Apparel brand XX-XY Athletics says it’s seeing a sales surge as its merchandise becomes a mark of support for Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham following her comments about transgender athletes.
A spokesperson for the e-commerce retailer—founded in March 2024 by former elite gymnast Jennifer Sey with a mission to “protect women’s sports”—told Front Office Sports that business has increased sixfold over the past two weeks, with August on pace to be its biggest sales month ever. Approximately 85% of purchases in that period have come from first-time customers, they said.
The spike comes on the heels of a wide-ranging profile of Cunningham published by ESPN on July 21. In it, she sounded off on the highly politicized issue of trans women participating in female sports, saying she wanted to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Since then, rallies in support of the Fever guard have taken place outside of the team’s road games in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and Chicago. In each instance, the gatherings have been met by counter-protests from trans rights activists. XX-XY apparel has become something of a wardrobe staple for the pro-Cunningham crowds, which, despite their relatively small on-site size, have drawn plenty of attention online.
