Canadian Football League (CFL) is upping its fashion game through a new partnership with online retailer eLuxe.
To attract younger female football fans, Canadian style bloggers and influencers were enlisted to create and promote Grey Cup-specific designs leading up to the CFL championship game in Vancouver on Nov. 30.
The collection, #MyGreyCup, will consist of six to eight designs on items such as tees, sweatshirts, totes, ponchos and silver jewelry. Each piece will be sold exclusively on eLuxe.com.
“CFL already has a huge female audience both at our stadiums and ratings wise,” said Christina Litz, vice-president of broadcast and media assets at CFL. “But we wanted to connect more with casual fans and we thought working with eLuxe and their group of bloggers on a limited-edition collection would be a great way to do that.”
The influencers taking part include Kate McKenna, segment host of CFL for TSN and producer on CTV’s The Social; Grace Odumo, editor-in-chief of 613Style.com; Stephanie Koch of inherited-jeans.blogspot.ca, Kira Paran of NorthernStyleExposure.com and Vickie Laliotis of AdventuresInFashion.ca.
“We know that when it comes to fashion, young women are connecting with [bloggers and influencers] on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and if we want to reach them then we have to go where they are,” said Litz.
Toronto-based eLuxe collaborates with style influencers and bloggers, including Nicky Hilton and Aimee Song, for exclusive collections. For the #MyGreyCup collection, eLuxe CEO Duke McKenzie said it looks for people who have “both a passion for the subject matter and a digital following so they can share with their fans and get everyone excited about this collection.”
Litz said CFL is relying on the bloggers and their networks to promote the collection. The league will also spread the word on its own digital channels, including its new blog TheSnap.ca.
“This project is going into places that I don’t think we’ve seen the CFL go, and quite frankly many professional sports leagues go, so we’re really exciting about the innovation around this,” said Litz. “We think the passion that [the designers] have for the collection is going to lead to passion from fans.”
In 2010 the National Football League (NFL) took a similar approach with an emphasized focus on female fashion. The league introduced thousands of new products including jeans with logos on the back pockets, flip-flops and yoga mats and paired with Victoria’s Secret and Destination Maternity to sell the items.
