For Coach, it’s game time.
On Monday, the New York-based label announced a multi-year partnership with the WNBA as the league’s first handbag partner, a team-up that will see the two come together for several events throughout the WNBA season and beyond.
The collaboration will be spotlighted across key season events, kicking off with the 2025 WNBA Draft on Monday night in New York, where Coach will sponsor the pre-event “orange carpet” event. Coach will also dress five of this year’s top WNBA prospects: Hailey Van Lith of Texas Christian University, Aneesah Morrow of Louisiana State University, Kiki Iriafen of the University of South California, Sonia Citron of Notre Dame and notably Paige Bueckers of the University of Connecticut for the event.
It’s a win for Coach, which has been on an upswing after a years-long effort to turn around the brand — which suffered from overexposure in the late aughts and early 2010s — and recapture its cultural cachet began to pay dividends, with revenue up 11 percent in 2024. Chief marketing officer Joon Silverstein said the WNBA in particular was an appealing partner because it serves as a “really powerful cultural arena to share new stories.”
“[Coach is] always looking for spaces where we can play a meaningful part and spark cultural dialogue around individuality,” Silverstein said. “The world of women’s sports is undergoing powerful transformation, led by a new generation of athletes who are redefining not only what it means to be a female athlete, but reshaping how identity and style show up on and off the court.”
Coach will also be an associate partner of the WNBA All Stars event in July and the presenting partner of WNBA Pride this June; a significant portion of the league’s athletes identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. The decision to do so bucks national trends, as major US companies including Target, Amazon and Meta roll back DEI programs.
“Our values around inclusivity … don’t change because of a complicated external environment,” Silverstein said. “We continue to stand by our values and it’s more important than ever to show up for our collective audiences around the world.”
The announcement also comes at a period of growth for the WNBA. The league is in the middle of a multi-city expansion — teams in Toronto and Portland are slated to debut in 2026 — and last July, the WNBA announced it had secured a landmark 11-year media rights deal with Amazon Prime Video, the Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal that was reportedly valued at $2.2 billion.
With that increased attention has come more interest from fashion and beauty. Glossier and Mielle Organics are both official WNBA partners, while just last week, Sephora announced a partnership with the league’s newest team, the Golden State Valkyries. Last year, Prada dressed top draft pick Caitlin Clark for the draft, the first time the brand had ever done so. Player tunnel walks, too, have become major marketing moments for brands.
That attention has been a boon for the WNBA, where the issue of funding is particularly pertinent: WNBA players share only 9.3 percent of total league revenue; in contrast, NBA players receive around 50 percent of total league revenue.
“More funding at the league level allows us to enhance player experience, and increased player experience means that the fans are going to see the best possible game ever,” said WNBA senior vice president and chief growth officer Colie Edison. “At the end of the day, [the partnership] really moves the needle and advances not only women in sports, not only women’s sports, but women.”
Coach will also bring the WNBA further into the fashion industry: Silverstein said the WNBA will be involved in upcoming events in partnership with Coach, including New York Fashion Week, with more details to come.
Diana Pearl contributed to this story.
Content shared from www.businessoffashion.com.
