Vuori, a key brand in surf, outdoor, lifestyle, and other channels, is making a major push into the tennis world.
The Encinitas, California-based activewear company announced this week that it has signed up-and-coming British tennis star Jack Draper as a global brand ambassador. Draper, known for his increasingly powerful tennis game, his polite and unassuming demeanor on the tennis tour, and his model good looks which draw many admirers to his matches, is currently ranked No. 5 in men’s globally. He has reached as high as No. 4.
Draper is debuting his new Vuori kit at the US Open Tennis Championships this week in New York City. Vuori signed Draper, previously with Nike, to a multi-year deal and said he will eventually have his own signature line.
Vuori founder and CEO Joe Kudla told The New York Times in an interview that tennis players started wearing the brand before Vuori decided to make a major move into the sport.
“We didn’t launch a tennis collection and then go into tennis,” Kudla said in the story. “Tennis players started adopting our products, and we realized that there was a really strong alignment.”
Vuori is still in major growth mode and announced this month that it had opened its 100th store, reaching that milestone six months ahead of schedule. The company is increasingly focused on international expansion, including in Draper’s home country of the UK, where it recently opened a flagship store in London.
