale. A self-taught designer known for her fashion-forward gameday looks, Juszczyk’s custom designs went viral last year after Taylor Swift wore a custom jacket to a Kansas City Chiefs game to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
“There’s been a learning curve, for sure. I’ve only handmade everything, but it’s been so much fun to learn about manufacturing, logistics and shipping,” Juszczyk said. “And working with Emma has been such a dream come true. She’s a powerhouse in her field and an inspiration for female entrepreneurs.”
Local Flavor
The Verizon event leaned on locally owned small businesses, including a vintage football marketplace curated by Swamp Rags, a vintage retailer that specializes in T-shirts and pop culture merch, located in the heart of the French Quarter.
Many brands launched initiatives that tapped into the host city’s unique culture by incorporating local creatives and business owners.
“There are always events in New Orleans, but the Super Bowl is a whole other level,” said Chris Olsen, co-owner of Swamp Rags. The retailer had about two months to pull off the project after one of Verizon’s production crew visited the store while he was in town for a wedding. “Verizon could have very easily gone with a national retailer like eBay as a partner, but it’s really great how they brought in businesses like ours. It helps us so much—it helps the whole local economy,” Olsen said.
Game-worn jerseys, classic Starter jackets and signed pieces were among the vintage gems the retailer unearthed.
“We realized the scale of it in the last six weeks, but luckily, we were able to work together with a lot of friends and other people from the vintage world who helped us source almost 1,000 pieces,” Olsen said. “It all had to be licensed NFL, so it was difficult to find all that. There was no licensed Super Bowl stuff from the ’70s but there is a bunch of parking lot bootlegs which are really cool.”
Local businesses are the backbone of Origins: An NFL Collection, a grassroots program where the NFL works with designers and artists prominent in their city to create Super Bowl collections. Liana Bailey, the NFL’s communications manager, said the collaborators are encouraged to combine their creative vision with the Super Bowl logo and NFL IP.
For its fourth collection, Origins linked with art and stationery brand Statement Goods, artist Jerin “Jerk” Beasley, and Sneaker Politics, a Lafayette, La.-based clothing and sneaker boutique, to develop three capsules featuring T-shirts, hoodies, varsity jackets, pins, pendants, and art prints.
The collection launched at a popup in Sneaker Politics’ recently expanded store in the French Quarter.
“It’s really cool for us to put the NFL badge alongside our badge. We’re very proud of that,” said Andrew Koerner, Sneaker Politics brand president. For its collection, Koerner said the retailer was inspired by New Orleans’ grittiness and color palette. It also took into consideration the types of garments and fits that resonates with its base, and the popularity of ’90s-era graphics.
For his range of graphic tees and hoodies, Beasley pulled inspiration from his painting of Mardi Gras Indians. He reimagined the decorated shields the Indians use in parades by incorporating the NFL shield, and chose to use soft cotton fabrics, heavy lacing and tactile prints to emphasize the feeling of wearing art.
“The NFL is one of the biggest brands in the world. So, by them reaching out to me to be one of the three wonderful brands, it means a lot,” he said. “This doesn’t come easy, so in my mind, I have to take advantage of it, and while we’re on this big stage, I have to represent New Orleans.”
Each year Starter commissions graphic designer Brian Begley to create graphics that capture the essence of the Super Bowl city. The Big Easy provided endless inspiration for this year’s products.
“New Orleans is a special place, the community, the culture, the art, the connection the city has with fans, this city lives and breathes passion. Being here allows Starter to tap into that energy and create some really cool moments for fans,” said Carl Banks, president of G-III Sports and two-time Super Bowl champion.
For Starter, the big game was an opportunity to release limited edition collaborations including the Crown Royal x Starter NFL Super Bowl LIX satin jacket—a style exclusively available in New Orleans at The Starter x NFL Shop. The timeless jacket fuses football with the city’s cultural symbols including Mardi Gras-inspired colors and patterns that evoke the designs of the French Quarter’s balcony ironworks.
The two heritage brands are donating 100 percent of the jacket’s proceeds to Foundation for Louisiana. They celebrated the launch with an invite-only party featuring an intimate performance by local artists Juvenile and Mannie Fresh. “You can’t get more New Orleans than that,” Banks said.
Banks said the jacket taps into one of the essential qualities of a successful collaboration: authenticity. “Having a successful collaboration is all about having an authentic moment that organically drives excitement with consumers,” he said. “Watching a great game often includes sipping on a favorite drink. They go hand in hand. It’s a perfect fit, but it’s still unexpected and exciting.”
Sport Trends
Starter plans to ramp up its presence in college sports. “As we embrace the heritage of Starter and its significance in sports, we see a wealth of opportunity in the college arena,” Banks said. “The brand’s rich legacy and historic role in collegiate championships make it a natural fit for deeper involvement at the college level.”
Comfortable fabrics and vintage-inspired designs are a winning combination for A&F. “Vintage is what makes our product different than a lot of products they can get on the market,” Brophy said. “But I think what we’re learning is, how do you provide products that’s for every type of fan, from a real aggressive fan who wants to stand out with graphics, to someone who wants something that is little more minimal and quiet but still lets them celebrate.”
Licensed apparel will continue to play a part in A&F’s brand elevation story. Brophy said the brand renewed its licensing agreement with NFL for the 2025 season and will continue to expand its offering for men and women, as well as add more kids and pet accessories. “We’re really just continuing to listen to the customer and let them tell us what additional products they want in the space,” she said.
Don’t expect Off Season to “shrink it and pink it” for its women’s fan gear. This year, Juszczyk said the brand will address the gap in the market for trend-forward designs with more feminine tops and different bottom options.
Though she’s unsure why it’s taken brands this long to take women’s team fashion seriously, Juszczyk said a shift is taking place in the category. “It takes time for things to change,” she said. “The whole world is changing when it comes to female sports, whether that’s sitting in the stands watching female sports or are a female athlete.”
