When you get called up to the big leagues, you need to look the part.

That’s how Austin Wells, catcher for the New York Yankees, first got acquainted with Jack Victor, the Montreal-based men’s luxury brand. Now Jack Victor has signed the athlete as a brand partner.

“In 2023, I got called up and needed a suit for the away-trip flight,” Wells said. “So I went over to Nordstrom, saw this nice-looking suit, grabbed it, and it fit perfectly right off the rack. And then I ended up wearing it two years later onto the field one day while they were taking pictures and I guess someone from the Jack Victor team saw the post and got in contact. It’s been a good relationship since.”

Wells said that Major League Baseball has been encouraging its players to “look professional” when they’re on the road. “They call it Dress Like a Big Leaguer, so we dress up.”

Wells will be featured in Jack Victor’s upcoming fall campaign that was shot around New York City. The images will be on billboards and taxi tops around town and will be featured on both Wells’ and Jack Victor’s social media and web channels.

“Throughout my career, the moment I put on my uniform, I feel locked in,” Wells said. “It connects me to teammates past and present and to the heritage and history of the team. A great suit serves the same purpose. When you wear Jack Victor, you take on the confidence and mindset to meet the day’s challenges,” he said.

Wells admitted that as an athlete — and a catcher in particular — it’s not always easy to find clothes that fit well. Not surprisingly, pants are often a problem because of his muscular “butt and quads,” he said, but that wasn’t the case with the Jack Victor collection.

“This is the first real fashion brand that I’ve been associated with, and it’s honestly been the best for me,” Wells said. “The relationship I have with the guys is great and just being able to wear something comfortable is really awesome. I like blending baseball with a little bit of fashion so it’s great for me to have this connection and hopefully use the platform for both of us to really gain from it.”

Although Wells is photographed in suits for the campaign, he said that when he’s not wearing tailored clothing, he opts for “a polo or a nice shirt with some jeans” when he arrives at the ballpark before donning the pinstripes.

“The Jack Victor brand has such nice fitting T-shirts, polos, stuff I can just throw on daily, walk around in and not feel like I’m being suffocated by anything,” he said. “And it makes me feel like I’m really dressing up. And having a couple different models and fabrics makes it look like I’m changing it up.”

It also helps lift his fashion profile, something that MLB has been encouraging its players to do to keep up with the other professional sports leagues. Because they play 162 regular-season games, it’s been hard for MLB players to keep up with the National Basketball League or even the National Football League when it comes to fashion. But Wells thinks that may be changing.

“If you look at the NFL, they literally play once a week so they can have 15 or 16 outfits for the whole season. But we play so many games that to have to walk in every single day in a different outfit [is not practical],” he said. “We’d need 162 different outfits or combinations.”

Wells said the Yankees’ social media team does a good job letting the players know that they’ll be featured online at least once a week, and those are the days they should up the fashion quotient. “They’re doing a great job trying to promote us more than just on the field,” he said.

Now that the Yankees have made it to the playoffs again this year, there will be “a little bit more spotlight” on their fashion, he said, which most of the guys embrace. “There is a greater sense of pride going into the playoffs. Last year when we went to the World Series, it felt like the outfits were A+ compared to walking into the field in the middle of July for game 85 or something like that. There’s definitely a little bit more pride when you’re getting ready for a playoff game.”

Thanks to Jack Victor, he’ll have plenty of choices this season.

“New York is an important market for our collection, both online and at major multibrand retailers,” said Alan Victor, chief executive officer of Jack Victor. “Through this partnership, we will be introducing our brand to a broader part of the community. Austin brings a special energy and enthusiasm to his work on the baseball field, which matches the approach of the designers and craftsmen who create our beautiful products. We also wanted to work with a sports figure that our customers could identify with and whose interests reflected their own.”

Victor also pointed to the synergies between Montreal and New York as another reason the company believed Wells was the right brand partner. Jackie Robinson played for the International League’s Montreal Royals before being promoted to the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers and the Montreal Expos played in the Canadian city from 1969 to 2004 before moving to Washington, D.C., and becoming the Washington Nationals.

“We are an international brand,” said Victor, “but connecting with consumers through ‘America’s pastime’ also shows our longstanding and deep attachment to the U.S.”

The family-owned Jack Victor was founded in 1913 and creates high-end men’s tailored clothing, sportswear, outerwear and accessories. That includes Comfortwear, a capsule of knit blazers and suits with performance attributes. “Athletes rely on their gear to move freely and perform at their best, and these tailored pieces are also designed for men to move with the same ease through every part of their day,” Victor said.