Milano Cortina Olympics 2026 are ready to start. Fashion brands are too, as their love for sports is not simply a business matter…there is more! 

 

Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games have just kicked off, despite the city of Milan having already put on its best dress at least a month ago when the Milan Menswear shows took place at the beginning of January. But the phenomenon is a sign that there’s more beyond sponsoring, mass sports, and global engagement. It’s a matter of “attention economy”.

The arrival of the Winter Olympics has already fueled quite some controversies, like unfinished building works in Milan’s infrastructure and environmental damages in Cortina and surroundings. 

They talk about at least 500 larch trees being felled to build a bobsleigh track in Cortina and extremely high water and electricity costs to keep the race tracks snow-covered, given that snow is scarce and, even in the future, these locations will see increasingly less frequent snowfall, meaning that the costs associated with their construction will be increasingly difficult to recoup. 

Within the overall turmoil generated by the event, the fashion industry saw an enormous potential to be part of this happening and definitely chose to be a protagonist of the event.

Giving the go to celebrations was an event held in October 2025 by #Rinascente department store disclosing the giant ermine mascots, and in January 2026 within Milan Menswear shows. 

#EA7Emporio Armani—partner of the Milano Cortina Foundation and Official Outfitter of the Italia Team—hosted a huge party at the Milan Emporio Armani store in Via Manzoni, and other events are taking place throughout the city for the duration of the winter sport kermesse.

While launching an advertising campaign featuring Italian ski champion Sofia Goggia as ambassador, as per tradition, the brand has designed the official uniforms that the athletes will wear during the opening ceremony tonight at San Siro Stadium, reiterating its active participation in an event eagerly awaited by both the public and sports enthusiasts.

During the January first party, special effects and “icy” emotions pervaded the air. The Emporio Armani store was completely transformed to convey the energy of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games and to narrate, through an immersive experience, the brand’s role and vision.

The façade was illuminated by a dramatic lighting display, and a large cube of ice positioned in Via Croce Rossa slowly melted to reveal the Italia Team uniforms. Inside, sounds, scents, images, and LED walls guided the various moments of the evening, culminating in the exclusive preview of the new video campaign dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic athletes of Italia Team. Interactive installations, a live performance, and a DJ set by Shablo completed the event.

Other strategic locations across Milan will be involved. A dedicated area of the Triennale is hosting installations and multimedia content that illustrates the evolution of the collaboration between the brand and the Italia Team, which began in 2012, while in Piazza Duca d’Aosta, near the city central railway station, Casa EA7 will host a space where visitors can rewatch highlights from the previous day’s competitions and will also be a hub for sports storytelling and conversations, featuring video content and podcasts with athletes, and special guests, among many other events also involving the brand’s Bamboo Bar and the Armani Hotel.

Also during the last menswear shows, K-Way, the sports brand part of Basic Net Group, hosted a series of events meant to declare their love for mountain sports. The company’s Milan headquarters hosted a series of events open to the public involving consumers with round tables, activations, and other initiatives throughout the men’s shows. In addition to very technical outfits that are part of a dedicated functional skiwear collection, they also hosted après-ski looks and a capsule collection designed with Scotty James, the four-time snowboard worldwide champion. The capsule also includes breathable high-performance jackets and trousers (a 10,000-millimeter Durable Water Repellent jacket able to resist to the hardest weather conditions).

More examples can be added to this list, as, for instance, #RalphLauren has designed  the US team’s opening and closing ceremony uniform, and #Moncler will unveil itself as the official sponsor of the Brazilian Olympic Committee for the opening and closing ceremonies. Co-designed by Moncler, under the creative direction of Remo Ruffini, alongside iconic Brazilian creative Oskar Metsavaht, the uniforms celebrate the spirit of Brazil, blending bold symbolism with Moncler’s performance-driven expertise.

The love story between fashion and sports is a never-ending one, as it fuels emotions like a sense of relaxation and wellness and the desire to train and improve one’s physical fitness for today and future longevity while wearing functional but cool clothes.

Joining sports communities is also part of the game and makes one experience a sense of belonging. This happens with runners’ communities, as people can run in groups and share experiences and new records and feel part of a community, as it happens in many cities like London, with Mark Batista’s Progress Running Club store selling fashion and technical apparel for running, just to name an example of the “attention economy,” as #OmarBailey, an appreciated US sneaker designer and founder of the sneaker brand FCTRY LAb, recently explained in one of my interviews.

“Right now we live in the ‘attention economy’ era. So everyone is trying to get the attention of an audience. But the way you do that today is you have to build a community and seek out the people who support your vision and believe in what you’re doing,” he added.

That’s why many brands, while offering many functional brands offering top-quality performance, are also building real communities around a deeper purpose.

“It’s not about chasing hype or followers anymore. The brands that will last are the ones that are rooted in something real, where the values are clear, lived, and shared by the people who engage with them,” recently explained Rocco Scazzariello Scazzariello, an Italian consultant working for many international sportswear brands.

“Engaging consumers by expressing your ‘ikigai,’ a Japanese word that conveys the idea of understanding why you exist, what you love, and what impact you want to have. That’s what creates a lasting connection with people,” he added.

These are also some of the reasons why luxury brands are increasingly exploring more new paths in activewear. 

For this, Archive, the company controlled by the holding company of the Ruffini family, owner of Moncler, has acquired a minority stake in Pas Normal Studios, a Danish brand specialized in technical cycling apparel, and the Zegna Group has taken a stake in the trail running sneaker brand #Norda, while David Wertheimer, heir of the family that owns the #Chanel fortune, has invested in the activewear brand #Satisfy.

Showing your love for what you do is the new fuel that can save fashion and luxury.