Why THE ICONIC’s first sponsorship was the Newcastle Knights NRLW
THE ICONIC has spent years building Australia's leading fashion platform. In 2020, they launched THE ICONIC SPORT Challenge, a multisport app with over 15,000 participants, with one stated goal: to become the destination for sportswear. This is a brand that has been circling sport for years.
Their first ever sports partnership? The Newcastle Knights NRLW team.
Let me break down why this moment matters.
✨ The numbers
The NRLW is not an emerging competition. In 2025, TV viewership was up 45%, crowds rose 115%, and the Grand Final set a new all-time record at over 1m viewers. The Australian women's sporting industry is projected to generate $49b in consumer value if sponsorship parity is reached by 2038.
THE ICONIC posted their first net profit in 2025 after 15 years - $1.9m, on $895m in merchandise value and 2m active customers. Their first external investment? Women's sport.
✨ Why the Knights?
Back-to-back premierships in 2022 and 2023, at the exact moment the NRLW was breaking into mainstream consciousness. Newcastle doesn't have the retail footprint of Sydney or Melbourne but THE ICONIC delivers fashion direct to your door, anywhere in Australia, which is logical, not just aspirational.
✨ My favourite part
The logo isn't just on the jersey. THE ICONIC designed the off-field wardrobe in collaboration with the players themselves. We've seen fashion brands begin moving into sport, but THE ICONIC have creative ownership of how a premier NRLW squad presents off the field. At the airport, community appearances, across social content that drives as much fan connection as broadcast. When players have genuine input into what they wear, the relationship between brand and athlete shifts from transactional to something far more valuable.
✨ The people behind it matter
Deals like this don't emerge from a sponsorship deck. They emerge when the right people are in commercial leadership, people who understand the cultural value of women's sport, not just the broadcast numbers. Knights CCO Jodie Cross has spent her career building commercial pathways for women long before it was 'fashionable' (excuse the pun). The sponsorship landscape of women's sport will look very different when boards hire commercial leaders who understand its cultural value - women who have lived it, built it, and know which doors to knock on and who they are opening them for.
✨ What does this mean?
For too long, women's sport sponsorship has been dominated by brands in the men's game, financial services, energy, and insurance, with NRLW partnerships as an add-on. THE ICONIC represents something different: a brand choosing women's sport on its own merits.
Women don't want logos. They want brands that design for them, build with them, and show up creatively. Women's sport audiences are 27% more likely to purchase from a brand endorsing a female athlete. Fashion and lifestyle brands have enormous creative scope here and the brands that move now will be hardest to displace.