LGBTQIA+ athletes are challenged at every turn, just to do what they love. For them, playing sports is not just a game, it’s been a lifelong battle. It’s more than fighting for what they love - it’s fighting for who they love.
Our belief at adidas is that through sports we have the power to change lives, and if there’s one thing more powerful than sports— it’s love. Love for the game. Love for yourself. Love for whoever you love.
As part of our unwavering belief that love unites, we partnered with queer South African designer Rich Mnisi to create this year’s Pride collection. Guided by a love letter Rich wrote to his younger self, the product collection is inspired by the line “Let Love Be Your Legacy” – and embodies a shared ambition to encourage allyship and expression without bias, in all spaces across sport and culture.
This is the moment to call yourself worthy,
and help others to do the same.
This is the hour to bond, to love & be loved
by family & community.
This is the day to love—unbridled, unfiltered,
unashamed—and never look back.
LET LOVE BE YOUR LEGACY
Rich Mnisi
Collection Designer
Expanding on the inspiration behind the collection, Rich said: “I had a strong impulse to speak to my inner-child and express to the world how LGBTQIA+ allyship can create a legacy of love. Unifying these themes together, through my own visual language and adidas’ iconic performance and lifestyle pieces is powerful…My hope is this range inspires LGBTQIA+ allies to speak up more for the queer people they love and not let them fight for acceptance alone”.
And that’s exactly what they did. adidas partners, Tom Daley, Jari Jones and Athlete Ally, joined Rich Mnisi in writing ‘love letters’ to the world, calling for radical self-acceptance and support from the wider communities in culture and sport.
A love letter to sport by Tom Daley.
Tom Daley is an openly gay Olympic gold medalist. His fight for equal rights in sports is a daily practice that’s captured in a ‘love letter’ to everyone, no matter their background or sexual orientation—or the pitch, pool or field they find themselves on.
DEAR SPORT,
You’re a space for everyone. No matter who they are or where they come from. No matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, whatever it is. Every single athlete should be free to love you while loving whoever they want; and most importantly, being true to whoever they are.
There is already so much hate in the world, saying what people can and can't do at certain levels and in certain spaces. The pitch, the field or the pool must be a safe space, the place to game freely.
But freely doesn’t mean easy competition. We are fierce. We play tough. We work harder. And we love radically. Sport, every chance you get, every chance we get, let’s make it clear that everyone is welcome to play. Let it be known that everyone's own way is beautiful, valid and enough. And whether you want to be involved in sport to win, whether you want to be in for the social aspect, whether you want to be involved in sport just to move your body—there is a space for everyone at all levels.
LET LOVE BE YOUR LEGACY
Tom Daley
Olympic Diver
A love letter to the world by Jari Jones.
Jari Jones is a creator, actress and trans activist. Her work is to empower and uplift, because love should be boundless.
DEAR WORLD,
The legacy that I would love to leave is that of spontaneous love. Love that is boundless, the one that comes just because the wind blows or just because it's a Monday or simply because I feel like loving on someone. The kind of love that I give to my community, to my friends, my partner, to my chosen family that I pull out of nowhere. That just exists to give them. To give myself.
That is the love that gives meat to the bones, life to the body, breath to the lungs, the love that society never wanted us to experience. They expect us, as queer people, as fat folks, as marginalized bodies, to love ourselves or show love only when tragedy happens, when hardship is present, to combat hate, love born from a negative space. But I want to change that, I want to find a way to love radically, to love fiercely without gratitude, to love in a way that isn't coming from a structured or obvious place. I want my legacy of love to be opposite of the way society has always told us to love people like us.
What if love just happened? What if we received it for no reason at all? What if we just decided to love just because?
LET LOVE BE YOUR LEGACY
Jari Jones
Actress, Creator, Activist
A love letter to allies.
Our longstanding partner Athlete Ally is an organization focused on ending homophobia and transphobia in sport. The non-profit works to make athletic communities more inclusive and less discriminatory by helping athletes to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality.
Dear Future Ally,
You don’t know it yet, but your life will change forever the moment you realize your voice matters.
Every day, you hear your teammates laugh in the locker room as they call each other anti-gay slurs. Maybe they never stopped to think that someone on the team could be closeted, or could have a close friend or family member who is LGBTQI+. Maybe, like you, they were waiting for someone else to speak up.
Let today be the day you tell them that sports can and should be a safe space for everyone. That we all have a role to play in making sure every athlete and fan feels welcome and included participating in the sport they love. Let today be the day that you speak out as an ally.
LET LOVE BE YOUR LEGACY
Athlete Ally
What will your legacy be?
Now it’s your turn. It’s time to let love be your legacy and write a love letter to sport, to the person that supported you, to the bully that misunderstood you, to your loved one, to the world at large - write it to whoever you feel like expressing yourself to. Let’s put pen to paper to help make the world of sport more inclusive and welcoming – and leave it a better place for current and future athletes.
Because a game that’s fair is not just one that follows the rules – it's one that respects and welcomes all athletes, for whoever they are and for whoever they love. Love for equality is love for the game — and that’s how we’ll win, together.
To share your letter on social, check out our Instagram for guidelines.
The adidas x RICH MNISI collection will be available on 15th May on the adidas website