Gymnast Simone Biles leaves Nike for Gap’s Athleta Brand

Gymnast Simone Biles is leaving sportswear brand Nike for Gap’s Athleta. The new deal will allow owning her performance wear line which will include gym wears.

The company said on Friday that it will create a platform for Biles to be an activist for women and other female athletes. Activism and advocacy have always been a thing for the young gymnast who uses her voice to empower and inspire young girls and women.

“I admire Athleta for their commitment to recognize and support women’s individual and collective strength,” Biles said.

While the deal offers Biles many opportunities, the value of the wasn’t disclosed.

Athleta is known for allowing its athletes have their own wear lines. In 2019, the brand had its first sponsored athlete, Olympic track champion Allyson Felix. Since the beginning of the contract, Felix has her own line of running wears and has featured in Athleta’s marketing. Like Biles, Felix also had partnered with Nike, previously. She joined the company at a time when Nike came under fire for not supporting pregnant athletes.

Felix was one of the several female athletes that revealed Nike had tried to impose sponsorship payment reductions on female athletes due to pregnancy or early maternity. The company has since changed its pregnancy policy to secure the payment of pregnant athletes.

Biles's partnership with Athleta ends her six-years partnership with Nike which she signed in 2016. The 24-year-old has 19 world championship gold medals to her name and was ranked No.14 in SportsPro’s list of 50 most marketable athletes in 2020.

“We are excited to welcome Simone to the Athleta family and work together to further our mission of empowering women and girls,” Mary Beth Laughton, president and chief executive of Athleta. “Simone believes in championing the next generation of female athletes as much as we do, and we are confident this partnership will continue to build community with our customers and enrich our brand.”

The brand said it’s targeting $2 billion in annual sales by 2023. It surpassed its $1 billion mark in 2020, with sales up 16% from 2019 levels. While Gap’s total sales for last year was $13.8 billion.

The Gap subsidiary brand recently announced that it will soon expand its Athleta division to focus more on women in Canada. Rival brands, Nike, Lululemon, Under Amour and others are also pushing for more women support in different geographies.

“We’ve always taken great pride in our leadership in supporting women in sport at all levels for close to 50 years of individual athletes, through their universities, national teams or their competitive leagues,” a Nike women spokeswoman said in an email.