Nette Ventures into Sports Marketing and Fine Fragrance With First Influencer Collaboration Featuring Tennis Tastemaker Morgan Riddle

The intersection of professional sports, fashion, and the beauty industry continues to accelerate, driven by changing consumer demographics and the rise of culturally influential digital creators. Nette, an indie fragrance and home-scent brand founded by Carol Han Pyle in 2021, has officially stepped into this burgeoning market. The company has launched its first-ever influencer collaboration, partnering with prominent tennis tastemaker and digital creator Morgan Riddle to introduce a new fine fragrance named Mr. Cloud.

This strategic move places Nette alongside a growing list of beauty and wellness brands capitalizing on the explosive popularity of sports marketing, particularly within tennis, Formula One racing, basketball, and soccer. The launch also underscores a broader commercial trend: beauty brands seeking substantive, long-term partnerships with digital creators rather than transactional, short-form endorsements.

From Candle Brand to Fine Fragrance Innovation

Carol Han Pyle initially established Nette as a luxury candle brand during the height of the direct-to-consumer boom in 2021. Seeking to scale the business and diversify product offerings, Pyle expanded the portfolio into fine fragrances in 2023. These perfumes were built around the concept of "neuroscents"—fragrances scientifically formulated to positively impact the emotional well-being and psychological states of the user.

The brand made its retail debut exclusively at Sephora, a partnership that locked Nette into a multi-year exclusivity agreement. According to Pyle, this strategic arrangement prevented the brand from pursuing other retail partnerships early on, though Sephora remains a cornerstone of Nette’s distribution strategy. As the exclusivity window evolved and the brand gained traction, Nette began expanding its retail footprint. Earlier this year, the brand secured a partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, a luxury department store whose clientele aligns closely with Nette’s demographic profile. Specialty beauty retailers and high-end department stores alike have shown an intense appetite for independent and niche fragrance brands, a market segment experiencing sustained global growth. Despite this demand, Pyle maintains a measured approach to expansion. As a self-funded company that has never raised venture capital, Nette operates leanly, prioritizing financial sustainability over rapid, potentially overextending retail rollouts.

Anatomy of a Collaboration: The Creation of Mr. Cloud

The partnership between Nette and Morgan Riddle began organically. Pyle, who had not previously planned to pursue influencer collaborations, noticed that Riddle was a public admirer of Nette’s luxury candles. Seeking a collaborator with substance, a strong personal ethos, and genuine enthusiasm for the brand, Pyle reached out to initiate discussions.

The result of this collaboration is Mr. Cloud, a milky tuberose fragrance designed to capture the atmospheric world of leisure surrounding the sport of tennis. To bring the scent to life, Riddle worked alongside master perfumer Antoine Maisondieu of Givaudan. The development process spanned an entire year, beginning with an intensive four-hour collaborative meeting between Riddle and Maisondieu.

Unlike traditional influencer licensing deals where a creator simply attaches their name to a pre-existing product, Riddle insisted on a hands-on approach. The back-and-forth iteration was central to ensuring the product resonated authentically with both her personal identity and her digital community. To support the launch, Nette and Riddle rolled out a comprehensive promotional campaign, including a three-part short-form video series documenting Riddle’s journey from a tennis court to the New York subway and back home, alongside behind-the-scenes footage of the fragrance development process.

The Rise of Morgan Riddle and the Tenniscore Phenomenon

Morgan Riddle first achieved widespread recognition in 2022 while traveling on tour with her then-partner, top American men’s tennis player Taylor Fritz. By documenting her experiences, fashion choices, and travel routines, Riddle became a prominent figure within the emerging class of tennis content creators often referred to in pop culture media as "WAG" (wives and girlfriends) creators.

Over the subsequent years, Riddle successfully transformed her digital presence into a multifaceted career. Capitalizing on the broader cultural "tenniscore" movement, she grew her social media following to over one million users across platforms. Her influence in the sport expanded beyond social media when she secured official correspondent roles with major historic institutions like Wimbledon. Furthermore, she became a co-founder of the 400 Club, an organization dedicated to building community within women’s sports.

Following the public announcement of her separation from Fritz after a six-year relationship, Riddle has continued to navigate her professional trajectory with a focus on intentionality and cultural relevance within sports and lifestyle sectors. Her collaboration with Nette represents a calculated step into product development, merging her established equity in sports culture with the high-growth fine fragrance market.

Navigating the Sports and Beauty Crossover Boom

The intersection of athletics and beauty has proven to be one of the most lucrative marketing avenues of the decade. Major sporting events, particularly tennis tournaments like the U.S. Open, have increasingly become platforms for beauty and wellness brands seeking high-visibility sponsorships. During recent tournaments, legacy and indie brands alike—ranging from prestige retailers like Sephora to wellness technology companies like Oura—have invested heavily in official tournament activations.

This heightened commercialization, however, has not been without friction. The influx of social media influencers attending major sporting events has occasionally generated backlash from traditional sports fans and athletes over disruptive behavior, such as taking selfies and generating excessive noise during play. Despite these industry criticisms, Pyle expressed complete confidence in Riddle’s reputation and professional conduct. Pyle noted that while obtrusive influencer behavior on court sidelines can be disruptive to serious competitors, Riddle’s demeanor is characterized by a respectful, grounded, and observant approach to the sport and its culture.

Industry observers note that sports-and-beauty crossovers are expanding rapidly across disciplines, including Formula One racing, professional basketball, and soccer. Many of these modern marketing partnerships deliberately target emerging female sports leagues and a surging female viewership that values authenticity, assertiveness, and unapologetic self-expression. Pyle attributes the success of these crossovers to the powerful, independent personalities fostered within women’s sports and lifestyle communities.

Broader Market Context and Consumer Trends

Nette’s launch of Mr. Cloud arrives amid shifting consumer preferences in the global fragrance and beauty markets. While edible, gourmand notes—such as the brand’s popular lemon and banana scents—have dominated consumer spending in recent years, industry leaders anticipate a broader diversification of scent profiles, including a potential renaissance for sophisticated floral compositions like tuberose.

At the same time, broader economic indicators reflect evolving purchasing habits among younger demographics. According to recent retail data from NielsenIQ’s A Tale of Two Consumers report, 67% of Gen Z consumers now view private label and store-brand products as being just as effective and high-quality as national brand-name equivalents, signaling a shift in how brand loyalty is formed among younger buyers. This environment places a premium on authenticity, storytelling, and community-driven product development for independent brands competing for consumer wallet share in health, beauty, and wellness sectors.

As Mr. Cloud transitions from its exclusive debut into broader distribution channels—including upcoming availability at Space NK and Saks Fifth Avenue—Nette’s initial foray into creator partnerships serves as a bellwether for how indie beauty brands can successfully leverage cultural crossovers in sports without compromising their operational scale or core brand identity.