Today’s athletes are not defined solely by goals scored, records broken or championships won– they are building personal brands, influencing fashion trends and reshaping global culture.
Oakley is celebrating this shift in sportsmanship through its first sportswear collection and eyewear with Jaylen Brown and a signature eyewear from Kylian Mbappé.
The Era of the Athlete-Creative
From NBA players arriving at arenas in designer tailoring to footballers turning their arrivals to stadiums into style moments, athletes have become some of the most influential figures in contemporary fashion. Their reach extends beyond sports into music, luxury brands, streetwear, and digital culture.
Oakley’s Players Collection taps directly into this shift by co-creating with athletes shaping sports culture.
The initiative features two stars operating at the very top of their respective sports: NBA champion Jaylen Brown and football icon Kylian Mbappé. Both represent a new generation of athletes, equally comfortable discussing mindset, culture, fashion, and community as they are discussing performance.
More than Eyewear
The Kylian Mbappé Series Permian is a bold piece of lifestyle eyewear with a hidden personal touch.
The design incorporates the coordinates of Bondy, the Paris suburb where Mbappé grew up, engraved along the temples. His signature KM logo appears on the lens itself, turning the frame into a visual autobiography, referencing the place where one of football’s biggest stars first fell in love with the game long before the trophies, endorsements, and global fame.
In an interview with SoccerBible, Mbappé reflected on those early years, “In Bondy, football was pure freedom.” That sense of joy remains central to his story.
Long before he became one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet, football was about playing with friends, scoring goals, and finding happiness through the game.
The Permian channels that journey, connecting his global status back to the neighbourhood that helped shape him.
As Mabappé explains, style itself has become an extension of identity, “Style is a signature. These glasses are more than an accessory – they carry my roots, reflect my journey, and define how I move forward.”
In an era where athletes are expected to communicate who they are beyond competition, the message feels particularly relevant.
The Rise of Playertopia
The collection also sits within Oakley’s wider Playertopia universe, a campaign built around the idea that performance doesn’t begin at kick off. Instead, it acknowledges the broader ecosystem surrounding elite athletes – the preparation, mindset, creativity, and self-expression that often goes unseen. According to Mbappé, that’s where much of modern sports now lives.
People see the 90 minutes on the pitch. They don’t see the rituals beforehand, the mental preparation, the personal style, or the confidence that helps athletes perform at the highest level. Fashion has become part of that equation.
What athletes wear today communicates ambition, personality, values, and identity before they step out on the field or court.
Jaylen Brown’s Vision of Performance
Oakley’s first sportswear collection created with Jaylen Brown, one of basketball’s most fashion forward personalities, reinforces this idea.
Built around a rich cocoa-brown colour palette and featuring Brown’s personal logo throughout, the collection is anchored by the Oakley highland Jaylen Brown Signature Serise frame with Oakley’s PrizmTM Ruby Lenses, merging sportswear, utility, and lifestyle design into a single identity.
Pieces such as the Latitude Soar Parka, Reserve Memento Vest, Reserve Utility Bag, and Highland Signature Series eyewear are designed to move between environments rather than be confined to sport.
For Brown, performance, creativity, and identity are all connected. The collection reflects that philosophy, creating clothing that functions as both athletic equipment and personal expression. Athletes today don’t compartmentalise who they are; their performance, style, values, and creativity exist as one ecosystem.
Modern athletes are defined, more and more, by how they express themselves both on and off the field. This is where culture is being made.
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