Challengers and the Art of Serving
The activewear costume choices for this tennis flick helped create a rich universe.
The Mets-Phillies London series is over and the Mets managed to win one of the games, in dramatic fashion with an improbable game-ending double play. The Sunday game, the one they won, aired in the morning here on the east coast, at the same time as the French Open Men’s Final. It was pure bliss to toggle between the two sports on a quiet June Sunday morning. Speaking of tennis, let’s dive in to the subject of today’s newsletter.
Uniqlo’s Time To Shine
I’ve previously mentioned 2024’s big tennis film Challengers in this newsletter while talking about Zendaya’s brilliant method dressing for its promotion. But now that I’ve seen the film, and loved it, I’d like to talk about the costuming choices made throughout.
What stuck out to me first in terms of fashion in Challengers was the brand Uniqlo. Mike Faist’s tennis star character Art Donaldson clearly has a sponsorship deal with the Japanese brand–just like real life tennis stars Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori.
Uniqlo has been making efforts to associate their brand with tennis for quite some time. Novak Djokovic signed on to be a Uniqlo ambassador in 2012. That relationship ended in 2018, at which point Uniqlo partnered up with Roger Federer. Federer and Uniqlo’s deal is extending past his active playing career and into his retirement. Last year, he released a collection with Uniqlo, which he designed in collaboration with Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson–who just so happens to be the costume designer of Challengers. Look at how business partnerships and sponsorships weave such complex webs.
Thank you to @lefilmara on Twitter for this collage.
If you’re my kind of dork, it’s fun to think about how Uniqlo is both a sponsor of this fictional athlete and a sponsor of the film itself. Seamless product integration mixed with metatextuality! I swear I even saw an extra in the stands of the climactic match wearing some Uniqlo. Uniqlo is just one of the recognizable brands who made a contribution to the film. Tashi (Zendaya) is seen wearing Cartier and Chanel. Art Donaldson’s sneakers are the pair that Roger Federer helped design for the brand On.
Another notable product placement (but not fashion-related) comes when the hungry and broke Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) eyes a tournament official’s gorgeous Dunkin’ Donuts sandwich. I swear I’ve never seen a bagel sandwich from Dunkin’ look so immaculate.
Zweig Style
When you can use fashion to be humorous, that is *chef’s kiss* to me. In the story of the film, Patrick Zweig is perpetually down-on-his-luck and far from living up to his potential as a tennis player. He’s nowhere near the Uniqlo deal his frenemy Art Donaldson has. The film visualizes Patrick’s much lower status with a hilarious outfit.
Nothing about this mismatched tank and shorts combo screams elite or exclusive corporate sponsorship. The plaid shorts look like boxers for crying out loud. This outfit was thrown together from unrelated collections, not meaningfully curated by marketing executives looking for a branding opportunity.
According to GQ, everyone has been “obsessed” with the Patrick Zweig clothing, which I love. I learned from this article that the plaid shorts are actually by Nike and, while extremely coveted, they are hard to find. The design dates back to the days of Andre Agassi and if this one movie outfit inspires a plaid trend in athletic wear, I would welcome that with open arms.
While the plaid shorts made me chuckle, the tank top fascinated me. The word “Impatto” appears prominently as though it could possibly be a sponsor, but it was a brand or company I’d never heard of. Googling after my viewing yielded no information. My research for this newsletter brought me to a UK GQ article in which the writer had a similar experience, “The Impatto vest refuses to be Googled. There is no information, no replicas, no whiff of an incoming drop. Even the PR had very little information.”
Jonathan Anderson’s sketch for the Zweig match outfit, in which the Impatto logo is featured prominently. (Sketch taken from GQ)
Impatto translates to “impact” from Italian. I guess that’s some sort of a clue. If the filmmakers dropped this indecipherable Easter egg onto its viewers with no hint of an explanation, then I have no choice but to respect that. It also means that we, the viewers, are free to interpret it on our own. Jonathan Anderson is quoted in that UK GQ article, “It’s just everyday wear, and it’s set in the world of competitive tennis. What I was obsessed about was that in America, Americans buy the brand. It’s McDonald’s; it’s Nike. And there are so many undercurrents in the business of being a tennis player.”
It seems, then, that Impatto is some sort of brand or company in the world of Challengers but not in our own world. At one point they maybe sponsored Zweig or he just got his hand on a shirt with their logo on it somehow. This fictional brand makes the Challengers universe even richer, and the fact that it is never addressed or explained–both within the film and its coverage–only adds to that. We don’t even know what sort of company Impatto is. Coco Gauff wears a Barilla pasta logo on her match attire in almost the same spot as the Impatto one so it definitely doesn’t have to be sports related. To me, Impatto seems like a tech brand. It looks like a brand that uses the word “innovation” in its mission statement. We know that Zweig is a rich kid so maybe this is a company that his dad invested in or owns.
What do you think the meaning of “Impatto” is?
Miscellaneous Closing Thoughts
There’s so much I could talk about when it comes to the fashion in Challengers. I’ve decided to focus on the match outfits for the two main players but it feels wrong to mention Zendaya’s character so briefly. The film brilliantly indicates the shift in status and power for Tashi from her college days to adulthood through style. In her 30s, Tashi wears luxury labels proudly and sports a chic bob hairdo. As a teen in 2006 she wears a Juicy Couture hoodie and a Jessica McClintock-esque party dress. I really appreciated the attention to detail when it came to 2006 fashion–especially as someone who was a teen in 2006. It might also be interesting to note that I was an obsessive tennis watcher around this time. Vamos Rafa!
Tashi’s blue and black party dress reminded me of my own blue and black prom dress.
Challengers Fashion Reading List
Had the idea to share a reading list of articles that helped me write this newsletter. Maybe I’ll do this more often??
“Why Is Everyone Obsessed with Josh O’Connor’s Challengers Outfits?” by Samuel Hine
“Of all that’s horny in Challengers, Josh O’Connor’s Impatto vest bangs the hardest” by Murray Clark
“From Chanel To Loewe: The Fashion In Challengers Goes Beyond Tenniscore” by Irina Grechko
“Everything ‘Challengers’ Made Us Want to Buy, From Skincare to Sneakers” by MaryFrances “Francky” Knapp
“Roger Federer, Fashion Designer” by Samuel Hine