Formula 1's Fashion Crossover is Peaking

We track the sport's rise to New Luxury status.

The sport of speed, Formula 1, is fast becoming a cross-cultural powerhouse, driven by rising global viewership and race attendance. It generates multi-billion dollar revenues and has a rapidly evolving relationship with the fashion industry. 

While the long-standing heritage of the sport’s teams - like Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren - has provided its rich cultural backdrop for several decades, the rising star power of its most prolific racers – such as Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris – and collaborations including PUMA and Rhude, has seen its cultural clout grow exponentially, bringing Formula 1 into New Luxury’s orbit. 

In this piece, we track Formula 1’s rise to New Luxury status and examine its fast-growing fashion crossover.

History.

Although Formula 1’s mainstream popularity has intensified in the past decade, heralded by what many recognise as the sport’s new era, it’s steadily risen since its inaugural World Championship in 1950. 

Throughout the sport’s history, the heritage and evolution of its participating teams, most notably Ferrari, have provided a rich cultural backdrop for the race season, elevated by its driver, not unlike elite-level European football. 

Ferrari, a manufacturer globally synonymous with speed and luxury, has competed in every F1 season since 1950, earning it the same sporting prestige as the most decorated team in Champion’s League history, Real Madrid.

As the sport grew in popularity, its drivers–including legends like Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss–became stars in their own right; unlike the teams, however, their cultural relevance beyond the niche of F1 was limited.

On the commercial market, the luxury vehicles of Ferrari (and Mercedes from 1954 onwards) were desirable status symbols, but drivers were yet to reach mainstream levels of celebrity. 

With the sport gaining traction throughout the 70s and 80s, boosted by increased television coverage, the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, as depicted in 2013’s critically acclaimed movie “Rush,” would set the stage for Formula 1 as a cultural hotbed.

This, in turn, would mark the beginning of F1 stars becoming cultural icons, setting the stage for the global brand recognition attained by contemporary drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris. 

A new era.

As Formula 1 broke out into new markets, such as Asia and the Middle East in the 90s, the sport would welcome McLaren into the fold and see the era of Michael Schumacher’s dominance with Ferrari. 

F1 had permeated global markets by this point, with its strong footing attained through TV deals and huge commercial successes. The late 2000s saw the emergence of Lewis Hamilton, with the preceding years marking his rise to superstar status, accelerated by the rise and dominance of digital media, which has seen the sport pull a global average race viewership of ~70 million and a YoY revenue of $3.2b in 2023.

From the 2010s forward, F1’s cross-cultural relevance would explode, heralding its New Luxury brand status.

Achieving celebrity status.

Lewis Hamilton’s streak of dominance has seen him asserted as the face and a global ambassador of F1, in the same vein as Ronaldo and Messi in European football and LeBron James in the NBA. 

Boasting 37 million followers on Instagram and becoming a prominent voice of activism concerning racism, representation, and sustainability (which speaks to the New Luxury tenants of sustainability, diversity, and accessibility), he’s been a massive driver in Formula 1’s growing mainstream success and cultural relevance.

As his career successes have aligned with the sport’s leading teams–McLaren, Mercedes, and soon Ferrari–he’s become one of the most globally recognised sports personalities.

Thanks in part to being tied with Michael Schumacher as the most decorated racer in history with seven World Championships and a personal style featured in publications like Highsnobiety, WWD, and GQ, he’s served as the perfect vessel for F1’s cross-pollination into fashion. 

Like the biggest stars of the NBA and top-flight European football, Lewis Hamilton’s pre-race looks (including everything from Balenciaga to Diesel and Dior) have become as much of a draw to media outlets and social media as the sport itself.

Through Hamilton, fashion found footing in Formula 1 with his 2018 TommyXLewis collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger and long-standing partnership with Hugo Boss, bolstering the relationship between both industries. 

Collabs.

In football, collaborations have proven integral to the cross-cultural success of the sport, and the same can be said of Formula 1, as its drivers and teams connect with leading fashion brands.

The current era of the sport has been a hotbed of fashion collaborations. In 2022, McLaren stepped into the world of luxury fashion alongside Rhude. First teased at Paris Fashion Week in 2021, the collection saw the leading motorsport brand appear alongside the most prominent luxury fashion brands and released to massive commercial success.

At the close of 2023, PUMA, a long-standing partner of Formula 1, announced ASAP Rocky as the Creative Director of its F1 division, with apparel and accessories launched (and swiftly sold out) at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. 

The multi-year licensing deal between PUMA and Formula 1 currently offers a dedicated Motorsport range, including Ferrari, Mercedes, and BMW team replicas, F1 apparel, and a full Mercedes-AMG F1 lifestyle collection.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix, which marked a new milestone in the global acceleration of Formula 1, also marked the arrival t of Palace and Kappa’s joint sponsorship of Alpine, marking the streetwear and sportswear giants’ F1 debut. 

Earlier this year, Red Bull Racing announced the launch of a ready-to-wear collection with Pepe Jeans, while Mercedes-AMG F1 tapped into a threeway collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger and AWAKE NY. 

Bridging the gap.

Although collaborations have served as the backbone of F1’s strides and successes in fashion, Red Bull GmbH’s AlphaTauri (set to rebrand to RB for the 2024 racing season) has led the sport’s fashion exports through its eponymous apparel brand. 

Launching in 2016, AlphaTauri has been pivotal to F1’s relationship with the fashion industry, and the sport’s New Luxury evolution. In line with the tenants of New Luxury, AlphaTauri has utilised sustainable production like 3D-knit technology since its inception, offering a zero-waste knit solution that cuts fabric use by up to 30%. 

Technology and innovation sit at the heart of the brand, like its racing counterpart, with heatable coats created in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom and Schoeller Textil AG, and the in-house TAUROBRAN waterproof membrane making the brand a real contender amongst long-established technical fashion brands. 

AlphaTauri’s success over the past 8 years has seen it open a flagship store in the heart of London, signalling the rise of F1’s fashion crossover within the mainstream, and a continued rise as the sport’s cross-cultural pollination peaks. 

Future.

This upward trend of collaborations between notable New Luxury fashion brands and Formula 1 will continue to peak as events like the Las Vegas Grand Prix have become huge cross-cultural events attended by the biggest names in fashion, music, and sport.

The scale and scope of collaborations will continue to expand, with more fashion brands looking to establish equity within Formula 1 as they have with football. We should expect brands with greater cultural clout to seek opportunities to tap into the sport’s fast-growing global market, utilising new opportunities, such as the Las Vegas Grand Prix, to expand their consumer base. 

One thing is for sure—Formula 1’s relationship with fashion is only just beginning.