Football culture is culture. While the most famous sport in the world has always been a major driving force for various aspects of our lives, in recent years, however, the intersection of fashion and football has sparked a sartorial revolution. The once strictly functional focus of football outfits has blossomed into a vibrant landscape where style and football are pushing fashion to new uncharted territories.
Football jerseys are a big deal right now. They've transcended the realm of being strictly match-day attire. Wearing a jersey 'just because' has become the norm—and even given birth to microtrends such as Blokecore.
To fully grasp the extent of football outfits and fashion’s vast significance, we decided to create the ultimate guide to better understand fashion’s long-lasting ties to football culture and offer tips on how to stylishly incorporate football jerseys into your everyday wear.
Best Football Kits: Elevating Tradition with Innovation
It comes as no surprise that the world of fashion would soon catch up with the immense cultural relevance that football kits have all over the world. From being sold in official stores to illegal shops outside stadiums for everyone to rock their favorite player to being chosen day in and day out in online video game battles, football kits are no longer just uniforms; they have become canvases for creativity and flagship collaborations between brands.
The best football kits capture a club's heritage and identity while infusing modern design elements. Think of Barcelona's iconic blaugrana stripes or Inter FC's sleek black and blue stripes, or even the baggy football jerseys of the ‘90s, with their long sleeves and collars. Just screaming iconic.
It was just a matter of time until top designers would collaborate with clubs to craft visually stunning kits, often celebrating the club's history or local culture.
These kits have now transcended the pitch, becoming coveted fashion items that fans and others proudly sport beyond matchdays.
Best Boots: Where Performance Meets Style
Similar to the kits, football boots have seen an unexpected design renaissance.
Today's boots are a fusion of performance-enhancing technology and eye-catching aesthetics that have become synonymous with the forward-thinking and technology-oriented direction the game has taken.
Brands like Adidas Nike, and New Balance, compete not only in terms of technical functionality but also in delivering boots that are stylish statements. Players often customize their boots, adding personal touches to create a unique look.
Throughout football history, highly stylized boots have been at the center of countless iconic moments, and as football outfits evolve, so will the boots.
Best Football and Fashion Collaborations
Collaborations between football clubs and high-end fashion brands have redefined football merchandise. Luxury labels like Louis Vuitton and streetwear giants like Off-White have teamed up with clubs to produce limited-edition collections.
Moncler teamed up with Inter FC, Patta with Barcelona, Aries and New Balance for AS Roma, Balenciaga for Rennais FC.
On a world stage, during the last World Cup, NIGO, following his ongoing work as the artistic director for KENZO as well as his role as head designer for Humanmade, had taken time to design Japan’s football team jerseys.
The most explicit step toward this push has been by Crystal Palace Football Club as they became the first Premier League side to appoint an in-house creative director to oversee its seasonal off-field collections and all future fashion partnerships.
These collaborations seamlessly blend the worlds of luxury and sportswear, transforming club merchandise into must-have fashion pieces and allowing them to create new layers of meaning and connection for both club and fashion brand.
The result is a collection that appeals to both football aficionados and style-conscious consumers, ultimately elevating football outfits to new heights.
Designers Inspired By Football
Football's vibrant culture, energy, and global appeal have inspired fashion designers worldwide.
From Virgil Abloh's soccer-themed collections to Stella McCartney's collaborations with Adidas, the runway often draws inspiration from the pitch, and vice versa.
The sport's aesthetics, colors, and iconic imagery provide designers with a rich source of creative ideas, bridging the gap between the athletic and the artistic.
It also allows brands to become more relatable to a wide audience of football fans. Especially seeing the evolution that iconic brands like Stone Island and CP Company, originally associated with British football culture, have made to become mainstays in the upper echelon of fashion, it’s easy to understand how other designers and brands would want to do the same.
Just looking at the work by the Biritsh-Jamaican designer Martin Rose it’s easy to see how her focus on football-inspired designs is dissolving the boundaries between men's and women’s football.
Or how Wales Bonner and her partnership with Adidas has created a love letter to the aesthetic of Jamaican football culture.
Another example is the Fenty x Puma Avanti shoe, a unisex sneaker that fuses the leather upper of the PUMA King football boot with the outsole of the label’s heritage running shoe, the Easy Rider—proving once again the growing influence of football away from the pitch and into the hands of brands wanting to explore new ways to shape their products.
Most Stylish Footballers: Athletes as Style Icons
Much like celebrities all across the entertainment industry and a few years later, the super stylish NBA players and footballers have slowly become modern-day style icons.
Apart from the great Pele, he had a style all along.
Needless to say, their access to high-end designers and considerable wealth have been easy elements in elevating their fashion outfits, but despite their facilitated path to getting some of the nicest grails, they still have to pull off their own style.
What was David Beckham once in the golden era of British football, now there are guys like Son Heung Min, Erling Haaland, Trent Alexander Arnold, and Hector Bellerin (who caught the attention of the late Virgil Abloh, who brought the star on board to walk the runway for Louis Vuitton) leading the way of football outfits and style, boasting their own fashion sense and gracing the covers of some of the best fashion magazines in the world.
Their wardrobes have a healthy rotation of tailored suits, streetwear brands, and statement accessories, setting trends and defining contemporary fashion for all the athletes out there.
Cultural Icons That Love Football: A Universal Passion
The beautiful game transcends boundaries and captivates people from all walks of life, including cultural icons. Figures like Bob Marley, Drake, Jay-Z, Usain Bolt, and even Lebron James ( part owner of Liverpool FC) are passionate fans.
Their public support not only contributes to the sport's global popularity but also influences fashion choices. Seeing them don football outfits or attend high-profile matches further emphasizes the sport's cultural significance.
How to Wear Soccer Jerseys: Blokecore
There's something about wearing a football shirt of your team or a team that you don't know. There's something to it. There's a weight to it.
TikTok has ushered in a fresh categorization of jersey-wearing, inspired by Brit-pop aesthetics, known as "Blokecore." Don't be deterred by the name; this laid-back style draws inspiration from football outfits, featuring long mesh shorts, football socks, realistically a pair of adidas Samba, and, naturally, football jerseys.
Wearing a football oufits, especially a good retro jersey, can be a stylish and authentic expression of your love for the game. To pull it off though, you have to treat the jersey like any other statement piece in your wardrobe.
Remember that accessories such as a matching cap or a necklace that complements the team's colors can enhance your outfit, too.
Whether you call it "blokecore" or something else, football jerseys have unquestionably transformed into a valuable element of contemporary fashion and football outfits.
What you cannot absolutely forget is to bring out all the confidence in your team's colors while staying true to your personal style.
Whether you're at a match or simply out and about, a well-styled football jersey can make a great fashionable statement and help you bridge the gap between comfort and style
Now that you are all up to date on the intersection between fashion and football, check out our t-shirt guide and pants encyclopedia, or have a look at Cristiano Ronaldo's net worth.
