Why luxury brands love to pair football with trainer fetishism?

For label-conscious casuals, the link between football fandom and trainer fetishism is long-standing. For trend-aware supporters, it goes deeper than merely wearing the team colours or the latest Home shirt. Instead, there’s the niche practice of pairing a specific pair of trainers to a player in the team or to a specific position on the pitch.

It’s a fashion subset that’s likely as old as trainers themselves, but it was during the late 1970s and early 1980s that the practice was taken to its most creative excess. Back then, the wearing of brightly coloured, studless versions of Nike Tiempos and Adidas Predators in the stands was a trend favoured by the burgeoning Casual movement.

For many supporters, the shoe of choice was the adidas Sambas, with its leather upper and signature three-stripe markings. Often, these were worn with the laces tucked in, ostensibly to avoid them catching on the turf when making a swift exit from the stands should trouble arise.

In the mid-2000s, the link between the pitch and the stands was reignited through the rise of replica signature football boots. Wearing the same shoes as your favourite player, or choosing a pair in the same colour blocks of your team’s strip, became a fashion subset favoured by those with a penchant for the classic clothing favoured by the most stylish fans.

In recent years, the trend has continued through the rise of collaborations between men’s style luminaries and sportswear brands. In 2016, Grace Wales Bonner’s buzzy collaboration with adidas Football saw her pair the adidas Samba with her own designs, while in 2020, Pharrell Williams and Nike’s joint venture saw the duo release the “Footprint Football” LV trainers, a pair of low-tops emblazoned with the calciConFootbol logo designed by David Lynch that remains under a degree of the light of the football boots of the moment.

Wales Bonner has also recently teamed up with Reebok to release a capsule collection inspired by her dad’s record label, MOBO Records. This June, she’ll continue her penchant for pairing the fashion nuptials of the pitch and the stands when she unveils her latest collaboration with adidas Football at the Unesco headquarters in Paris.

“It’s inspired by international exchange,” says Wales Bonner, speaking exclusively to Esquire. “It’s about the UK and Germany coming together and how we can use football as a catalyst for that.”

The collection will include her interpretation of the iconic Adidas Predators, a pair of striped white and blue leather trainers, as well as her take on a classic football tracksuit. “It’s meticulously made football kit,” she says. “It’s really beautiful.”

For spring/summer 2025, Wales Bonner is also working on a made-to-order bomber jacket. “I’m really thinking about how we can make something really special for people who want a collector’s item,” she says. “I’m a big believer in objects lasting and the circular economy. I want people to be able to look after their clothes and pass them on to their kids.”