On Sunday night the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, Bad Bunny put on a spectacular half-time show, and multiple players all walked down the tunnel from the car park to the dressing rooms carrying the same logo’d bag. The bag in question, by luxury French brand Goyard, isn’t part of any official uniform – and isn’t really known outside of its 0.1% customer base. But it has become as ubiquitous a status symbol among American football players as their AirPods Max headphones and Richard Mille watches – and is part of a brave new world of tunnel fits.
Most primetime NFL games’ coverage start hours before kick-off, as photographers, fans and pundits alike pore over players’ sartorial choices just as they would their missed tackles and spectacular catches.
Iconic looks range from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in a tailored tiger-print suit to eccentric Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins turning up this year barefoot in a full prison jumpsuit complete with leg cuffs. Former quarterback Cam Newton is arguably the GOAT of the genre having achieved notoriety for his trademark colourful suits, oversized hats and statement glasses. The concept of the tunnel fit has now given rise to a cottage industry of stylists and brands who work with players to ensure they look game-ready and benefit from the eyeballs the moment generates. Last year Abercrombie & Fitch inked a multimillion dollar brand partnership with the NFL, reportedly in response to Travis Kelce signing on to endorse American Eagle, and player arrival posts on the @nfl Instagram account routinely receive over 100k likes. The tunnel fit trend has migrated to the English Premier League too, with Liverpool arriving for their game against Newcastle last month in head-to-toe Tommy Hilfiger, but the Super Bowl takes this to another level, functioning as a Met Gala for men, especially now A-listers like Taylor Swift (fiancee of Chiefs tight end Kelce) are on the makeshift catwalk.
Founded in 1853, Goyard operates just 30 boutiques worldwide and refuses to sell online, making it genuinely difficult to acquire a bag even for those who can afford it. Want one? You’ll need to visit a boutique in person and it’s anybody’s guess whether they’ll actually be in stock.
The most popular Goyard styles among NFL players are the Saïgon pouch (a clutch-style bag running £800-£1,200) and the Bellechasse (a crossbody/bum bag at £1,500-£2,000). Each features Goyard’s signature canvas, hand-painted by artisans in the brand’s Parisian workshop, a painstaking process that contributes to both mystique and price point. The bags are expensive but notably cheaper than Hermès Birkins (£8,000-£200,000 and more).
The item has become what fashion insiders call a “unicorn bag”, a term which was originally applied to impossibly rare Hermès Birkins in unusual colours, but has expanded to describe any handbag that is rarely advertised and not available online.
But the most telling detail at this year’s Super Bowl wasn’t just that players carried Goyards – it was which players. The New England Patriots’ offensive tackles Morgan Moses and Will Campbell both clutched Goyard pouches as they arrived. Offensive tackles are among the least glamorous positions in American football – massive, workmanlike protectors whose job is to keep the quarterback upright. They don’t get the ball, don’t score touchdowns, don’t give post-match interviews, and earn significantly less than quarterbacks or wide receivers. In 2024, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray made headlines for giving designer bags as gifts including Goyards to his offensive linemen for Christmas, legitimising the item as a staple among players at all levels of the league. Since then the Goyard has become standard among professional athletes, with Premier League footballers including Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford at the forefront of the trend.
Why have professional athletes, and NFL players in particular, embraced Goyard so comprehensively? Partly, it’s practical. These are big men who need big bags chock full of the toiletries, recovery gels and chargers necessary for long days at the stadium. They’re also genuinely unisex and devoid of obvious branding in a way that makes them easy to style with different outfits and more of a subtle flex, emblematic of the quiet luxury old-money aesthetic that has been dominant for a while.
This shift towards practical luxury marks a broader evolution in how NFL players approach fashion. Player’s clothes have been scrutinised for decades, but became a serious cultural force in the early 2010s with millennial athletes who recognised style as an extension of their personal brand and a way of generating off-field income. They began working with professional stylists, collaborating with fashion brands, and treating game-day arrivals as content opportunities. For gen Z athletes who grew up idolising the likes of Newton and Odell Beckham Jr, pioneers of a brasher aesthetic that took its cues from hip-hop and skate culture, this has only accelerated.
Social media means every arrival is dissected online, and access to luxury brands has never been easier. No one better reflects the league’s pivot towards a more global fashion-conscious outlook than Kelce. A savvy dresser since entering the league in 2014, he watched from the sidelines on Sunday in a £1,800 Fear of God blazer and sunglasses by Chrome Hearts, the cult brand made famous when Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner wore matching head-to-toe orange leather outfits to the premiere of Marty Supreme.
While there’s nothing new in young millionaires reaching for status symbols, the ubiquity of the Goyard bag reflects the fact gen Z’s preference for “if you know you know” displays of wealth has become codified. The bags are practical, prestigious, and, most importantly, they’re universally recognised by peers while remaining relatively opaque to outsiders. In a landscape where fashion has become as essential to athlete identity as on-field performance, unicorn bags have become part of the game-day uniform.
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