Inside Prada's Subtle Anthony Edwards Relationship
The Atlanta-born, trash-talking, 23-year-old NBA star has become a surprise unofficial ambassador for the Italian luxury house. Here's why it's smart business.
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In years gone by, the luxury fashion industry held athletes — especially those of the less polished and not-so-media-trained variety — distinctly at arm’s length. Brands weren’t sure how to effectively work with athletes, nor were they able to reconcile their exclusive products and luxurious messaging with the rugged nature of sports stars and sports fandom.
Even now, with the sports and fashion industries so deeply intertwined, it’s still surprising to see certain brands (who years ago may have run the other way) working with certain sports stars.
Anthony Edwards and Prada is the perfect case study.
At face value, the two don’t belong in the same universe.
On the one hand, you have Prada: the prestigious Italian luxury house known for its $1,000 loafers and nylon handbags.
On the other, there’s Antman: the Atlanta-born, trash-talking, dunking, 23-year-old NBA star, Olympic gold medalist and Minnesota Timberwolves guard.
A Smart Alignment
Over the past few weeks and months, I’ve noticed Edwards increasingly signalling some kind of affiliation to Prada through a series of posts on Instagram and X.
There have been tunnel ‘fit posts showing off full outfits from the brand, like the one earlier this week wearing an all-Prada look including a gold shirt and short set, complete with white socks and loafers. The post was captioned “Standin on bizness” and tagged the official Prada Instagram account.
A January post showed him pulling up to a game in a white Prada tracksuit, with the accompanying caption “so much Prada u ain’t gotta be proud of me,” again tagging the brand. My personal favourite is a picture of Ant holding his child in one hand and a new leather cross-body Prada bag in the other. The caption: “Prada got me right! This bag too hard #Prada.” And late last year, Ant was pictured in a photoshoot for an Interview Magazine feature wearing a denim Prada set.
Prada did not respond to my request for comment on the specific nature of the brand’s relationship with Edwards.
But it’s clear something’s going on here, whether it’s an informal relationship where the brand is gifting him or his stylist products in exchange for social media posts, or if this is a prelude to a more formal ambassador-style relationship between Ant and the brand.
Either way, it’s very unlikely that Edwards is buying Prada outfits himself and giving the brand free social media exposure for the sake of it.
Low Risk, High Reward
These days, luxury houses increasingly prefer to work with rising sports stars incrementally, dressing them for key events and seeding them products to explore whether they’re a good fit for an ambassador role down the line. Louis Vuitton, for example, dressed Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham at several red carpet events for at least a year before formally announcing him as an ambassador of the house in August 2024. It’s a lower-risk way of working out if an athlete is the right fit to be an official face of a brand, before having to invest big money in a multi-year endorsement deal.
But Prada aligning with Edwards in this way is a smart play. He has already proven himself to be the single most effective athlete-turned-product marketer in the world of sports. What brands crave more than anything in ambassadors of any kind, is personality and authenticity — two things that are very hard to come by among celebrities or athletes who have been PR-trained since their early teens. Luckily, Ant only knows how to be Ant. His bubbly, competitive, larger than life personality and pride in his Southern heritage shines through on and off the court.
This is the man who jokingly told Barack Obama to “stand down” during the Olympics last summer. This is the man who singlehandedly helped Adidas become a genuine force in basketball over the past 18 months, playing a starring role alongside his best friend Nick in a series of Oscars-worthy commercials for his AE 1 signature shoe — without a doubt last year’s sneaker of the year. It’s for these reasons and many more that he has unquestionably become my favourite athlete to follow in recent years.
At 23 years old, he has his best playing years still ahead of him and is widely considered one of the younger standout representatives of the NBA, alongside the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum. And what’s more, Edwards is not without his fair share of controversies, which (in healthy doses) also adds a little edge and appeal to his public persona.
For Prada and his other brand partners — official or unofficial — he is a walking billboard, with an Instagram following of over four million. Prada’s subtle relationship with Edwards allows the luxury house to tap further into the world of basketball culture and the ever-growing popularity of the tunnel walk, using one of the game’s most dynamic and engaging stars.
While many other brands have flocked to the sport in recent years, Prada has picked its moments more carefully. When Caitlin Clark wore a Prada outfit to the 2024 WNBA draft, it was the first time the brand had officially dressed any player for draft night, male or female.
Prada working with Anthony Edwards is certainly an unexpected play, but no doubt one that other high-end brands will be kicking themselves for not getting to first.
That’s all for today, friends. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Until next time!
DYM
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