Scenes From The 2025 Only NY & Friends Invitational

The kits, fits, and action from a celebration of downtown fashion and community-focused football

Since 2022, creative powerhouse Only NY has organized the annual Only NY & Friends Invitational, a summer gathering where football (purist here) and style collide along the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront in Bushwick Inlet Park.

What started as a simple tournament has become a stage for New York’s creative spirit, rallying 16 co-ed teams, all representing brands within specific industries, some traveling from across the U.S. and as far as Japan.

A L'Industrie Pizza team member at the 2025 Only NY & Friends Invitational

Of course, it wouldn’t be New York if it stopped at competition. The real theater lives off the pitch, with every team stepping out in custom kits dreamed up alongside local brands, shops, restaurants, and bars. Here, the uniform is more than gear—it’s a canvas, a reflection of community, and a marker of taste, celebrating modern fashion’s embrace of the beautiful game.

The Only NY & Friends Invitational trophy

(Photo by Javier E. Piñero)

Winners capture the golden and tongue-in-cheek OnlyNY waste basket trophy, blown up well beyond paperweight scale, along with the chance to send proceeds to a local football nonprofit of their choice. Past champions, like ScenesNY and Two Bridges FC, have kept the tradition alive, but the Invitational isn’t about records—it’s a celebration of the fits, kits, and community, local and global, the game has inspired.

This year’s tournament carries a collaboration that perfectly captures its spirit. Only NY, whose designs draw from the city’s neighborhoods and sports heritage, and Bowery Football Club, the grassroots club representing New York’s global community since 2001, have teamed up with Lotto to release a limited edition jersey and hat, reimagining modern classics through the Italian performance brand’s archive.

As for the champion, the 2025 trophy belongs to Extra Butter, the New York-born sneaker boutique that has grown into a global lifestyle brand by merging film, fashion, and culture through cinematic retail, curated collaborations, and trend-defining storytelling.

None of it would be possible without the network of sponsors who helped shape the Invitational’s identity. From fashion labels like Only NY, Knickerbocker, Extra Butter, and Colossal, to cultural heavyweights like Office Magazine and Shukyu Magazine, the lineup reflects the city’s creative DNA. Add in neighborhood favorites like Monte’s Fine Foods, 7th Street Burger, and L’Industrie Pizza, and suddenly the sidelines start to feel like a block party.

Scenes From The 2025 Only NY & Friends Invitational

(Photo by Javier E. Piñero)

Even multinational players like Puma and Smartwater have stepped in, underscoring how far this downtown-born tourny has come in just a few years. Together, these brands turn the park into more than a playing field— they cultivate a living, breathing snapshot of New York’s culture, where the pitch becomes a runway and the community stands at its center.

Scroll on for more scenes from the day.