Louis Vuitton has signed a multi-year partnership with the NBA including a capsule collection and exclusive travel case for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
While unexpected at first, this new partnership makes a lot of sense for both the NBA and French luxury brand. The NBA is a highly respected sports brand around the globe, and its superstars can often be seen carrying Louis Vuitton bags when traveling.
The “multi-year partnership” makes Louis Vuitton the first official Trophy Travel Case provider of the NBA and will see the fashion house providing a travel case for the Larry O’Brien Trophy (given each June to the NBA team that wins the playoff finals). In addition to the trophy case, Louis Vuitton is also launching an NBA capsule collection designed by Virgil Abloh, the creative director of menswear for the French luxury fashion house.
“We have done other collaborations with other fashion houses before, but nothing at this level and at this scale,” explained Mark Tatum, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, calling the partnership unique. “We know from social media that our fans follow and are big fans of the Louis Vuitton brand. We know that they’re going to be excited about this new partnership and collaboration.”
This is not the first time Louis Vuitton teams up with another sports brand in this way. Last year, it teamed up with Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, and announced a world-first partnership bringing fashion and eSports together.
As part of that collaboration, the luxury brand designed a one-of-a-kind Trophy Travel Case to hold the game’s Summoner’s Cup. Additionally, Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Women’s collections, Nicolas Ghesquière, designed unique Prestige Skins for the game, and a capsule collection.
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