Brands
Barça suits up in style as Amiri kicks off a luxury-fashion partnership
MUMBAI: Football just scored a fashion upgrade, and it’s tailored to perfection. In a move that blurs the lines between runways and stadium sidelines, Amiri has unveiled a landmark collaboration with FC Barcelona, becoming the club’s official formalwear partner and dressing one of football’s most decorated teams in couture-level swagger.
It’s a meeting of two worlds defined by precision, poise and performance. One is a 125-year-old blaugrana legacy with 80 domestic trophies and 23 European and global titles; the other, a 21st-century luxury house rooted in Californian cool and meticulous craftsmanship. Together, they’re stitching a new kind of modern elegance into the global sporting fabric.
The partnership sees Amiri designing custom suiting for all Barça athletes across both the men’s and women’s teams as well as for club executives and leadership. And the inspiration comes straight from the pitch: the iconic blue-and-garnet identity that has defined FC Barcelona for more than a century.
For Winter 2025, Amiri channels deep navy, a nod to the club’s storied strip into precisely tailored wool overcoats, double-breasted jackets for the men’s squad, single-breasted tailoring for the women, and gently flared trousers in a crisp white-on-navy pinstripe. Winter ensembles are completed with pinstripe poplin shirts, garnet-and-blue striped ties and gold bar tie clips, a refined echo of Barça’s colours rendered in luxury craftsmanship.
For Summer, the collaboration loosens its collar while keeping its sharp edge: a classic Amiri blouson with a shirt collar, reinterpreted in pinstripe, and detailed with MA Monogram embroidery on the breast. Tonal FC Barcelona insignia sits subtly alongside it, merging fashion codes with sporting identity. Lightweight knits inspired by sports silhouettes round out the warm-weather look, maintaining the partnership’s seamless fusion of heritage and modernity.
Mike Amiri calls it a natural fit: “Soccer and fashion share a spirit, born from passion, precision and creativity. Each is about mastering your craft and expressing who you are through movement and form. Partnering with FC Barcelona lets Amiri reflect that same pursuit of excellence through our tailoring.”
For FC Barcelona, the collaboration is as much about symbolism as style. FC Barcelona CEO Manel del Río notes, “Elegance is part of how we represent the Club. Amiri brings a contemporary vision that aligns perfectly with our identity, a global image of innovation and sophistication.”
More than a fashion update, this partnership is a cultural handshake: the artistry of a luxury house meeting the artistry of sport. A team known for its stars now steps into formalwear inspired by Hollywood and crafted for champions, a reminder that whether on the pitch or the red carpet, Barça knows how to own the moment.
The Amiri x FC Barcelona collaboration debuts Winter 2025, marking a new era where dressing room meets dressing room, one in wool, one in victory.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
