South Africa’s Old School rides jersey nostalgia toward global athleisure growth

Old School’s rise starts with a simple frustration and a sharply commercial instinct: Daneel and Stef Steinmann could not find the vintage-feel South African rugby jersey they wanted for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, so they made one themselves in a Stellenbosch dorm room. Six years later, that homegrown fix has become a test case for how local sports nostalgia can travel, if it arrives with enough credibility to move beyond costume dressing.

The brand first traded as Old School Rugby Jerseys, then shortened its name in 2021 as it pushed beyond rugby into classic sports silhouettes and leisurewear. That change mattered. A label built on one national moment can fade fast; a label that can move from Springboks support wear to broader streetwear has a chance to become habit, not souvenir. Old School’s own numbers suggest the market was ready. A single social media post drew thousands of potential customers, and in 2023, during the next Rugby World Cup, the company recorded R4 million, or $236,000, in team-shirt sales in one day, almost matching what it had done in the previous year.

The bigger opportunity is obvious. Bloomberg placed Old School inside a global sports-apparel market worth $97 billion, while South Africa’s sports and athleisure segment grew 7% last year, well ahead of the country’s overall economic growth of 1.1%. That gap is the story: sportswear is no longer just functional kit, and nostalgia is no longer just sentiment. It is a retail engine. Fanatics’ 2022 acquisition of Mitchell & Ness for $250 million underscored how valuable throwback jerseys have become when heritage is packaged with enough polish to feel collectible.

Old School is now trying to extend that formula far beyond South Africa. The company manufactures or sells merchandise for Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Bafana Bafana, Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Southern Guards GC. Its partnership strategy is pointed: if the brand can borrow the prestige of the NBA and Manchester City Football Club while keeping its own South African identity intact, it can sell nostalgia as a global language rather than a local memory.

That bet sharpened on December 19, 2025, when NBA Africa and Old School unveiled the NBA African Original Lifestyle Collection, a range of premium knitwear and T-shirts inspired by the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and New York Knicks. Designed in Africa and launched at oldschool.co.za and in Old School stores across South Africa, with NBA Store South Africa and NBAStore.Africa sales set to begin in April 2026, the collection signals where the brand is headed. The appeal is not just the throwback look. It is the sense that the product comes from a place, and that in a crowded athleisure market, authenticity still sells best when it is worn with pride.