Coco Cultr turns vintage sports merch into feminine fanwear
Coco Cultr recasts vintage jerseys as one-shoulder tops and minidresses, giving fanwear a softer, more wearable edge that is drawing athletes, models and downtown girls.
The newest fanwear looked less like stadium merchandise than a night-out uniform. Coco Cultr turned old jerseys and sports merch into one-shoulder tops, jersey dresses, tube tops and fitted minidresses, giving sports loyalty a far more polished shape at a moment when Knicks gear has been drawing long lines outside Madison Square Garden and World Cup pride has pushed fans toward every possible team-color statement.
That is the real shift here: sports merch is no longer staying in the category of souvenir. WWD described the frenzy as being at an all-time peak, but also pointed to the gap Coco Cultr fills, the lack of stylish, fashion-forward pieces made for women. Jesa Chiro built her label around that absence, making the case that a jersey can read feminine, deliberate and even a little flirtatious when it is cut close to the body, slipped off one shoulder, or turned into a minidress that skims instead of slouches.
Chiro started Coco Cultr in June 2020, when she was a freshman at Western Washington University, first making clay and resin earrings before moving into screen-printed sweatshirts and T-shirts later that year. By February 2021, she had bought her first sewing machine, and the project had become a wardrobe idea instead of a side hobby. She grew up in Seattle, where basketball culture and her brother Munya’s jersey collecting shaped her eye, and she took cues from women’s basketball figures including Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird. That lineage matters: Coco Cultr is not borrowing sports culture from the outside, it is translating it from inside the family album and the court.
The brand’s supply chain is part of its appeal. Coco Cultr pieces are made by hand in small batches from vintage or deadstock sports merchandise sourced through thrift stores, flea markets and swap meets, which gives each top or dress the feel of a one-off find rather than a mass-produced licensed item. Chiro moved to New York City in 2023 and worked as a sales associate at Procell on the Lower East Side, the vintage shop known for its sportswear and streetwear eye. Procell was the first retailer to carry her work, and later Supreme and Nike asked her to make custom pieces.
That path explains why Coco Cultr has become an “if you know, you know” label among professional athletes, downtown cool girls and models. Its customers are not buying nostalgia alone; they are buying a sharper silhouette for fandom. The label sits neatly in the opening left by women-centered sports style brands like Playa Society, and it signals something bigger for the market: upcycled team gear is becoming a recognizable product category, with enough fashion credibility to move beyond the game and into the everyday wardrobe.
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