Wilson reinvents an American classic with new tennis collection

Tucked away in a lush, wooded corner of the Hamptons sits Hampton Racquet, a picturesque family-owned country club where anyone is welcome.

Here, 13 Har-tru green clay courts named for neighborhoods in Queens sit side by side with four new pickleball courts, instead of fighting for space. A world-class Vietnamese restaurant is adjacent to an Instagram-worthy Kith Treats pop-up, where the viral cereal-milk ice cream desserts make for a perfect post-match refreshment. And the pro shop is packed with Wilson tennis gear, as well as with exclusive, effortlessly cool streetwear.

A private club, but open to the public; traditional, but with an eye trained to the future; aesthetic, but full of substance too. It’s the perfect setting for an up-close view of how Wilson, an iconic American brand, has reinvented itself while no one was looking.

“This has been a long time coming for Wilson, and it’s really been in the works for a while,” said Joelle Michaeloff, head of design for the year-old Sportswear division, while we watched a group of pickleballers play-testing her creations.

Wilson Sporting Goods has been a mainstay in the global sports industry for over a century. Rifle through your own closet long enough, and you might find a bright yellow US Open tennis ball, or a Louisville Slugger bat, or the famous “The Duke” football—all signature Wilson innovations. They’ve been deeply embedded in pop culture too, but almost always in a supporting role, like Tom Hanks’ famous volleyball co-star.

After 109 years as the ubiquitous sports label in the background, Wilson is stepping up its game—and hitting center court—once again.

The brand made waves last year when it announced its first foray into lifestyle apparel and plans for its first Wilson-branded retail spaces. In the fall, right in time for the US Open, they went all-in with a pop-up museum in SoHo chronicling the brand’s storied history, where they unveiled one of the buzziest collabs of the year: a capsule collection with New York City streetwear brand Kith. It quickly sold out.

The next step: carve out a niche in an increasingly crowded sportswear market, especially in a red-hot sport like tennis. As the sport’s popularity rose in recent years, so did the interest in brands looking for a slice of the action: next gen sportswear mainstays like Lululemon and Fabletics both have tennis specific collections now, and heritage brands have long been tapping streetwear names for a clout boost, like Adidas with Palace, Prince with Sporty & Rich, and Sergio Tacchini with Brain Dead.

In many ways, Wilson is already synonymous with tennis. Roger Federer, Chris Evert and Pete Sampras have won majors with Pro Staff racquets, while the Blade is one of the most widely used frames in pro tennis. The tennis balls we play with are yellow because Wilson made them yellow, appeasing TV audiences who struggled to track the ball as the pros struck it harder and faster back in 1971.

But could the company translate all that history and brand loyalty into a signature collection that played well with both hardcore tennis players and the athleisure crowd?

A subsidiary of Amer Sports, Wilson came under the ownership of athleisure visionary Chip Wilson (no family relation) in 2019. The Lululemon founder and former chairman joined forces with Chinese sportswear giant Anta in the multi-million dollar acquisition, which also included properties like ski-maker Atomic and fitness equipment brand Precor—brands, like Wilson Sporting Goods, that were known for quality gear and equipment, not necessarily for their trendy apparel lines.

“Clothing," he explained in a 2020 interview, "They don’t know how to do it."

Now, they do. And not just because former Lululemon employees dot the ranks at Wilson, from the division president Gordon Devin to the merchandising team and designers—including VP of design Michaeloff, who has also worked at Spiritual Gangster and Urban Outfitters. Tennis apparel has been the new Sportswear division’s “main growth vehicle” in the year since its debut, with a performance-focused collection dropping in May to positive reviews. It’s also due in part to the team's unwavering commitment to functionality and to Michaeloff’s hours of meticulous research in the archives at the company’s Chicago headquarters.

“I wanted this collection to honor the past while also setting the stage for Wilson’s future as an innovative sportswear brand,” she told Wilson’s Clay+Felt publication. “These pieces telegraph what is to come: a company that covers athletes in all facets of the game and in life…

“The stripe used throughout these pieces actually comes from the original Pro Staff stripe used in our original rackets and branding. It’s a nice detail that we pulled from the archives.”

For Michaeloff, drawing inspiration from a brand with such a deep and authentic history as Wilson is “a designer’s dream come true”. While we observed a pickleball player lunge-step for a short ball in kitchen—me, wondering why it’s called the kitchen; her, with laser-like focus, cataloging the way the tank and pleated shorts moved with the body—Michaeloff also hit me with a flurry of informative Wilson trivia volleys that left my head spinning.

Every piece in the on-court collection is quick drying, breathable and designed to move, she said. The only game of golf ever played on the moon? The astronauts used makeshift Wilson 6-iron clubs. Each clothing item was designed to ergonomically work with the body, and seams were minimized for total comfort. The strangest find in the archives? “Wilson hand grenades,” her eyes widened, “but dummy ones for practice,” she clarified, referring to the company’s WWII-era effort to help train soldiers for combat.

From the war front to the countless battles waged on center courts, the world has changed a lot since Wilson’s humble beginnings in 1913. The company has played a big role in changing it, too, from influencing how we play games and watch our favorite sports, to what we wear and the equipment we use when doing it.

After 109 years, an American icon is ready to reintroduce itself to the sports world once again. It begins one of the storied brand’s most exciting chapters yet.