Pro Leagues and Teams Appreciate Hard Work(wear)

Workwear brands have increasingly become key partners for pro leagues and their individual teams, especially over the past few years. The leagues are looking to be ever more fashion-forward, and workwear fits right in with streetwear trends, while also maintaining continued loyalty from consumers who rely on these rugged pieces at the job site. There is often significant overlap between fans of the teams and leagues and customers of the brands, including both the fashionistas and the core worker base. 

The partnerships take a variety of forms, from official gear and sometimes associated licensed products to sponsorship, advertising, and marketing initiatives. Notably, the brands often emphasize their roots by focusing not on the athletes but on the behind-the-scenes workers that make live sports possible. 

Here are a few of the workwear brands that have been active in this sector of late:  

• Carhartt. The company just last week launched a new entry to its “Made Possible” campaign, celebrating tradespeople and laborers with a 30-second ad, amplified on social media, about the construction workers behind the NFL’s Buffalo Bills’ new Highmark Stadium, which opened this year. The campaign, which also included rally towels featuring the names of stadium workers and in-stadium advertising at the team’s first preseason game, drives viewers to its Join the Trades landing page. In 2025, Carhartt paired with the NFL’s Detroit Lions for a similar, multi-year partnership — both are based in Michigan — to elevate the hard-working spirit of the city’s people, and of the two brands. (Carhartt is also the official apparel provider for the grounds crew of the Detroit Tigers and the Ice Crew of the Detroit Red Wings.) The company has also, since 2017, produced pro sports–licensed caps in collaboration with ’47, a licensee of the leagues and Carhartt. Starting with Major League Baseball, the program expanded in 2025 to include the NFL, NBA, NHL, and colleges. 
• Strauss. This German workwear brand, a leader in the space across Europe, began working with Premier League soccer/football clubs Fulham FC, Everton FC, and Nottingham Forest, at the end of 2025, building on an existing partnership with Liverpool FC that began in 2024. The brand serves as the technical workwear and safety apparel provider to the operations teams, matchday personnel, and facilities staffs at the clubs’ respective stadiums. Strauss also works with the European soccer governing body UEFA and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs as their official workwear partner for Germany, and is the batting helmet sponsor of MLB. 
• Brunt. Last year, Brunt partnered with the NHL’s Boston Bruins, their arena, TD Garden, and the 90-worker-strong TD Garden Bullgang. The latter is the crew that transforms the arena from hockey to basketball, and vice versa, as well as overseeing the Bruins’ equipment and managing the facilities. The brand serves as the official outfitter of the crew. Just before this deal, Brunt partnered with the NFL’s New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium, and the Gillette Stadium Field Crew in a similar initiative, and also has sponsorships in other sports including NASCAR and the Professional Bull Riders. 
• Jonsson Workwear. Jonsson partnered this month with Cricket South Africa as the front-of-shirt sponsor and official supplier of workwear and other apparel for the organization’s men’s and women’s teams, the Proteas. Separately, in 2025, it was named the front-of-jersey supplier for the pro football/soccer club in Durban City, where it has its headquarters. 
• Mascot Workwear. Based in Denmark, Mascot renewed its partnership as the official workwear and safety footwear provider of British club Sheffield United FC in July and has been a front-of-shirt sponsor with the Shamrock Rovers, an Irish football club, since January 2023; that deal was also extended this year.
• Dassy. The Belgian brand dipped its toes into sports sponsorship as the sleeve sponsor of Dutch club FC Utrecht’s first team and Young FC Utrecht, in a deal first forged in 2019 and renewed in 2022. 
• Clothes2Order. This custom workwear supplier, based in Manchester, U.K., was named the workwear provider for FC United of Manchester in 2024. Not to be confused with Manchester United, this is a semi-professional, fan-owned club playing in the Northern Premier League. Clothes2Order was charged with outfitting maintenance, hospitality, and pitch-side crews. 

This is not a comprehensive list, but it helps illustrate the substantial — and growing — presence of workwear brands in the activities of pro sports leagues and teams.