The history behind the growing momentum between the fashion industry and soccer
In the past five years, there has been a blossoming relationship between the fashion industry and soccer, known internationally as football. Luxury fashion houses, specifically, have been looking to tap into the soccer fan base through collaboration efforts with soccer teams and utilizing star players in campaigns, on runways, as ambassadors etc. According to a case study from Business of Fashion, the global sports sponsorship market is expected to grow from $63.1 billion in 2021 to $109.1 billion by 2030. The Premier League, the world’s most watched sports league, has a brand league value of $9.4 billion. In addition, soccer players are amongst some of the most followed people on social media, which provides the perfect opportunity for luxury brands to grow and diversify their fanbases. However, while the past few years have proved to be fruitful for these collaborations, there hasn’t always been such a sunny relationship between fashion houses and the soccer industry.
Soccer has always been a popular sport, making its fans a seemingly attractive group to market to. But starting around the late 70s, the increasingly disruptive nature of fans started to dissuade brands from associating with the sport. In England, Dr. Martens shoes were so strongly linked with disorderly fans that police would ask fans to remove their laces or their shoes entirely before the games in an attempt to minimize fights. Young fans would often remove the leather from the toes of their shoes to expose the steel toecaps, which was used to try and intimidate rival fans. Moving into the 90s, the soccer stars themselves became a deterrent for high fashion brands due to their rowdy on and off field behavior. However, despite soccer fans having a negative reputation, a few fashion brands were adopted by fans during this time, therefore beginning a legacy connection between fashion and the sport.
The Military Style Goggle Jacket produced by the C.P. Company was adopted at large by the infamous England national soccer teams in the 80s and 90s, alongside other brands such as Stone Island and Burberry. Stylish star players such as David Beckham and Theirry Henry also started to pave the way for a more positive relationship between the two industries. Beckham has starred in multiple, now deemed iconic Calvin Klein photo shoots. In the early 2000s, Dirk Bikkembergs, one of the original members of the Antwerp 6, began to merge fashion collections with the world of soccer by creating a sneaker line for his Sport Couture line. In June 2001, his collection was shown at Milan’s San Siro football stadium. Bikkembergs also became the first fashion designer to dress a top-ranking team, Inter Milan, who he dressed in off-field custom suits. The influence of the sport continued to inspire his work, including his first fragrance DIRK, whose bottle was in the shape of a soccer ball. The growing relationship between fashion and soccer was temporarily halted due to a controversy at the hands of luxury brand Dolce&Gabanna (D&G). The Sicilian design duo showcased a model wearing a redesigned version of the iconic Napoli jersey of Diego Maradona at their FW16 show in Alta Sartoria, Naples. The design caused an uproar and even led to Maradona filing a lawsuit against them, which was resolved in court in 2019. The outcome was the shirt could never be put up for sale because of “undue use” and “commercial exploitation of Maradona’s name. D&G was required to pay Maradona damages and cover his legal fees.
A turning point towards a more positive relationship between soccer and fashion was the SS18 collection by Gosha Rubchinsky, where the collection referenced textures and materials of 1990s Adidas kits for various teams. While many teams had commissioned brands to create for them, the first official collaboration between a team and a brand: Koche and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for the pre-fall 2018 collection. PSG was increasingly focused on tying its image with the fashion world and welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with Koche. After these events, more and more designers started to wholly embrace soccer. Streetwear brand Palace and the Serie A team Juventus collaborated with Adidas in October of 2019 to create warm-up kits worn in a game against Genoa. Designer Martine Rose reimagined the England team’s kit for the 2020 Euros, which were inspired by the 1971 unofficial women’s squad in a project called “The Lost Lionesses.” Balenciaga’s FW20 collection included creative director Demna Gvasalia’s interpretation of jerseys. When asked about the references, Gvasalia said, “Footballers and priests were what I grew up with in Georgia. Sports, religion, obsession and seduction are stripped of their functions only leaving the feeling that they’re fashion garments.” Kim Jones, previous director of Dior menswear, had a partnership with PSG for two years starting in 2021 to design their formalwear, while Giorgio Armani worked with the Italian national team to create jerseys in late 2022.
In the past couple of years, there have been countless fashion collaborations with teams across the soccer industry. To rattle off a few:
- Martine Rose released a genderless line of jerseys for players to wear on and off the field during the women’s FIFA World Cup in 2023
- Wales Bonner partnered with Adidas to create a collection dedicated to Jamaican soccer culture in 2023
- Crystal Palace became the first team in the Premier League to appoint an in-house creative director to oversee its seasonal collections in 2023. The director is designer Kenny Annan-Jonathan
- CP and Company is dressing the Manchester City team for awards during the 2024/2025 season
This is only the surface of the numerous collaborations. Off-White has worked with AC Milan, Thom Browne has fitted FC Barcelona, Zegna for Real Madrid, Loro Piana with Juventus – the list is endless. Specific players have also risen in the ranks of the fashion-soccer world. Hector Bellerin, Jude Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bukayo Saka are just a few of the current players who are starring in campaigns for major fashion houses today. Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford and Kylian Mbappe have become ambassadors for Gucci, Burberry and Dior. Brands know that these players have passionate fans that want to support their success on and off the field. These players are able to explore their interests outside of the sport they play and can work with major labels who will take them to the Met Gala, Vogue World and shows during fashion week. It’s a win-win for both parties.
Even though there has been a rocky history between fashion and soccer, transformative moments have allowed the two industries to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship over the past couple of decades. Soccer’s worldwide impact cannot go unnoticed, and fashion houses are using the sport’s popularity to continue evolving the landscape while reaching the fashion industry. Not only are brands working with specific teams – brands are increasingly recognizing the star power of individual athletes, many of whom are already fashion-inclined. These athletes have dedicated fans whose social media engagement supersedes that of influencers or major fashion houses themselves. Hector Bellerin, a Spanish player for the team Betis and a current fashion icon in the soccer world said, “Brands now have the confidence to forge partnerships in football, knowing that players wearing their clothes have distinct personalities, opinions and cultural importance that extends far beyond the sport itself.” With the success of recent partnerships, I think the two industries will be working together for the foreseeable future and will create a strong legacy of collaboration.