Style Points: Celebrating Black designers serving up fashion aces

Who wore what? Style Points breaks down the latest collabs, kits and fashion statements from around the tennis world.

All week long in celebration of Black History Month, Baseline has shined a light on Black voices, TV shows, podcasts, non-profits and contributors that are making a lasting impact on the sport.

This week’s Style Points features six Black designers and brands who are shaking up the tennis fashion landscape.

Ascot Manor

Ascot Manor is more than just a Black female-owned athleisure and tennis apparel company. They also invest a percent of their sales back into the community by sponsoring “highly-skilled under-resourced competitive junior tennis players”.

"I hope to help as many players as I can," CEO Ahlilah Longmire told Baseline in a 2020 interview. "The business model for Ascot Manor is a community effort. Everyone can be involved and visually see who that player is, how they are progressing. We re-invest a portion of our sales back into the business to help sponsor those who need it most. You know where your money is going."

EleVen by Venus Williams

In between winning seven Grand Slam singles titles and reaching the world No. 1 ranking, Venus Williams also earned degrees in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and in business administration from Indiana University East. She launched her brand EleVen in 2007, enfusing classic tennis pieces like tops, skirts and dresses with bold colorways and patterns.

“EleVen is not defined by being the best. It’s the pursuit of your best self,” Venus said. “This tireless pursuit is what wakes me every morning and drives me to push harder, live bolder and keep learning every step of the way.”

Serena Williams

While big sister Venus has the activewear market covered, Serena has specialized in off-court style with ventures like S By Serena and her jewelry line. But she’s also brought her bold style to the courts too, through collaborations with Nike that include her own capsule collections and partnerships with Off-White's Virgil Abloh and more.

“I have been at Nike for many years and I want to see more people in design that look like me,” she told Fast Company last year. “I wanted to cast our net further, to areas where Nike generally wouldn’t go.”

Full Court

Full Court started out as a tennis apparel company in 2014, launched by Marguerite Wade in Portland, Oregon. But they’ve since expanded their offerings with a wider selection of activewear pieces,  all in their signature minimalist style.

“I’m no Williams sister tennis pro, but I’m a huge sneaker and athletic wear buff,” Wade wrote in Into The Gloss in 2014. “Even though I was just playing for fun, I started to realize that I didn’t have anything good to wear, the pockets were all wrong and it drove me crazy.

“A friend of mine finally said, 'Somebody should do something about this,' and because I was already so used to making stuff for sets, I was like, 'I’ll do it.'”

Naomi Osaka

“Aside from tennis, my most treasured passion is fashion,” Osaka says.

Naomi Osaka has always described herself as a fashion nerd, and she’s turned her passion into a business enterprise. The 24-year-old has already shown a collection at New York Fashion Week and she was a co-chair at last year's Met Gala—and her fashion resume is only set to keep growing with regular Nike capsule collections since 2020 and high-powered collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Levi’s, Commes des Garcons and more.

Furi Sport

Based out of Brooklyn, New York, Furi Sport set out on a mission to take tennis out of the country club and into the city. Launched in 2016 by business partners Erick Mathelier and Michelle Spiro with a line of unisex sports apparel, Furi also dropped their own tennis racquet—and they even make their own strings.

“When we first said we wanted to make a racquet, people thought we were crazy,” Mathelier said in an interview with Complex. “But it’s an entry point to the Furi universe and we’ve been able to convert higher than industry average.”