Through partnerships with athletes and teams including Lionel Messi, Caitlin Clark, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, Stanley is aiming to position hydration — and by extension, its products — as a core part of sports culture
Over the past year, Stanley 1913, the global lifestyle brand best known for its tumbler cups, has steadily expanded its footprint in sports. What began as select athlete collaborations evolved into a broader partnership strategy spanning soccer, women’s basketball and elite competition, with product launches timed around major sporting moments and cultural peaks.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen a natural overlap between the energy of sports communities and our brand values: empowering those living their lives on-the-go and elevating everyday moments with style and performance,” Kate Ridley, the chief brand officer at Stanley 1913 parent PMI WW Brands, told Athletech News. “It made perfect sense to partner with sports teams and athletes in an authentic way to celebrate that spirit and show up where our fans already are.”
That philosophy informed how Stanley approached partnerships across both soccer (global football) and women’s basketball. Instead of treating collaborations as traditional merchandise plays, the brand focused on integrating its products, like the highly popular Quencher tumbler, into the routines and rituals that already exist around sports, particularly moments centered on hydration, food and beverage.
Late last year, that strategy became more visible as Stanley coordinated multiple soccer-related activations across athletes and clubs. In December, the brand released a series of limited-edition soccer collections tied to Lionel Messi, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, signaling a move toward repeatable partnership frameworks rather than one-off marketing moments.
Ridley said the goal was consistency and resonance rather than volume.
“We look for partners who share our commitment to authenticity, community and quality,” Ridley said. “The response to our recent athlete and team partnerships, including Lionel Messi, Caitlin Clark and Arsenal, continues to guide how we think about future collaborations.”
While soccer emerged as the most globally visible pillar of Stanley’s sports strategy, the brand’s approach extended beyond a single sport or geography. The company also expanded into women’s sports through a multiyear partnership with WNBA star Caitlin Clark, Time’s 2024 Athlete of the Year, aligning Stanley with the growing cultural momentum around women’s basketball.
According to Stanley, the Caitlin Clark partnership followed the same criteria used across its soccer collaborations, including long-term alignment, cultural impact and relevance beyond competition alone.
The multi-year partnership launched with a limited-edition Stanley 1913 x Caitlin Clark Collection designed in collaboration with Clark and centered on high-performance hydration. The lineup included a “Blacktop” colorway tied to Clark’s preferred light blue and purple tones and finished with metallic accents and her signature.
From a business perspective, Stanley paired limited-edition storytelling with broad retail distribution to translate cultural relevance into scale. Rather than relying solely on direct-to-consumer launches, many of the brand’s sports-related collections rolled out through wholesale and specialty partners including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Scheels, Academy and JD Sports, helping extend reach across both domestic and international markets.
For Ridley, the global opportunity remains central to the strategy.
“Sports are a universal language,” she said. “As we continue to grow globally, sports partnerships help us connect with audiences beyond traditional lifestyle spaces. These partnerships open doors to new markets while allowing us to tell our story in a way that stays grounded in performance, durability and everyday use.”
