The Small, Black-Owned Label Taking on the Big Brands in the Style Olympics

The fashion game at the Summer Olympics continues to heat up. The latest competitor to step forward: Team Nigeria, which will be dressed for the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, the podium, the Olympic Village and the track and field competition by Actively Black, a small label in Los Angeles founded by Lanny Smith, a former professional basketball player, in 2020.

For Actively Black, a company with only three employees, that’s the equivalent of getting a gold medal before the Games have even begun.

“To see a Black-owned brand on the same global stage as Nike and Lululemon and Adidas, it makes everyone start to look at us differently,” Mr. Smith said via video from his office in Los Angeles just before the looks were unveiled. “It’s a major moment for us.”

The partnership with Nigeria puts Actively Black in a whole new fashion league, one that does not involve just sports brands, but also the high-fashion names dressing their countries for the opening ceremony, like Berluti (the LVMH brand outfitting Team France), Giorgio Armani (Italy), Ben Sherman (Britain) and Ralph Lauren (the United States).

Linking up with an underdog, mission-focused fashion brand is also a way for Nigeria, which is sending a delegation of about 200 to the Games, to capture attention and enthusiasm, much the way Liberia did when it teamed with Telfar for its Olympic looks in 2021. (Though Actively Black dressed the Nigerians who walked in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in 2022, there were only two of them; now the delegation has critical mass.)

“Part of that Nigeria vibe is you’re going to look nice,” Mr. Smith said. “I know we have to show up in a way that represents that. As a former athlete, you love that competition, that challenge.”