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Summary
K-Swiss is strengthening its tennis presence by announcing an official footwear partnership with the ATP, starting in 2027. This strategic alliance, coinciding with K-Swiss’s 60th anniversary, will see the brand supply footwear across a range of ATP avenues.
Tomas Etcheverry posing in K-Swiss shoes as the brand continues its growth in the tennis space during its 60th anniversary.
K-Swiss
As K-Swiss celebrates 60 years of tennis, the brand aims to strengthen its position within the sport. Along with a growing presence on the professional tours and an expanding lineup of performance tennis and tennis-inspired lifestyle footwear, K-Swiss is adding one more key component: an official footwear partnership with the ATP.
The new deal—a celebration of the partnership occurs
The new deal—a celebration of the partnership occurs Aug. 27—begins in 2027 and lasts three years, covering footwear for ATP umpires, physios, and leadership for every level of ATP tournament, a collection of five ATP-branded tennis shoes and footwear for top-250 players without a current footwear sponsor under the ATP Baseline program.
“We’re reminding the world that we’re an authentic sport brand, rooted in tennis, and 2026 is a very special year as we celebrate our 60th anniversary,” Jamel Khadir, global general manager for K-Swiss sport performance, tells me. “More than just a usual sponsorship agreement, we decided to create a complete package that would support top tennis players through the ATP Baseline program. At the same time, we will equip all ATP officials without footwear and commercialize a capsule collection of co-branded footwear, K-Swiss x ATP, at different price points starting in March 2027.”
The ATP Baseline program puts K-Swiss footwear onto the feet of additional tour-level players. “We invite players to try them before anything else, hoping they’ll appreciate the opportunity,” Khadir says. “Through the Baseline program, we gain visibility on courts and also collect direct product insight from top athletes to constantly improve our products.”
The planned ATP capsule collection aims to improve
The planned ATP capsule collection aims to improve the brand’s visibility and credibility, especially in countries where K-Swiss isn’t as well known (market share is strongest in the United States, Australia and Germany). The collection will surface at official ATP stores, including pop-ups at international tournaments in Madrid, Rome and Barcelona, K-Swiss outlets and tennis specialty retailers.
“K-Swiss is an authentic, tennis-first brand with a legacy in our sport spanning nearly 60 years,” says Daniele Sano, ATP chief business officer. “Our shared history makes this partnership a natural fit.”
As K-Swiss grows its presence in tennis, the brand has already embraced footwear as a key driver of awareness. The company has sponsorship agreements with ATP players Andrey Rublev, Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Zhizhen Zhang and isn’t bashful about supplying footwear to other top-name players without a footwear deal (Frances Tiafoe wears special player-edition models of K-Swiss). “Footwear is real equipment for players—it’s the foundation of their body, the link to the ground and to different surfaces,” Khadir says. “Our core business is footwear, and we want to reinforce this, but we also have the ambition to expand through more apparel sponsorships.”
Footwear is where the relatively smaller brand wants
But footwear is where the relatively smaller brand wants to build from. “K-Swiss is tennis,” Khadir says. “We’re competing in a market where all other brands are large sport or lifestyle brands for which tennis is only a small part of their portfolio.”
The link to tennis comes two-fold, both with a performance lineup and a tennis-inspired lifestyle collection. K-Swiss has two pinnacle performance models for the ATP, the Hypercourt Supreme 3, an all-round model with a carbon plate, and the K-Frame Speed, designed for ankle protection and support for quick movers (Rublev wears the K-Frame Speed Rublo).
The new agreement with the ATP also allows K-Swiss to promote its array of lifestyle offerings, led by the Classic VN—with five stripes, a three-piece toe and D-ring lace loops, it is still one of the brand’s top sellers—inspired from a model born 60 years ago. When two Swiss brothers moved to California and launched K-Swiss they created the K-Swiss Classic in 1966, the first all-leather tennis shoe.
“We’re excited and believe [the partnership with the ATP] will open new opportunities that we don’t even imagine right now,” Khadir says. “Tennis is our obsession.”
MORE:K-Swiss Releasing New Pinnacle Tennis Shoe
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