Trend Report: Football x Fashion

Football’s all about the collective. Fashion tends towards the individual. But it’s still identity that’s at the heart of them both. Perhaps as a result, they share a rich history. As early as the 1970s, swaggy fans of the Manchester clubs were known as ‘Perry boys’ for the Fred Perry polos they liked to wear with Adidas Stan Smiths.

In that same decade, English teams (especially Liverpool) started to dominate Europe: between 1975 and 1985, clubs from these shores made it to 9/11 European Cup finals, winning seven. Their fans would follow them around the continent. To prove they’d been with their team all the way, supporters would bring home brands you could only get abroad. Fila, Lacoste, Sergio Tacchini and Ellesse were all sacred. 

In the early 90s, with English teams banned from playing in Europe after the Heysel disaster, replica shirts arrived. Subtle signifiers like Fred Perry’s laurel wreath or Lacoste’s crocodile were replaced by full-scale imitation of the players on the pitch, but there was still room for a couple of Italian labels.

Both founded by Massimo Osti, Stone Island and CP Company stood out not just because they were hard to get, but because their gear stood up to cold afternoons on the terraces. Inspired by his own archive of military and workwear, Osti created new technical fabrics and processes like garment dyeing that he applied to classic pieces with a rarefied Italian eye for design.

Today, the desire for identity still fuels football’s close relationship with fashion. While he was manager of Notts Forest, Steve Cooper liked to wear Paul Smith on the touchline – a brand that was born in the city. In a rootless digital age of atomised IRL communities, he recognised the power of a homegrown connection. Or maybe he just liked the label.

But he wouldn’t be alone in appreciating that connection. Social media movements like blokecore speak to a new generation’s yearning for old-school analogue pleasures – lads, dads and mates going to a game, beers before and after. At matches we’ve seen recently, especially in lower leagues, Stone Island is back, and so are other old terrace staples like the check Aquascutum scarf. 

In a new twist, it’s not just the fans taking an interest in their appearance. Players and clubs are too. Where once there were only outliers like David Beckham, you can now find whole squads getting involved. At a time when collaboration culture is rife in fashion, football is a perfect partner, and its hyper-fit stars make great clothes horses.