Glossier inks partnership with USA Basketball Women’s National Team

Dive Brief:

• USA Basketball has named Glossier as the first beauty brand to partner with the organization’s Women’s National Team, according to a company press release.
• Glossier will provide the 2024 USA Basketball Women’s National Team with skin care, makeup and beauty products as the team travels to play in Europe.
• Glossier will also have a presence at the team’s London exhibition game on July 23 ahead of the 2024 Olympics. There will also be social media content, out-of-home advertising and community engagement moments.

Dive Insight:

The partnership is USA Basketball’s first beauty partnership in its 50-year history and its first women’s specific partnership in nearly three decades.

The announced deal with USA Basketball comes after Glossier announced in March it had extended its marketing partnership as the official beauty partner of the WNBA. Glossier and the WNBA first collaborated in 2020.

Starting with its Body Hero line and legendary star Sue Bird, Glossier has promoted products with such WNBA stars as Izzy Harrison, Diamond Miller, Natalie Achonwa, Stephanie Soares and Ariel Atkins.

“We’re excited to build on our long-running partnership with the WNBA, and bring it to new heights with USA Basketball,” Kyle Leahy, CEO of Glossier, said in a statement. “There’s been a long-standing notion that beauty and sports don’t mix, and this partnership underscores the fact that that’s simply not true. The USA Women’s National Team is full of inspiring athletes with stories to tell both on and off the court, we are thrilled to shine a light on them.”

For its part, the partnership between Glossier and the women’s national team not only represents a first for a beauty company and USA Basketball, it further places a spotlight on a sport that’s recently seen significant fan and financial support at both the professional and collegiate levels.

“It’s an important time for women’s basketball in our country,” Women’s National Team director Briana Weiss said in a statement. “The USA Basketball-Glossier partnership is further proof of the growth of our sport and interest in our team.” 

A number of brands have partnered with athletes and teams recently, particularly in basketball. Clothing brand Skims last November was named the official underwear partner of the NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball. And in May, Skims launched a marketing campaign to promote its brand using prominent WNBA players like Candace Parker, Kelsey Plum, Cameron Brink, Dijonai Carrington and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

Glossier has experienced a number of changes over the past few years, including enforcing several rounds of layoffs. Its founder and CEO, Emily Weiss, in 2022 stepped down from the company and admitted the company “made some mistakes” as it scaled the business.