A few years ago, walking around wearing a shoe with cleats would have been ridiculous. Today it is cool. Although not new in an absolute sense, the combination of football and fashion had never reached current levels. They call it ‘blokecore’, and it has become a worldwide trend. Here’s why
by Massimiliano Viti
The combination of football and fashion has never reached current levels. The spread of the sport in the USA has made the blokecore trend take on a planetary scope. This trend is identified in the look consisting of a football team jersey (vintage or designed by a famous designer), a pair of jeans and a pair of trainers. The term ‘bloke’ refers to the slang that identifies English boys who wear the jersey of the club they support in their everyday life. The rise of the blokecore has been furthered by collaborations between iconic sportswear brands such as Adidas and Nike and luxury brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga. And it is clear that if, with a football jersey, you also wear classic stadium boots – including cleats – the look becomes more relevant.
It’s blokecore time
In the US, the trainer has always been the basketball one or – if anything – the one inspired by the sport. But recently, two factors have upset the rules. First: the trainer market has been going through an identity crisis. Second: the popularity of football has grown. Also, thanks to the World Cup for clubs that will end in mid-July and the World Cup for national teams that will take place in June 2026 in the USA, Mexico and Canada. This has created the conditions for the spread of the football shoe: trainers inspired by the world of football
Bimma Williams, trainer marketing expert and founder of the Collab Lab platform, believes that “much of the success of football shoes is linked to consumers’ desire for something very different from what has been offered to them for decades”. Hence, the growing popularity of Adidas’ Samba model (a retro football shoe that has taken the trainer market by storm over the past two years) has led the way for the soccer shoe. Now, trainer giants, luxury brands and trendy consumers are becoming increasingly obsessed with this style of footwear. This includes not only the silhouette of the football shoe, with reduced bottoms and volumes, but also includes the presence of cleats for everyday use.
Increased cultural visibility
“Football has become more culturally visible due to the increase in the US public and the growing international profile of women’s football. Therefore, the aesthetics of football are now familiar to more people,’ Style of Play newsletter author Lauren Cochrane told Business of Fashion. Are we facing a passing fad? ‘The key to rooting this phenomenon in the culture is to have an ongoing engagement strategy with new faces, new activations, creative marketing approaches and collaborations,’ says Williams. In the past, football only influenced fashion for short periods, perhaps in conjunction with the World Cup.
After that, everything returned to normal. Last December, however, it was Louis Vuitton that anticipated the football shoe trend by presenting a trainer inspired by football boots, but in luxury: the LV Soccer (€990), designed by Pharrell Williams.
A matter of DNA
In the fashion scene, there are two brands that, more than others, have football in their historical DNA: Bikkembergs and Pantofola d’Oro. Designer Dirk Bikkembergs, who founded the brand in 1986, had such a strong attraction for football that in 2005, he even bought the football team of the Italian town where he had his headquarters: Fossombrone (Pesaro-Urbino). “There are strong parallels between fashion and sport in street style, in the language of football and in the way this sports subculture can become fashionable,” comments Lee Wood, Bikkembergs creative director, in an interview published by Fashion United. Dario Predonzan, CEO of the brand, expects the development of the soccer shoe to become more concrete next year.
At the recent Pitti Uomo in Florence, the brand presented a soccer shoe that is sold, see now, buy now in limited edition, the result of a collaboration with Russian streetwear designer Gosha Rubchinskiy. The shoe, totally Made in Italy, will serve to give the brand relevance and open its doors in markets such as the United States and Germany.
How to exploit the blokecore
Pantofola d’Oro, the brand worn by footballers (Sivori, Rivera, Mazzola, Suarez, Altafini are some of its testimonial customers), is also working hard to exploit the blokecore trend. ‘In our soccer shoe, we have taken up a fund made in the 1960s specifically for the South of Italy, where there was a higher percentage of non-grass football pitches, so footballers needed a shoe with certain characteristics,’ says CEO Kim Williams. This model has always been in the collection, but its sales have gradually declined.
Now, however, it is in great demand. “Just in the US, a couple of brands have contacted us to consider a manufacturing partnership,’ says Williams. Furthermore, to celebrate its 140th anniversary, Pantofola d’Oro presented a street soccer project with South African designer Thebe Magugu at Pitti. “Football is more than a sport: it is culture, identity, connection. We are proud to collaborate with Thebe on a collection that brings together different worlds, styles and stories and celebrates the power of football to inspire and include,” said Williams.
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