The relationship between football and fashion is in its most recent evolutionary juncture. Football has always entertained a sub-culture of fashion with the likes of Sergio Tacchini, Fred Perry and Lacoste dressing the country’s finest hooligans since the '80s. This marriage is one example of an enduring crossover between the factions that continues to this day.
Football fans have particular fashion codes they abide by, inducing a sense of regimented uniformity amongst die hard supporters where a particular way of life is realised and respected.
Players, like fans, have their own special relationship with clothes, bore out of restless bank accounts and the conspicuous lifestyle that accompanies the job. Those in the professional game, ever in the spotlight, need to look the part and enormous efforts are gone to do so. It is not so hard with a big old bank account to buy the latest clobber and adorn the latest trends. That said, some footballers have succumbed to fashion’s influence with mighty affect.
David Beckham, for instance, donning a durag in royal company? I need say no more, but the balls on that man are staggering.
Football stars are influenced by every sort of vogue we can imagine as daring outfits are composed to alleviate players from their star-laden company, a process that gets hurried year on year. Although the case whether superstar or not, it appears wealth drastically hastens the process.
It would seem now, however, that it is football determining fashion, not the other way around.
Major fashion houses want a slice of the pie as they pursue football’s immense marketing potential. Brands want to capitalise on the enormous commercial leverage an elite European team possesses. By affiliating with football clubs, partnering with players and reproducing football’s general attire, fashion labels are aligning themselves with ulterior audiences, thus unfurling a sea of untapped revenue.
Gargantuan social media followings and ceaseless press exposure makes them the perfect influencers for fashion houses. Designer labels, for instance, use teams and players to model their latest looks and show them to the world.
Prada announced last year it wanted to double its business in China in the mid-term future, exploiting China’s exceptional luxury market. As part of this vision, Prada partnered with the Chinese Women’s National Football Team ahead of the Australia World Cup, engrossing Chinese spectatorship with the Italian fashion house.
China Women's National Football Team X Prada 2023
The Steel Roses were to wear sharp black suits, crisp white shirts and heavy-duty loafers for all official travel and formal events, a look that has been revised this year, with the footwear being an emblem of Miuccia Prada’s obsession with empowering femininity. The ladies looked fantastic in their designer clad suits as a sense of fierce professionalism oozed through the ranks- a feeling not so prevalent amongst the Marks & Sparks regalia we see decking out the England squad…
Prada’s sponsorship of Asia’s swelling football market is one of many tactful moves made by likeminded fashion houses. The examples are endless.
Loro Piana and Juventus are set to extend their three-year partnership for the incoming 24/25 season; Off-White design for AC Milan; Dior sponsor no other than Paris Saint-Germain; Paul Smith have gone with Manchester United; Emporio Armani to Napoli. The list goes on and on…
Streetwear brands are similarly re-capitalising on football’s endless reach as they concentrate their efforts on youthful fans, renovating their already existing roots in English hooliganism.
Most notably, Lev Tanju and Palace, a streetwear brand birthed from London’s skate scene, designed Juventus’s 19/20 season kit. This collaboration included three kits in two difference colour ways, tracksuits, training gear, bags, beanies…the lot.
The home kit featured the iconic black and white stripes with an alien green filling the Adidas, Jeep and Juventus logos, as well as the names and numbers on the back. This was topped off with a cheeky Palace logo sitting underneath the Adidas lettering in an equally as bold shade of fluorescent orange.
Adidas X Palace X Juventus 2019 collection
The Adidas Palace Juventus range amalgamated the worlds of skating, football and leisurewear under one ceiling, creating a cutting-edge alloy that’s synonymous with grungy urban life, all the while keeping football at its heart. Merging the jock-ish sport of football with skating’s alternative, somewhat anarchic ethos was filled with contradictions, however, it was to be a tremendous success.
Skating’s irregularities and unique style were brought to the tifosi and the wider footballing market, exhibiting the versatility of football’s commercial and cultural value.
More recently, Inter Miami collaborated with Japanese streetwear label A Bathing Ape (BAPE®️) last summer creating a collection incorporating BAPE®️’s iconic camouflage print with Inter Miami’s standout pink. The result: a football top more stylish than practical, but superb on the eye.
Inter Miami X A Bathing Ape 2023 collection
The collection failed to secure Messi and Sergio Busquets's interest as four alternative players revealed the partnership instead. A Messi catwalk would not only have been spectacularly entertaining, it would have no doubt propelled BAPE®️ in to fashion folklore by stratospheric proportions. A no-show from Leo must have been disappointing for the Japanese label to say the least.
Perhaps best of them all goes to the Arsenal X Maharishi X Adidas summer 2023 collection. The London-centric streetwear brand projected their expertise unto Arsenal's pre-match and travel gear, combining Maharishi's military inspired, utilitarian swagger with Adidas performance. The range incorporates 'Bonsai Dragon Scales', inspired by the Lunar Year of the Dragon, with Arsenal's local heritage as canons, club icons and even the Gunnersaurus are embroidered into the garments. To top it off, the photoshoot took place in a north-London laundrette, an increasingly trendy, if cringeworthy, domain for fashionistas.
Arsenal X Maharishi X Adidas 2023 collection
Such partnerships reiterate football’s commercial dominance. Whether brands are wanting to simply stay relevant, connect with unlikely customers in new markets or indulge in some shameless promotion, football is clearly the vehicle to which these things are possible.
Football and its stars are no longer solely the object of influence, then, but instead they project vast swathes of authority onto culture as organisations seek to align themselves with some sort of footballing identity.
Beyond the commercial opportunity wedded to the sport, there are clear examples where football, and it's garbs, have instigated fashion trends.
I daresay people wear football kits far more now than they did back in the day. Wearing an aesthetically pleasing footie top while pridefully representing your hometown has become more popular than ever, especially with retro, re-mastered football kits gripping the attention of Gen Z consumers and their nostalgia.
The likes of Balenciaga have been quick to monetise this obsession at the designer end, releasing their ‘soccer series’ at the beginning of the year at extortionate prices. It’s fair to say these ‘uniforms’, retailing at £750 a pop minimum, won’t be worn by those phoning in to Talksport any time soon, but I suppose that's not the point.
Still, I find such wacky designs strangely infuriating owing to their blatant neglect of authenticity. Collections like these make no attempt to engage rudimentary fans, but accredit some sort of footballing identity amongst secular supporters nonetheless. It seems wrong.
In fairness, the ‘soccer series’ perfectly illustrates the game’s seemingly eternal authority on the global stage. If Balenciaga are willing to get involved, it must be serious.
Football and fashion have a complex relationship and one that has developed significantly since the days of Green Street. The deific status of footballers makes them the ultimate ambassadors for fashion labels wanting to capture a large homogenous audience.
Whether football’s incessant popularity is dominating the fashion world, or the fashion industry is exploiting football, or both, the two are firmly entwined and the results are fascinating, if a little absurd.
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