Kookai Australia x Hawthorn Football Club

Not every woman working in sport wants to wear a men’s polo in a slim fit. And finally, someone’s doing something about it.

The new KOOKAI Australia x Hawthorn Football Club partnership is being celebrated as fashion-forward. But it’s more than stylish merch or aesthetic branding.

It’s about the women who work behind the scenes in sport, in marketing, media, operations, community roles, admin, and events. The ones who have kept showing up, week after week, season after season, dressed in uniforms never really designed for them.

Hawthorn has partnered with Kookai to develop corporate uniforms tailored for their female staff, not just fitted versions of existing kit, but thoughtfully designed pieces that reflect confidence, leadership, and presence. That’s something we rarely see acknowledged, let alone activated.

➡️Why this matters:

✨ Research from Victoria University found that flexible, well-fitting uniforms boosted confidence by 91% and happiness by 89% among women and girls in sport
✨ Gendered uniforms (or lack of choice) remain a barrier to participation and to inclusion in the workplace
✨ Women in sport leadership roles are three times more likely to leave if they don’t feel they belong (McKinsey & Company)
✨ And in too many sport workplaces, the default is still a recycled look: oversized polos, unisex cuts, and no sense of individuality

Uniforms may seem like a detail.
But for women in sport, they’ve long been a reminder of whose space it really is.

➡️What this partnership is doing differently:

KOOKAI Australia are not just lending style and Hawthorn Football Club isn’t just putting logos on uniforms.

They’re recognising that what women wear when they work in sport still needs attention and that confidence, professionalism, and identity can (and should) coexist.

Together, they’re showing how a brand and a club can do more than just align logos, they can take a small but visible step toward acknowledging a workforce that’s long been overlooked.

Because women working in sport have always shown up.
Day, night, mid-season, off-season, often in spaces where they’ve had to fight to belong.

This partnership reflects something we need more of in sport:
✅ Design that recognises identity, not just role
✅ Workwear that supports confidence, not just compliance
✅ A culture that doesn’t just include women, but considers them from the start

More clubs should take note 👀

💡One more thought! This move is a welcome one, but it also opens up a wider conversation...

KOOKAI has faced fair criticism over its limited size range, and while this collab doesn’t undo that, it could prompt a shift. If we’re serious about inclusion in sport, we need to consider all women across sizes, roles, and the spaces they show up. Because designing for women in sport should mean ALL women! Let’s hope this is the first of many moves that actually reflect that 🤞🏼