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Fashion brands are competing for Olympic glory.
For apparel and footwear brands, sports have always been less about medals and more about turning national pride into cultural capital, and recently, to convert Gen Z attention into long-term brand loyalty.
In Milan — one of the world’s most influential fashion cities — the opportunity presents itself again for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Games or global runway?
With the Olympic flame set to light up northern Italy next month, the marketing race for Milan-Cortina 2026 has entered its final sprint — and it’s being run in designer puffers, technical base layers and logo-forward parkas.
EA7 Emporio Armani will outfit Team Italy, a home-field moment that fuses sport and Italian fashion heritage. Ralph Lauren returns once again for Team U.S.A., reinforcing its role as the unofficial designer of American optimism, now engineered for subzero temperatures.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes from disciplines across the Games — such as snowboarder Brenna Huckaby and snowboarder/medalist Red Gerard — model a winter-white wool coat with heritage-inspired wooden toggles, along with wool trousers and an American flag wool turtleneck sweater. It’s a look that blends classic Americana with modern winter-sports style.
But today’s Olympic viewer is not only watching — they’re scrolling.
Chasing Gen Z — and their dollars
Brands are increasingly using sports as a way to reach younger audiences who may not tune in for the games alone, but will show up for fashion, celebrity and cultural moments shared across social platforms.
Lululemon’s continued partnership with Team Canada reflects that shift. Once pigeonholed as a yoga brand, Lululemon has used Olympic visibility to legitimize its performance credentials while staying relevant with a Gen Z consumer that values both technical gear and off-duty style.
SKIMS’ recent collaboration with Team U.S.A. pushes the strategy even further. Like its high-profile NBA partnership, the brand is using sport not to sell performance, but to normalize shapewear and intimates as everyday essentials — worn by elite athletes and civilians alike. Similarly, J.Crew’s Olympic-adjacent collection with U.S. Ski & Snowboard follows a similar logic, translating elite sport into accessible fashion.
The money behind the moment
While official Olympic sponsorships can cost tens — and sometimes hundreds — of millions of dollars, the payoff comes in exposure that would be nearly impossible to replicate through traditional advertising. NBCUniversal has already sold out advertising inventory for Milan-Cortina 2026, while Salomon, supplying jackets and boots for 18,000 volunteers across the Olympic and Paralympic Games, shows that real-world product placement doubles as free advertising.
Others are using the event to tap into emerging definitions of performance. Swiss sleepwear brand Dagsmejan is partnering with the Swiss National Ice Hockey Team, outfitting athletes with pajamas and eye masks, a nod to the growing wellness trend of recovery, sleep and mental well-being as competitive advantages.
Milan-Cortina’s bigger play
Milan-Cortina sits at the intersection of sport, luxury and tourism, and Italy is betting that fashion can amplify all three. With the Games expected to generate more than €5 billion in economic impact through infrastructure investment, tourism and long-term destination branding, Milan is positioning itself for a fashion-forward halo effect.
As with past host cities, the Games are as much about global repositioning as athletic competition.
For brands, the Games create a powerful alignment opportunity. Associating with the Olympics means associating with Italy itself, from its craftsmanship to its aspirational pull.
At a moment when fashion faces slowing demand, Gen Z skepticism and a fragmented media landscape, the Games offer something increasingly rare — mass attention.
Viewers may not tune in specifically for the clothes, but fashion will shape how the Olympics are experienced, shared and remembered.
