Style Points: FURI Sport’s Erick Mathelier wants tennis to speak everyone’s language

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

When Erick Mathelier was growing up, he thought Andre Agassi’s long hair and bold on-court style was the coolest thing in tennis. Now, as the co-founder of FURI Sport, a Black- and woman-owned tennis apparel and equipment brand, he’s aiming to bring some street cred back into the game.

“I loved Agassi, you know, with the long hair and the denim shorts with the tights underneath. That was cool,” Mathelier tells Baseline. “His sneakers, you could rock that, it didn't matter. You could go to the country club or go into a city setting and still feel comfortable.”

Mathelier, a Haitian-American and lifelong New Yorker, grew up playing tennis in Brooklyn and saw firsthand how the sport opened doors for him. “My first plane ride at 14 was because of tennis,” he recalls. He also earned a college scholarship through tennis, eventually completing a Masters degree from The New School.

But he also saw how kids, especially young Black boys like the ones in his Brooklyn neighborhood, regularly turned away from tennis in favor of sports like basketball and football, intimated by the sport’s stuffy, uncool reputation and often sky-high barriers to entry.

So Mathelier’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in. He joined forces with Michelle Spiro, a Queens native and veteran fashion executive who previously worked with brands like Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren. The pair set out to reimagine what tennis could look like if it was inclusive for players in both the country club and the city, for the well-heeled Palm Springs crowd as well as kids in under-privileged neighborhoods.

“If you look at big brands that are super successful, they're rooted in something, right? If you look at Supreme, they're rooted in skateboards, if you look at Timberland, they're rooted in construction, if you look at North Face, they're rooted in [the outdoors],” Mathelier says.

“When we were thinking through what we wanted FURI Sport to be, we always knew we wanted it to be rooted in tennis.”

When FURI Sport launched a few years later in 2018, they had their sights set on disrupting tennis from the ground up—starting with the venerable tennis racquet.

Mathelier and business partner Spiro put together a team of experts with a combined over 50 years of industry experience working with brands like Wilson and Head to create the first FURI racquets. After years of tinkering, testing and word-of-mouth growth, FURI Sport was ready to hit the courts.

“When people look at or play test our racquets, they're surprised,” he explains. “They’re like, Oh, wow, this looks like a traditional racquet, but it's been upgraded for today's game.”

The ‘Arma’ racquet, which comes in pro and lite versions, is designed for all-court players and made with a proprietary material that Mathelier says is “stronger than graphite” to provide a smoother playing experience. The result is a sleek black racquet that feels reminiscent of the classic Prince models of yesteryear, but with modern power.

“Our frame is a player stick,” Mathelier says. “Can beginners play with it? Absolutely. But people who have a certain skill level will definitely appreciate the ability to pick it up and the nuances of the stick.

“So when we're thinking through that, it's like, how do we make something different? A racquet is something that looks so simple, but to actually develop a quality racquet is super complicated.”

But creating their own racquets and strings is just the starting point for FURI Sport. Mathelier and Spiro understand that what a player wears on the court can often be just as important as the gear they play with. Elevated streetwear that’s rooted in tennis’ fashion heritage has been at the heart of the brand since its beginnings.

“We knew tennis and fashion were hand in hand, but I think at the time when we would speak to people they didn't get that,” he says. “Tennis is such a visible sport, right? If you're playing doubles or playing one on one, it's a great showcase of fashion.

“And it can also be seen as entertainment like, ‘Oh, what is this player going to wear at the next Grand Slam? What's the kit?’”

The brand’s apparel side currently includes the expected tees, hoodies and hats, and Mathelier says that performance clothing will be launching soon. There’s also called The FURI Project or TFP, a luxury capsule collection designed by creative director Luis Santos, who has worked for the likes of Christian Lacroix, Kenzo Jungle, and Paco Rabanne.

TFP takes its inspiration from city tennis and urban environments, and as such each item features stylish touches like boat necks, rib trims, cold shoulders and asymmetrical hemlines. This spring’s upcoming capsule is designed as “a stylized homage” to the four Grand Slam tournaments: the “Grand Slam Remix 2022” will feature a blue, white and terracotta colorway: blue for the Australian and US Open, white for the Wimbledon dress code, and terracotta for the clay of Roland Garros.

It’s all part of Mathelier’s effort to make tennis more approachable to a new and younger audience, by translating the sport and its hallmarks into a language that they can understand—whether it’s tapping into streetwear through limited-edition capsules designed to be collectible, or engaging the rec league veteran with an exciting new twist on traditional equipment.

“One thing with streetwear, it's all about community. And tennis is the same. I got back into the sport, because of co-founding this company, and there's such a beautiful community,” he says. “I don't think that gets highlighted enough.

“We felt like it was time for a brand to take the opposite approach. If you want to say 'counterculture', you could call it that. But definitely trying to take a different approach—not only producing good quality products, but trying to get more people interested in the sport.”