Dolly Sports makes its Amsterdam Fashion Week debut this season with the unveiling of its Fall ’26 collection. Founded by Eline Starink, the Amsterdam-based label bridges the worlds of sports and fashion through elevated athleisure, vintage influences and consciously sourced materials. Ahead of the show, we spoke to Starink about the story behind the brand, what guests can expect from its runway debut, and why now felt like the right moment to join the AFW schedule.
Dolly Sports is making its Amsterdam Fashion Week debut this season. Why does this feel like the right moment to step onto the official schedule?
We started Dolly in 2020 because we felt there was something missing. Five years later, what began as an idea has become a brand with a loyal community behind it, and this Fall ‘26 collection really captures who we are. Showing at Amsterdam Fashion Week felt like the right moment to share that with a wider audience.
Your invitation promises guests “the world of Dolly.” What does that world look and feel like, beyond the clothes?
The world of Dolly is that energy where sport and fashion stop being two separate things and just become how you live. Think people who race from a workout to work to dinner without missing a beat. It’s playful, a little competitive, always on the move. The clothes are the entry point, but the feeling is the real product.
The name Dolly comes from Eline Starink’s grandmother, who sounds like an extraordinary woman. In what ways does her legacy continue to shape the brand today?
Dolly was a local tennis hero, a swimmer, a real-life Wonder Woman who everyone adored. She played by her own rules and made it look effortless, and that spirit is exactly what we design towards, that mix of strength and ease. She’s a memory we carry with us, and the brand wears her name with pride.
Amsterdam has a reputation for producing fashion that’s practical, progressive and unafraid to challenge convention. Where does Dolly Sports fit within that conversation?
Amsterdam has always had a very open-minded and practical approach to fashion, and I think that resonates with Dolly Sports. We’re interested in clothes that people actually want to wear, but we also like to challenge expectations through colour, materials and styling. There’s a certain ease to Amsterdam that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s something we definitely recognise in our own work.
Your collections often reference vintage sportswear, but never feel purely nostalgic. How do you balance looking back with creating something contemporary?
We treat the 80s, 90s and 00s as inspiration, not a costume. So we’ll take an iconic silhouette and then rework the fabric, the fit, the proportion until it feels like now. The trick is emotion over accuracy. We want the nostalgia to hit, but the piece has to work in your actual life today. Imagine a young Princess Diana meeting old-school Michael Jordan for padel. That’s the tone. Familiar, but never a throwback.
Sportswear has become a major part of luxury fashion over the past decade. Where do you think athleisure is heading next?
Away from the gym and deeper integrated into real life. The “strictly performance” look had its moment, and now people want athleisure that actually feels considered, that you can wear to dinner without explaining yourself. So the next chapter is elevated, more personal, more design-led. Less “I’m on my way to work out,” more “this is just how I dress.”
Many of your pieces are created using existing fabrics and vintage finds. Has working with what’s already available changed the way you approach design creatively?
Massively, and for the better. When you can’t just order anything, you have to be smarter and more playful with what’s in front of you. A limitation becomes a creative brief. It’s why so many of our pieces feel one-of-a-kind, because in a way they are. It keeps us honest about making things that last instead of chasing volume.
What do you hope people remember when they leave your first Amsterdam Fashion Week show?
The energy. We want them to walk out feeling like they just spent time with a group of women who are having more fun than everyone else. If they leave grinning, already texting a friend about it, wanting to move, we did our job. The clothes will stay with them, sure, but the feeling of being in the world of Dolly for a moment is what we hope they can’t shake.