How luxury brands are showing up for the Winter Olympics

Milano Cortina Olympics - rings in front of a mountain

(Image credit: Alex Pantling via Getty Images)

As backdrops go, the Dolomites is undoubtedly a breathtaking one. But for the 25^th Winter Olympics – Milano Cortina 2026 – about to start in Northern Italy, it is more than a terrain for elite winter sports athletes to show off their prowess. The mountain range has also become the scenery to some serious fashion business. During this Winter Olympics, the world of luxury fashion is also looking to make its mark on the slopes.

Big name fashion brands have been lining up. We’ve got EA7 Emporio Armani designing for Team Italy; Ralph Lauren for Team USA, Moncler for Team Brazil, and Lululemon for Team Canada.

Milano Cortina Olympics — Team Italy (Image credit: Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom / Stringer via Getty Images)

These Winter Olympics have become a cultural moment that switched on luxury and clothing brands are looking to capitalise on it. While there are established connotations with Milan and high-end fashion, Milano Cortina 2026 is elevating their presence, offering a global stage like no other.

Winter sports – originally turned into an international sensation in St Moritz in the 19^th century – have always afforded a level of glamour that many other sports can’t touch. And for luxury fashion brands, these collabs offer a new angle; different – sometimes more accessible – ranges and attire can be promoted, maintaining their luxury credentials but with a serving of practicality, performance and high-tech. Add to that the increasing desire for experiences, not just clothes or accessories, and it makes the Winter Olympics a fitting moment to tap into.

Milano Cortina Olympics - team USA playing ice hockey — Team USA (Image credit: Bruce Bennett via Getty Images)

As well as kitting out teams, luxury brands are also showing up on the ground. In Cortina d’Ampezzo, the historical Dolomites resort at the heart of Olympic activity, there is much action in the boutique space. While Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Swatch already have established stores in the town, Prada and Loro Piana have opened new outlets. And Franz Kraler, a well-established, multi-brand boutique, has renovated its store to meet the Olympic crowd surge.

With New York Fashion Week taking place at the same time, Milano Cortina 2026 isn’t the only event in these brands’ calendars. But the ski slopes offer something very different from the runway. The Winter Olympics create a heady mix for designer brands – stunning scenery, fierce rivalry, young sports stars at the peak of their athleticism, global audiences, and a degree of cool that is hard to match, and I’m not talking about the sub-zero temperatures.

Fashion really flourishes when it breaks free of the runway and is seen worn by real people

But fashion really flourishes when it breaks free of the runway and is seen worn by real people, be they celebs on the red carpet or, albeit to a decreasing extent, selected influencers. And the same will be true of the Olympic slopes. Brands pinning themselves to Olympic teams will gain that extra benefit from athletes’ individual promotion and social media feeds.

After all, much of what we regard today as streetwear – from sneakers to outerwear, from backpacks to joggers – originates from functional and high-performance technical apparel. The Olympics are a formidable setting to underscore and leverage that connection.

As sports stars are increasingly nurturing their own brand, carefully curating their social media posts and followings, their value to brands is growing. Social media allows them to build their individual presence beyond their team’s, and it gives them the freedom to show more personality, more ‘behind-the-scenes’ type content that’s so popular with fans.

It’s a powerful double act for brands wanting to use the Winter Olympics as a sponsorship and promotional vehicle. At its best, there’s the headline, corporate brand affiliation, the tournament being broadcast to a global audience by the world’s media; and running concurrent to that there’s the individual approach, the more rough and ready reality of elite competition – the pain, the dedication, the elation, the loss – the kit and equipment being put through their paces. This way, brands reach audiences across the spectrum – from the hardcore fans to the casual spectator.

The worlds of sports and fashion are increasingly meeting

The Winter Olympics may only come around once every four years, and the summer games may eclipse the Winter version on most metrics, but it is growing in impact and scale. Between 1956 and 2026, there has been a fivefold increase in events; today, there are also almost four times as many athletes.

The worlds of sports and fashion are increasingly meeting. The action in Italy is one more milestone along that journey. Only last week at the Australian Open, we saw Japanese player Naomi Osaka enter the court in an outfit more reminiscent of the Met Gala than a tennis match.

While there may not be anything quite so outlandish in the Italian Alps, the affiliated brands will be hoping to achieve real standout on the slopes to help build those all-important lasting relationships with the audience that convert to genuine brand value.

For more on the Winter Olympics see our interview with the illustrator who created the Olympics poster and with how the look of the Games was created.

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Manfredi Ricca is global chief strategy officer at Interbrand. In over a decade with Interbrand he has worked across diverse disciplines, heading the creation, management and valuation of Italian and international influential brands from an extremely wide variety of industries.

His clients include Prada, Samsung, Pirelli, Burberry, Juventus, Bulgari, Vodafone, Pagani, the Modigliani Institute, Mediaset, Moleskine, Kiko.

Manfredi’s articles, interviews and comments are cited frequently in the main Italian media, and he has been featured in international publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, The Economist and The Financial Times.

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