In its new collection, Rules of Play, the multi-award-winning sustainable luxury British tennis brand for women reimagines the court as a place of strategy, style and transformation, where classic Country Club Whites meet limited-edition hand-painted prints, dream logic and exacting British craftsmanship.

• ·       EXEAT unveils Rules of Play, its new women’s collection inspired by an unusual 1910 edition of Through the Looking-Glass
• ·       The collection includes the brand’s signature Country Club Whites & limited-edition hand-painted prints, exploring dream logic, rule breaking and the court as a stage for transformation
• ·       EXEAT is the only major luxury British tennis brand for women manufactured in the UK and is notably Britain’s most exported luxury tennis apparel brand 
• ·       Founder Laura Ward was awarded an MBE for sustainability and international trade in 2025
• ·       Established in 2021 from its Wiltshire HQ, EXEAT is known for its fashion-led ‘haute courtwear’, blending British lore, considered craftsmanship and sustainable innovation.

“To play is to experiment, to risk, to transform.”
Laura Ward MBE

Lorina Tennis Dress

 Court culture with a new breed of hyper stylish players is having a moment. In Britain, adult annual tennis participation is up 44% to 3.5 million, while padel now has more than 860,000 annual players. In the US, 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025 up 171% from 2022.

 Benefiting from this global racquets boom, EXEAT has become the UK’s most exported luxury courtwear brand for women and is famously the only major luxury British tennis brand for women manufactured in the UK.

 EXEAT’s new Rules of Play collection begins with an idea: that the court has always been more than a sporting surface. It is a threshold. A portal. An otherworldly escape where the usual rules no longer apply.

The Diamonds Are Forever Tennis Dress

For Spring/Summer 2026, Laura Ward MBE, founder of the British luxury courtwear house, turns to a unique 1910 edition of Through the Looking-Glass, discovered in a dusty corner of the library at EXEAT Manor, whose opening pages set out the rules for a chess game, a narrative device lost in future editions. What follows is not an exercise in literary dressing-up, nor a decorative nod to Alice. Rather, Rules of Play draws on the deeper architecture of the tale: the game itself, the slippage between reality and dream, the subversion of rules, and the spellbinding sense that once a woman steps onto court, she enters another order of things altogether.

Here, the court becomes Queendom of possibility. The player becomes the leading lady. And the clothes, naturally, must rise to the occasion.

Tiger Lilly Court Bodysuit & Barre Skirt

The collection moves between two signatures of the house. First, its polished Country Club Whites: sleek pleated skirts, cleverly tailored tops and exquisitely cut dresses that honour the enduring elegance of traditional club dressing. Then, its limited-edition prints, which each season bring a more imaginative, fashion-authored edge to the wardrobe, appearing across a corsetry-inspired bodysuit, sharply cut dresses and EXEAT’s new culotte tennis short. This year, those prints are Checkmate, a hand-painted argyle diamond check animated by EXEAT emblems, and Story Lines, a softer, gingham-inspired grid that suggests court lines, maps and unfolding narrative.

“Tennis has always been a world of rules, ritual and dress codes, and EXEAT has always enjoyed subverting them. With Rules of Play, I wanted to explore that tension between structure and freedom, tradition and imagination, and the moment a woman steps onto court and makes the game her own.”
Laura Ward MBE

 Handmade in the UK, the collection continues EXEAT’s distinctive approach to haute courtwear, pairing flattering silhouettes and clever tailoring with a richly British visual world shaped by lore, imagination and craft. Produced in small runs at its London atelier using pioneering sustainable fabrics, it reflects the brand’s longstanding commitment to beauty with substance.

Rules of Play is available at EXEAT online in the UK at exeatweekend.com, and exclusively at The Queen’s Club in West London.

RULES OF PLAY HERO PIECES

Alice Tennis Dress
The heroine piece of the collection, cut with a fitted bodice in the hand-painted Story Lines print and finished with a crisp white collar, delicate frill sleeves and a skirt constructed from EXEAT’s signature Power Pleats.

High Tea Culottes
EXEAT’s chic answer to the classic tennis skirt, cut in the spirited Checkmate print with an A-line silhouette, practical short construction and a gently curved hem to elongate legs.

Diamonds Are Forever Tennis Dress
A quintessential lawn tennis dress featuring EXEAT’s hand-painted argyle Checkmate print, feminine Peter Pan collar, a trio of oversized gold buttons and razor-sharp Power Pleats.

ABOUT EXEAT

Founded in 2021 and based in Wiltshire, EXEAT is a multi-award-winning British luxury tennis clothing brand for women, made in the UK. Known for its fashion-led approach to haute courtwear, the house combines flattering tailoring, exquisite design, British cultural references and pioneering sustainable fabrics. Founded by Laura Ward MBE, EXEAT has become the UK’s most exported luxury tennis apparel brand for women.

FOUNDER BIO: LAURA WARD MBE

Laura Ward MBE is the founder of EXEAT, the British luxury courtwear house she established to bring greater beauty, originality and craftsmanship to women’s tennis apparel. Before founding the brand, Ward built a career in global advertising. She was named Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year, while EXEAT has also been recognised with Global Start-Up of the Year. In 2025, she was awarded an MBE for services to international trade and sustainability.