- Andrew Garfield stars in Ellesse's new global campaign "Do It Like an Italian," shot by fashion photographer and filmmaker Oliver Hadlee Pearch.
- The three-part campaign rolls out across film, stills, out-of-home, and social-first content across SS26 and AW26, with three chapters: "Say It Like an Italian," "Play It Like an Italian," and "Style It Like an Italian."
- Ellesse, founded in Italy in 1959 as a ski and tennis apparel specialist, is now owned by UK-based Pentland, and this campaign signals a new creative era for the brand.
- Garfield holds an endorsement deal with Omega Watches (since June 2025).
Andrew Garfield is going full Italian, and he is owning every moment of it. The British-American actor has officially been named brand ambassador for sportswear label Ellesse, fronting a new global campaign titled “Do It Like an Italian,” launched June 10, 2026.
The campaign unfolds across three cinematic chapters: “Say It Like an Italian,” “Play It Like an Italian,” and “Style It Like an Italian,” and was shot by fashion photographer and filmmaker Oliver Hadlee Pearch for the first time for the brand.
Guided by an unseen Italian coach, Garfield moves between earnest effort and self-aware humor, from practicing pronunciation to perfecting his tennis serve.
The campaign draws on Ellesse’s ’80s and ’90s archive, signature silhouettes, bold colorblocking, and the “semi-palla” abstract ball motif.
Just as Poppy Delevingne brought a cinematic feel to the Nobody’s Child evening campaign, Garfield brings that same narrative-driven energy to sportswear. The campaign’s second chapter shifts focus to the tennis court in early August, while the third delivers a preview of Ellesse’s AW26 collection.
Ellesse has a long history of high-profile sports endorsements, from Chris Evert to Boris Becker, that solidified the brand’s reputation in tennis and sportswear.
More recently, the brand tapped Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall as its UK ambassador for AW21 and partnered with digital collective The Sidemen.
Garfield is the brand’s first major Hollywood actor ambassador. The move also mirrors how luxury brands are tapping A-list talent, much like Jaden Smith’s recent Christian Louboutin Men’s FW26 collection debut, blending celebrity credibility with heritage fashion storytelling.
Beyond Ellesse, Garfield is one of Hollywood’s busiest stars right now. He is set to star in Apple TV+’s Wild Things, playing Roy Horn opposite Jude Law’s Siegfried Fischbacher, and will play OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial for Amazon MGM. His historical drama The Uprising, directed by Paul Greengrass, is set for a September 11, 2026 theatrical release through Focus Features.
Takeaways
This is a bold and well-calculated move by Ellesse. Choosing Andrew Garfield, a critically acclaimed actor with a global fanbase, strong cultural credibility, and no prior fashion house ties, puts the brand in a unique lane.
Garfield is not your typical sportswear face, and that is exactly the point. Ellesse is not just selling clothes; it is selling a lifestyle with a wink.
The three-chapter campaign format is smart too, it keeps audiences coming back across the summer and into fall, building momentum rather than burning it all in one drop. For a brand that has coasted on nostalgia for years, this feels like a genuine creative reset.
Does Andrew Garfield’s “everyday cool” image translate more powerfully to heritage sportswear than a traditional athlete would? Could this Garfield-Ellesse partnership evolve into a co-designed collection, like we’ve seen with other actor-brand deals?
