When Playa Society founder and creative director Esther Wallace pitched the WNBA on an apparel partnership in 2021, she didn’t think they would say yes.
Wallace was only three years into business and admits as a young entrepreneur, she had neither planned that far ahead nor was she ready for the league’s response.
Advertisement
“I thought I needed to have all these things checked off before I could get a partner that big, but when they said yes, it then became this kind of responsibility,” Wallace told USA TODAY Sports. “Now I kind of got this new market to create, essentially, on my shoulders and have to show everybody … this can be successful.
“That everybody else was wrong when they said you couldn’t sell women’s sports merch or WNBA merch. I felt all of that pressure kind of in my hands, like I have to carry this torch now.”
The former basketball player and coach released her first WNBA collaboration at the end of the 2021 season. By the midway point of the following year, she was at the 2022 WNBA All-Star game in Chicago selling her products. Wallace says she wasn’t overly confident in what she brought to the event ― 100 T-shirts and some shorts ― but an interaction with Hall of Famer Sylvia Fowles changed everything.
Fans were clamoring for a Fowles-specific shirt because the center was retiring, and Wallace, though still unsure of where the partnership may take her, obliged. Word of her tribute shirt reached Fowles, who found the apparel designer postgame, hugged her and thanked her for honoring the WNBA and her legacy. Wallace said the moment reminded her she was exactly where she needed to be. Fowles’ hug gave Wallace more energy to keep going and cultivate a space that wasn’t quite carved out yet.
Advertisement
“That was really the moment where I was like, this is why this is so important. This is why I was like I need to continue to build this and to continue to grow and move in that direction. That was really what did it for me,” Wallace said. “It’s the (story.) It’s not about a T-shirt. It’s not about putting product on the market. It’s about celebrating the women. It’s about this community. It’s about the stories that go untold and the players that go unseen.”
By 2023, Playa Society was growing in parallel with the WNBA, women’s basketball and women’s sports. Wallace held her first pop-up shop at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in Dallas. She describes the event as a “small room” with a “small budget,” but there was nothing small about what unfolded.
Over the course of four hours, Wallace told USA that 600 customers showed up, staying long after they purchased merchandise. People were hanging around, engaging in conversations that started with a shirt and quickly evolved into something more. Playa Society was building something special.
Advertisement
The company, one that had been bootstrapping to arrive at moments like the Final Four, had created a community. The apparel, which focused on promoting authenticity and storytelling, was now fostering those same tenets beyond the needle and thread. Wallace says soon, moments like Dallas began to happen more frequently. As the popularity of women’s sports jumped, Playa Society had the same jump.
Wallace began working with college stars like Olivia Miles and then traction in the WNBA picked up, too. According to Wallace, Playa Society became the unofficial players’ brand, finding its way from legends like Fowles and Candace Parker to current players such as Paige Bueckers.
With the stroke of Wallace’s pencil in each Playa Society design, the brand connected the past, present and future. For Wallace, that sort of impact can’t be measured. It happens organically, and many times it has happened because she leaned into her instincts and experiences.
Advertisement
“There’s so many elements of this that can’t be manufactured. Right? It’s just kind of like when you move from that authentic place, you build the authentic brand that tells authentic stories and has an authentic connection to the community,” Wallace said. “The goal is always to find those connections within culture and community. I think that’s what we’ve always done, even just looking at how we essentially brought streetwear to women’s sports in the WNBA, right? Nobody was making that connection.”
From player T-shirts to a custom court with the Atlanta Dream to a “Love and Basketball” collaboration last year, Playa Society makes opportunities happen that many others don’t see. It’s what makes Wallace and the brand special and what has helped it skyrocket in recognition and popularity. Wallace told USA TODAY Sports she wants to be “the GOAT” of T-shirts and clothing for the women’s sports space. To do that, it has to be about quality over quantity.
“I always want to make sure that I’m holding myself to that high standard, but, again, I think I just go back to, if I see Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray doing their TikTok taste tests, and they just happen to throw on a Playa Society shirt, for me, that means I’m successful in these moments because I’m creating product that they want to put on in their every day life and same with the fans,” Wallace said.
“When Angel Reese got traded, and everybody on Twitter’s like ‘Playa Society, we need that T-shirt,’ then I’m like we’re moving in the right direction because the fans and the players feel a connection.”
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Playa Society became the accidental standard-bearer for women’s sports
