What does an NFL fashion editor do? Until recently, it’d be hard to say. The job didn’t exist until Kyle Smith effectively created it in 2024. Having assisted Karla Welch, stylist to everyone from Justin Bieber to Olivia Wilde, and interned at Amiri, Smith joined the NFL in 2019 as a wardrobe assistant before working his way up. But with no footsteps to follow in, he’s defining how the league interacts with the fashion industry at an increasingly crucial moment in time.

As we found in Highsnobiety's new Guide to Good Sports Marketing report, the role of sports is shifting from background to center stage. 81 percent of Gen-Z participants told us sports have become more culturally influential over the past two or three years and the vast majority of influential folks we polled told us that sports is more culturally relevant than music or fashion.

In a key section of the report, we spoke with both Smith and Ian Trombetta, the NFL’s senior vice president of social, creator and content marketing, whose own studies revealed that an interest in fashion “over-indexed” Gen-Z NFL fans back in 2018. Since then, the two have doubled down on the NFL’s style-adjacency, which led to Smith’s role. 

Under Smith’s stewardship, the NFL has hosted runway shows timed to the Super Bowl, kicked off collaborations with everyone from Kith to Bad Bunny, and pushed for an uptick in players getting ‘fitted for the Met Gala or runway shows. This is vital work to establish the NFL as a fashion heavyweight akin to the NBA. 

It's a sign of the times. As the NBA’s tunnel fits become nearly as publicized as the games, a new generation of footballers are treating seasonal training like a makeshift fashion show and F1 drivers are transitioning to become icons of good taste. The NFL is on its way.

As the NFL’s growing roster of fashion-forward players pull pre-game ‘fits to rival their athlete peers, Trombetta and Smith are working to keep it grounded. Because if there’s any key difference to NFL fashion, it’s that authenticity is everything.  

Sofia Bodger, Highsnobiety’s senior strategy director: Have you noticed a change in the NFL players' attitudes as a result of this convergence between sport and style?

Ian Trombetta: Players are becoming more comfortable with expressing themselves in all kinds of ways, fashion being one of them. In a sense, we are democratizing the ways for them to become a celebrity.

It's cool to see that there's a place for everybody when it comes to fashion — even offensive linemen who weigh 300+ pounds, who typically wouldn't have seen themselves as fashion icons, can now take part. And for fans, especially new ones, fashion opens up what an NFL player represents — it gives a more complete view of who they are as people and some of the interests they have off the field.

Kyle Smith: Athletes are cultural editors. Our athletes bring so much authenticity to everything they do, so when I see a trend form in the tunnel, that's how I know what's impactful in culture.

Have you noticed a change in how brands interact with the NFL? 

Trombetta: I've seen a big shift over the last two years. Brands now understand that they need to really take note of the players' interests and incorporate the things they care about into [their work] with those players. 

In addition, players in college understand their brand value much younger. They're coming into the NFL very sophisticated when it comes to what they represent from a brand perspective and which brands they want to affiliate themselves with. There's a higher level of conversation happening much earlier in the process.

Smith: What I love about Gen Z and Gen Alpha is that they know when something feels inauthentic. Brands know that to start riding someone's coattails because they made it to the Super Bowl is not it. It’s better to catch a player right as they're drafted. When they do make it to the Super Bowl, that brand can say, “We've been there since the beginning.” 

How does sport provide more access into the fashion industry?

Smith: In fashion, you have to intern for years at the expense of your finances and your mental health. Many of the NFL players' stylists are their best friends from high school. I don't know if they would have been able to break into fashion if it wasn't for the players bringing them on.

So many kids put together mood boards of what they think players should be wearing and DM them to me, and I connect them to the player. I think it's a very fun and exciting way to break into fashion, especially because it's growing so quickly. So many opportunities are popping up left and right.

Trombetta: And it's not isolated in the big cultural centers, like New York, LA, or Paris. Players come from all sorts of places and that informs the things they like and who they are. It also brings a different view of what fashion actually is and what it can mean. There’s this convergence of really high-end, sophisticated fashion and what's coming out of all these different communities and cities that you wouldn't typically associate with the runway. 

In the bigger picture, why are people gravitating to sports right now?

Smith: I think about this every day; it's my Roman Empire as someone who did not grow up watching sports or playing sports but who’s very interested in sports now. It comes down to authenticity. It's a meritocracy. You can't fake winning the Super Bowl, and our athletes only do things they want to do, whether it’s the clothes they wear, the brands they partner with, the things they do during the offseason. It’s one of the last places, I think, where things are so authentic. 

Trombetta: Once upon a time, 30 million people were watching Friends together on a Thursday night, but that whole landscape has changed so massively. There are so many things happening in the world today and sports is that one constant.