Women's undergarment and clothing brand Fix has launched a new partnership with Israeli esports club Team Finest, signing a commercial deal for the club's women's team.
This deal includes an Instagram campaign featuring the team's players, as well as a Fix-sponsored tournament for the popular esports title Valorant.
The deal with Fix is another addition to Team Finest's list of sponsors, which includes Logitech, Acer and Samsung. However, this is the first time Team Finest's women's team has signed a commercial deal.
And having the campaign led by these players is very significant.
"Fix is the first company to identify the potential of collaborating with Team Finest," Finest vice president of business development and sales Amir Vahab said in a statement.
Cooperating with Team Finest's gamers will allow Fix to create an anchor for themselves in the gaming world, and will allow them to communicate more closely with Israel's growing gaming community."
He added that this is also significant due to the recognition that women have a place in gaming.
"This sponsorship reflects the trust and understanding that this industry doesn't belong to men alone," Vahab explained.
"It's very exciting for us to work with Fix, a brand I like to wear regularly," said Talia Ushia, 17, who is on Team Finest's women's team.
"It's important to us that the message of women's gaming gets promoted."
Behind every strong man stands a stronger woman, right? we are super excited to present to you the strong women of Finest!Please join us in welcoming our newest @PlayVALORANT team! @Libi__k @OshiaTalya @yalinush @ofir_gabay @LinorLiani #GOFINEST pic.twitter.com/WlFKP2xC28
— Team Finest (@Finest_IL) May 30, 2021
Gaming has long been mired in controversy for perceived sexism, among gamers, developers and even in esports.
Many gamers on the popular video game streaming platform Twitch are also frequent targets of harassment, with "hate raids" being a frequent occurrence where viewers send hateful, sexist, homophobic and/or racist remarks, sometimes even including Nazi imagery.
As a result of this, many gamers have decided to boycott the platform on September 1 in a campaign titled #ADayOffTwitch to raise awareness of the problem and push the Amazon-owned platform into taking action.