The 2023/24 season beyond being remembered for the rise of Messi in the US, for football nearly coming home in Women’s football and the mega-bucks moves to Saudi, will be known as the Year of the kit. Not for a long time have we seen such interesting moves by clubs in who they partner with, in how they announce, and in how they design to raise the bar for the blessed jersey. The humble footie kit no longer feels like the preserve of the slightly overweight fan or the eager school kid. The whole industry is raising the bar on design of the hallowed kit in a way that is now making team jersey’s fashionable again. From the Undefeated x Birmingham City Football club partnership which beyond making LA residents google where Birmingham, England, is, is the best UK version of street culture and football culture clashing unlike anything we have seen before. To this phenomenon stretching globally with the now famous Inter Miami CF pink jersey announcing in the last week their Bathing Ape collaboration that sold out even though price points were in the late hundred dollars. These sorts of collaborations are taking the humble kit out of the pages of 442 and having Vogue and GQ herald a new era in footie fashion which is now landing on the catwalk beyond the clubs with even Balenciaga being known for creating their own footie inspired jerseys. As designers of British culture here at Music and long-time football collaborators we are deeply interested in this trend of football design and what is driving it. We have seen moves in recent years by Arsenal with the Stella McCartney or Transport for London collabs, as well as Yohji Yamamoto Real Madrid partnership and the PSG and Jordan tie-ins, but this year just feels different. Whether this is the continued rise of Bloke Core making football and dad fashion cool again, the energy that the Footballer Fits Insta and Tik Tok movement is having inside the changing rooms, or the effect that women’s football is having within those clubs that have both gender teams, but something is happening that is causing clubs to raise their game. And we love it. We think it's amazing to see the considered nature that teams are bringing to the whole design and marketing ecosystem to connect beyond the pitch to streetwear. We saw this ourselves with the recent Fulham Kit launch that we did for this season where our story landed the club in the heart of the community in a way that spread way beyond football. And we love what the Arsenal FC marketing team launched last week which felt unlike a kit film we had seen before, with a fun fashion house feel. Clubs just wouldn’t have taken these risks or impacted culture in such a way a few years ago and we can’t wait to be involved, and be spectators, as the sport raises its game through this season and beyond.
