Simone Biles Nike Snub Is a Big Win for Athleta
The gymnastics superstar’s defection to Athleta gives the Gap-owned women’s athletic-apparel chain added visibility and credibility with its core audience.
Athleta’s new partnership with gymnastics superstar Simone Biles is a real foot forward for the Gap-owned chain.
Photographer: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images
As Gap Inc. looks to vault its Athleta brand to new heights, it has struck a powerful deal that simultaneously dents a rival. The women’s athletic apparel chain said Friday that it has forged a partnership with gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, who has defected from Nike Inc. for the new arrangement that will give the Olympian her own clothing collection. Biles said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that she was enticed by the idea of teaming with a company that was “truly for women by women.”
Luring Biles as a face of its brand is a huge victory for Athleta, a small but fast-growing player in the industry that Gap has said is on track to rake in $2 billion in annual sales by 2023. It will give the chain outsize visibility at the coming Tokyo Olympics, where Biles, a dominant presence in her sport, will be among the U.S.’s most high-profile competitors. Athleta had earlier signed track star Allyson Felix, another onetime Nike athlete, who will also give it prominence at the event.