Is Your Old Football Shirt Finally Trendy? The Rise in Popularity of Football Fashion
It Might Be Time to Get Your Old Football Shirt Out of the Wardrobe…
PUMA and KidSuper launch cool new kits for Manchester City. Image credits: Manchester City FC
Skinny jeans, check; Nike Tiempos, check; Liverpool’s 2013/14 third shirt (yes that one), check; and finally, an ungodly amount of hair gel, check.
The year was 2014, and I was about to spend my evening knee sliding in a school hall whilst buying 30p sweets from the canteen at the year six disco. Now, whilst life was oh-so-simple at that time, it’s fair to say that it was a fashion horror show. Or, was it?
Skinny jeans and spiked up Inbetweeners-esque hair aside, dare it be said that 12-year-old me would be somewhat of an admirable football hipster these days? That’s right, for the first time ever, football fashion is in.
No longer is the old Arsenal shirt - which has been collecting more dust than anyone would care to admit - destined to become a wholesome heirloom. Instead, it is deemed classic. It is vintage, and it is trending. Print Thierry Henry’s name on the back, put a pair of jorts on, and you won’t just be deemed a football fan on holiday, but one who has an eye for fashion…
How Has the Attitude to Football Fashion Changed?
So, why the change in narrative?
Christopher Brown, who recently collaborated with fashion brand KidSuper to bring Mario Balotelli to Paris Fashion Week, explained that the stigma has changed and the door has opened for football to catwalk its way into a new culture:
“Using Paris fashion week, we saw Mario Balotelli there with Kidsuper, Myles Lewis-Skelly with Wales Bonner and Joe Willock with 424. I think it’s becoming a lot more accepted. I think 10 years ago there would have been a lot more of a stigma around Lewis-Skelly attending such an event - it would have been seen as a distraction.
“I think now that it’s so widely accepted, it’s testament where soft cultures within football are, whether that be fashion, whether that be music, whether that be the wider lifestyle scene or other sports like padel. All of these subcultures are starting to be more prominent and a lot more widely accepted now which is great.”
The world of luxury fashion didn’t just provide those players with the platform to present the recent collaboration between two thriving worlds - Paris even saved Balotelli until last.
As ever, the question around the French capital may well have been “why always him?” This, however, is only the start of the continuing crossover between fashion and football.
Brown continued:
“I think you just need to see the last couple of milestone moments across the fashion calendar and how football has played an intrinsic part in that. I think iconic footballers are always a headline moment. Balottelli walked as the last model on that Paris runway, which was a real special moment and everyone realised the surprise that he was there.
“That in itself was an iconic moment, bringing two worlds together - blurring the lines between football, sport and culture. So I think football is here to stay across fashion, across cultural moments.
“It’s always going to be relevant. Everybody on the planet knows who certain footballers are and when those fashion brands work with those players, it can really resonate with that desired audience. It’s growing and growing in popularity.”
Football Fashion as Streetwear
For football and streetwear, it really has been the summer of KidSuper. Whilst Balotelli represented them in Paris, their collaboration with PUMA to create kits for the likes of Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund was on show at the Club World Cup.
PUMA even held a fashion show in New York to present those shirts. Once again, the two worlds collided to create an unexpected spectacle. When asked about the collaboration, KidSuper designer Colm Dillane told Catch Up:
“Football is an art form. This collection goes beyond the pitch. It’s about daring to express yourself, taking risks, standing out.”
Jordan x PSG
Before KidSuper, fashion runways and Balotelli came the collaboration between Jordan and Paris Saint-Germain. For the first time, football showcased itself to a fresh, trendy audience. The PSG store found itself positioned among high-end outlets on Oxford Street, Travis Scott was pictured wearing an early version of the collaboration, and the Ligue 1 giants officially became ‘cool’.
According to the latest Deloitte Football Money League, PSG’s commercial revenue has reflected their step into the world of streetwear. Over the last four years, that revenue has grown from €337m in 2021 to €400m in 2023.
There was a slight dip in revenue in 2024, but that may be attributed to Kylian Mbappe’s departure, which also followed Lionel Messi’s exit. By the time the numbers are revealed for 2025, they should once again be on the rise. PSG made new stars and, for the first time, a team of dominant Champions League winners.
Again, it is Jordan who have benefited from that success. Fanatics revealed that just 12 hours after the Champions League final, PSG broke the record for the company’s highest-ever sales for a team outside of the USA, with sales between 11pm and midnight CET on 1 June spiking over 4,200% compared to those made before 30 May.
Are Football Shirt Collections Becoming More Popular?
It should come as no shock that PSG’s Champions League-winning shirt enjoyed a hike in popularity. Salah and Roc of the R2S Football YouTube channel, who own an endless supply of iconic football shirts themselves, spoke about why fans often start up a collection. Salah said:
“I’ve been pretty fortunate with how I grew up with my family, so I bought shirts when I was on a football trip or when I was on holiday. Or I received shirts from family members. It created a collection and I became a collector without even noticing. But I started to really pursue the collecting part when I started seeing memories in all these shirts.
“I’m looking at a shirt, I think ‘wow, I went to a football game of that shirt connecting that shirt to that experience’. I’m looking at a shirt, I think ‘wow, I went to a football game of that shirt connecting that shirt to that experience. That’s why I started this whole collection. Why that feels so special to me. I see a memory, I see a player who I used to love.”
However, R2S’s collection is not just reserved for football lovers these days. Roc admitted:
“People who are not really into football see a nice shirt. When Messi moved to Inter Miami, I saw so many people with a Messi shirt who didn’t know football whatsoever.
“It’s becoming a fashion item. For everyone, there are so many crazy football shirts with crazy patterns or crazy sponsors or colours. For everyone there is something and that’s unique about football shirts.”
Whilst Roc and Salah admitted that the collaboration between the world of fashion and football has seen a hike in price in the last five years - by around 20% on average - they also revealed that they hold or increase in value like most retro items.
That price hike in itself is an indication of just how much of a crossover is beginning to take place between the two worlds. And as R2S mentioned, brands all over the world are starting to take notice:
“Because of the increase in popularity, you can really see brands starting to focus on the design of football shirts. They’re really changing.
“We’ve seen this year with many anniversary shirts, because they know what people like. Especially now with the growth of people liking football shirts and the designs and the fashion behind it. They’re trying more and more to recreate some unique shirts that we’ll talk about for years.”
What’s Next For Football Fashion?
The question for both industries will be: what’s next? Once Balottelli walks the runway, how do you top that? R2S touched on the potential for players like Kounde to enter the world of fashion on a permanent basis once they’ve said their farewells to football’s elite - and the door is certainly open for that to happen.
THAT Liverpool kit - universally accepted as one of the ugliest kits of all-time. Image credits: Warrior
Brown was also quick to point out that there is no longer a stigma around such a move. So instead of moving straight into management and risking a Gary Neville repeat - or even taking a seat next to the Manchester United legend at Sky Sports - players now have an opportunity to take part in a new subculture entirely.
When 12-year-old me was getting ready to kneeslide all over the school hall in 2014, football shirts belonged on the pitch or on an unfashionable soon-to-be teenager. But as R2S have found out through their own collection - and Brown discovered when working with KidSuper - times have long changed.
That said, it’s probably best to leave that 13/14 Liverpool shirt buried deep in the wardrobe for the time being…
