Footballers as Fashion Icons: How Athletes Influence Streetwear


Publicity in football has become ever growing in the last decade thanks to the rise in social media usage creating a bridge between fans and their favourite players providing off the pitch insights into the lives of the footballers. Social media usage has been fully subjective to the players themselves although the younger footballing generation are feeling an increasing the desire to expose their private lives away from the pitch, frequently posting selfies allowing for their attire to flourish on behalf of their personalities.

 Instagram specifically has facilitated as a platform for the easily influenced to be inspired by the outfits posted by footballers, Stars like Hector Bellerin (Formally of Arsenal) & Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) have been hailed as the fashion icons of the English premier league by none other than GQ magazine in 2022, but what does this really mean for the bigger picture of streetwear? Due to their large social media following, these pros offer a great opportunity for brands to collaborate with to leverage their brand by captivating a player’s audience, invigorating a platform for players to be icons in the fashion industry. 

Bellerin as an example of this was approached by fashion giant H&M to partake in a collaborative campaign after they recognised him as a standout figure thanks to his unique vintage yet eco-friendly attire he was proud to display, it allowed H&M to use this icon to amplify a new sustainable clothing line mirroring the vintage/classy look he tended to portray. In doing so the launch proved a success for H&M giving fans of Bellerin the opportunity to dress in accordance of him all while being able to tap into a sustainable clothing market, helping the campaign to be a sell-out, reinforcing the significance a celebrities endorsement can have on a marketing campaign.

 


1)Dominic Calvert Lewin's shoot with GQ                             2)Hector Bellerin H&M campaign launch 

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