How Whittam brings bling to the ring for boxing’s elite
Yorkshirewoman who is shorts designer to Anthony Joshua took the glitz of figure skating ringside when an invitation to produce ‘some mad outfits’ for Amir Khan launched an exciting new career, writes Sammy Mngqosini
She is Anthony Joshua’s trusted boxing shorts designer; her designs have been worn by an A-list of boxing icons from Floyd Mayweather to Katie Taylor, and the cast from the Hollywood blockbuster movie series, Creed.
From humble beginnings Sophie Whittam, a former figure skater from North Yorkshire, has built a global boxing shorts empire. Such is her industry renown that for Mayweather’s iconic fight against Conor Mcgregor, in 2017, the US star turned down a million-dollar cheque and a pair of shorts from German designer Philipp Plein, choosing to wear Whittam’s design instead.
From leotards to Las Vegas boxing rings, Whittam’s is a unique career trajectory. “People think a Lycra pink sparkly dress and a pair of shorts that a fighter is punching someone in are opposites,” says the 31-year-old.
“But when you break it down, they are quite similar. Both are costumes made for a specific event. I make the battle gear, which boosts the fighter’s confidence and matches the character they have created in their head for that particular fight. I’ve brought the bling, crystals and I’m now bedazzling all these heavyweight fighters – you wouldn’t think they like sparkles, but they do.”
Whittam grew up in Barlow, North Yorkshire, a painfully shy only child who tried just about every sport from horse riding to gymnastics. But her world changed forever when she saw figure skating on TV.
Mesmerised by the costumes, she begged her mother, Vicky, to take her to the local ice rink. Vicky relented, but gave her daughter an ultimatum: “You’ve got 10 minutes, if you can’t do it then get off the ice because it’s cold in here”, she says.
Whittam took to skating immediately, training before and after school every day. While she loved the sport, she did not want to pursue an Olympic pathway or become a coach. So, at the age of 16, she learnt how to sew and started a figure-skating costume business alongside studying fashion. Her career took off and she found that by keeping busy – travelling the world, growing her business – she did not experience the extent of emotions that many athletes encounter on retiring from elite competition.
It was Amir Khan who first convinced Whittam to design him some “mad boxing outfits” ahead of his fight against Devon Alexander in 2014. The pair met when Whittam attended one of Khan’s speaking engagements with the hope of designing some crop tops and hot pants for the ring girls, but the Bolton-born boxer persuaded her to design his shorts instead.
Despite not being a boxing fan at the time, she created a handful of unique shorts that Khan loved. For his fight in Las Vegas, Khan’s team sent Whittam a piece of 24-carat gold fabric to make him the world’s most expensive shorts – a mammoth task that launched her brand, Fight Label, at the highest possible level.
Since then, life has been a whirl. Whittam has been Joshua’s go-to designer since 2015, making the shorts he wore when he reclaimed his titles from Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia last year. “Anthony likes white mostly, which is elegant, timeless and the shorts are always reflective of where he is fighting,” she says. “For the fight against Ruiz, I took the artwork from the red and white traditional scarves and embroidered it around the legs of the shorts and all down the robe. When he fought Alexander Povetkin, we did red, white and blue to match the Great Britain flag because the fight was at Wembley. We added a bit of green for the Carlos Takam fight since it was in Wales.”
For Mayweather’s fight against Mcgregor, Whittam created something special. “I immortalised him in a design of a million dollar Mayweather note in gold leaf on black leather shorts with black python waistband and put his ‘The Best Ever’, all in Swarovski crystals. He absolutely loved them.”
Soon after, she received a call asking her to come to his house for a fitting. He explained that he loved the shorts, but was being paid $1million to wear another design. Whittam was disappointed at the outcome.
But, as she sat in the crowd, waiting for the fight to begin, a message popped up on her phone. It was a photo of Mayweather wearing her shorts backstage. “In that moment I knew, he’d picked my shorts despite being paid one million dollars to wear someone else’s design.”
Her work has also featured in the Creed franchise starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone.
With the coronavirus pandemic bringing a halt to live sport, Whittam’s business endured a tough few months. But the resumption of boxing behind closed doors has offered some respite, designing for Taylor’s fight against Delfine Persoon last week.
Whittam admits she was not previously a boxing fan, but now she attends her clients’ fights and studies their boxing style, which influences her designs.
As soon as the new date and venue for the Joshua-kubrat Pulev fight is announced, Whittam will take up her sketch book and begin trying out her ideas for the next big bout.
‘In that moment I knew, he’d picked my shorts despite being paid one million dollars to wear someone else’s design’