Champion wants a piece of the New York Fashion Week buzz.
On Sept. 11, the first official day on this season’s calendar, the brand will host an event in SoHo to celebrate its 100-plus-year heritage.
Called the House of Champion, the evening is being held in a space on Mercer Street in partnership with Sports Illustrated. Both Champion and SI are owned by Authentic Brands Group.
“This is new for Champion,” said Stefani Fleurant, executive vice president, sports and lifestyle, for Authentic and Champion. “It’s to celebrate the brand’s legacy and how it lives in today’s world.”
She said starting on Monday, Sept. 8, the company will begin promoting the event by planting a larger-than-life inflatable Champion hoodie in SoHo, which is also expected to serve as a touchpoint for consumers. Activations will continue through that week.
The invite-only event on Thursday night is expected to draw more than 300 “athletes and tastemakers,” she said.
Although she would not provide names of the expected attendees at this point, she said that some of the faces that are featured in the company’s new Champions for Champion campaign are likely to be there. That includes music artist The Kid Laroi, former gymnast Aly Raisman, style setter Romeo Beckham, martial arts prodigy Rayna Vallandingham, reality competition series winner and rare disorder fundraiser Jeffrey Randall Allen, Colombian actor-musician Juan Palau, K-pop choreographer Lia Kim, and freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy.
Fleurant said when brainstorming about which media platform to partner with on this event, it made sense to go with Sports Illustrated. The magazine’s credibility within the sports world, coupled with its “iconic storytelling and access to talent,” made it the ideal partner, she said.
More details about the activations tied to the event will be released on Champion’s social media channels within the next couple of weeks, the company said.
Champion was founded in 1919 and was acquired by Authentic last September for $1.2 billion. Sports Illustrated has been part of the company since it was acquired for $110 million in 2019.