Paris’ Pivotal Role As Mbappé And Henry Hook Up With On And Nike Fights Back

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian MBappe (L) receives the Best Ligue 1 Player award from former player Thierry Henry during the TV show on May 15, 2022 in Paris, as part of the 30th edition of the UNFP (French National Professional Football players Union) trophy ceremony. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

On sportswear’s deal with French soccer player Kylian Mbappé heralds the disruptor brand’s entry into football, quite the statement for an apparel company that is less than twenty years old and has never before produced a pair of football cleats.

This isn’t stopping the New York Stock Exchange-listed Swiss business from planning its entry into this new product category; indeed, another former French international player, Thierry Henry (now almost 50 years old), is joining the company alongside Mbappé.

On’s recent double-header announcement confirmed that two of soccer’s biggest-ever generational French talents will be working together on product development decisions, with the younger player set to wear its boots during soccer matches for the next decade (by which time he will be 37 years old).

Nike the loser as competition intensifies

The apparent loser in all of this is Nike – Mbappé had been contracted to it for almost twenty years, during which time he made high-profile switches from AS Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2017, and then PSG to Spain’s Real Madrid in 2024.

Similarly, during his career-defining years with Premier League club Arsenal, Henry was also contracted to Nike, most famously wearing Mercurial Vapors when the London club were unbeaten during the 2003–04 season.

Their hooking up with On, therefore, appears seismic and represents another blow in a difficult year for Nike, which saw Adidas win the battle for business during this summer’s FIFA men’s World Cup in the Americas, as well as its continued problems dealing with rivals, especially in China.

Yet, as Paris-born Mbappé and Henry were making headlines for On, it was the quieter move of another Parisian that highlighted what could happen next in the fiercely competitive world of sports apparel.

LVMH, Brand France and Emanuel Macron

Almost simultaneously, Alexandre Arnault, the 34-year-old son of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, announced that he is joining Nike’s board of directors and claimed that he is a huge fan of the brand.

The Paris-based Arnault family is France’s richest, whilst their LVMH empire encompasses everything from wines and spirits to perfumes and cosmetics; its fashion-industry portfolio includes Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Loewe, Fendi, Givenchy, Loro Piana, Rimowa, and Marc Jacobs brands.

And the Arnaults are powerful too; Bernard Arnault supported Emanuel Macron’s 2017 French presidential campaign and has publicly expressed agreement with Macron’s generally business-friendly economic orientation, though their relationship goes back even further: for instance, Macron’s wife taught two of Arnault’s children at school.

There have also been numerous high-profile engagements between the Arnault family/LVMH and the Macron administration; for example, LVMH worked closely with the French authorities around the Paris 2024 Olympics, becoming a major partner of the Games – LVMH is a cornerstone of Brand France in action.

The two are also linked via Paris FC, a French capital city club whose stadium sits right next door to that of Qatari-owned PSG, a majority of which was acquired by the Arnault family’s investment vehicle Agache Sport in 2024.

Paris FC was owned by Pierre Ferracci, whose son, Marc Ferracci, is a close political ally of Emmanuel Macron who eventually became one of his government’s ministers.

Networks of power and influence

Ironically, upon acquisition of the club, the Arnaults decided to switch the club’s apparel supplier from Nike to Adidas, in a deal that will conclude at the end of this season (2026/27); it seems reasonable to speculate there’ll be a switch back again now that Alexandre is sitting on Nike’s board.

Yet LVMH’s relevance is not simply a matter of one club selling more soccer shirts; its presence within Nike will begin to define how the U.S. brand fights back against Chinese brands, Adidas, and disruptors such as On.

On may bring the freshness and ambition of a new kid on the block, but Nike and LVMH will bring decades-long experience and a far-reaching industrial network to the fight, though whether the U.S. sportswear brand retains any disruptive zeal or willingness to adapt for new audiences remains to be seen.

LVMH may help in this regard as it has a clear track record in the field; for instance, the late Virgil Abloh’s (LVMH’s artistic director) partnership with Nike (which began with the iconic “The Ten” collection in 2017) is widely considered one of the most important and disruptive collaborations in sneaker history.

Pharrell Williams has since replaced Abloh at LVMH, although the U.S. music star is closely aligned with Adidas; hence, an early measure of how serious the Arnaults and Nike are about going head-to-head with their rivals might see Williams jumping ship from the German brand.

It is also worth noting Mbappé is an LVMH product endorser, as is actress Zendaya – she’s also an On endorser.

One conclusion to draw is that in the convergence of sport, fashion, lifestyle and celebrity, a dense network of owners, endorsers and influencers connects many of the industry’s biggest rivals, into which On is trying to firmly implant itself.

And among the nodes in these networks, Paris, France, the Arnaults, and even Emanuel Macron remain hugely powerful, as Nike embarks on its journey to remain relevant.