From an Instagram mood board to building a $40 million brand.
“I started a little Instagram mood board account called Sporty & Rich. I used it to archive all of the images that inspired me. There was really no purpose or goal other than that.”
Fashion entrepreneur Emily Oberg grew up in Calgary, “the Texas of Canada,” she has called it [in an interview with GQ], surrounded by the oil industry and not much else creative. Her dad was Filipino, effortlessly stylish, a proto-sneakerhead who never changed his style. Her aunt was a buyer for Club Monaco. She covered her bedroom walls in magazine editorials and ad campaigns. She knew from early on she needed to get somewhere else.
At 18, she left for Vancouver. Enrolled in Fashion Marketing & Communications at Blanche Macdonald. Then New York, her dream. A job at Complex Magazine. And a small Instagram account she started on the side, with no plan and no purpose, just to archive the images she loved.
That mood board became one of the most talked-about brands of its generation.
Sporty & Rich is a world before it is a brand. Its visual language is specific: Princess Diana in a polo shirt. Slim Aarons by a pool. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in paparazzi shots. Vintage tennis culture, the gold necklaces on court, the European elegance of Björn Borg. Old Nike. French cashmere. Country club aesthetics translated for a generation that wants the feeling without the gatekeeping.
The clothing lives in that same register: heavyweight French terry crewnecks, relaxed track sets, varsity jackets, elevated basics with slogans like Be Nice and Health is Wealth. Collaborations with Adidas, sell-out Sambas and apparel. The New York Yankees. Hotel drops with Le Bristol Paris and Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc. A SoHo flagship with a spa, a café, and a gym. A beauty and skincare line. A Paris office. A 40-person team.
“When I say 'rich,' I don't mean money. I mean rich in quality. And rich in your life — in happiness and health.”
She built it with no investors. No outside capital. Starting from a full-time job and a side project with no goal. The first real drop did $40,000 in three weeks. A single crewneck during the pandemic made $600,000 in a day. Revenue now exceeds $40 million annually. She owns 100 percent of it.
Fashion entrepreneur Emily Oberg was asked on the Business of Fashion podcast what advice she’d give anyone starting out.
“What would make you happy to wake up every single day and do? Forget about the money. Forget about what anyone would think about it.”
“I know that no matter what, I'll never forget where I started and how the feeling of doing what I love every day is worth more than any amount of money in the world.”
Inspired by Emily Oberg’s journey into fashion entrepreneurship? Explore how you can start your own path in fashion marketing and apply today.
Note: This article was originally published as a newsletter spotlight. Content and quotes featured in this story have been adapted and compiled from reporting by The Business of Fashion, GQ, SSENSE, Who What Wear, and Emily Oberg’s personal Substack. Images are sourced from Sporty & Rich Instagram account and from The Business of Fashion.
