It’s no exaggeration to say that 2020 has been a year filled with fear and mayhem, but amidst the chaos, creativity has managed to sprout. Football and fashion fanatic (and former Argos employee) Jordan Clarke was also among those who sowed the seeds of what would become a bona fide business, a space where two diametrically opposed elements, fashion and football, could collide @ Founded footballersfits.
“I realized that there was no support from soccer players.” [when it came to fashion] And there’s no platform for them to express themselves,” Clark explains. If Paul Pogba wasn’t maligned by sports pundits and football fans for his bold blonde dye job, Alex Iwobi’s desire to break into music will come under scrutiny. Clark remembers that as a teenager he became obsessed with documenting the style of footballers and later set up a Facebook page (though he now regrets selling it for £250).
His Instagram and TikTok accounts were then born, and between them he has amassed more than 2 million followers. On each platform, Clarke spotlights players who he thinks are doing well in fashion, with a series of footballers, including Arsenal forward Reiss Nelson, shifting the focus away from negative headlines and highlighting their success beyond the pitch. Kudos for creating a space that celebrates fashion identity.
Now, in addition to posting fit photos, Clark jets around the world, facilitating studio shoots and interviews with international athletes. All of this without a degree or experience in business or media. And fashion is finally attracting attention. Brands such as Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Louis Vuitton are finally beginning to understand the influence these athletes and women have beyond the fashion scene – in recent years, brands such as Marcus Rashford and Son Heung-min have Since then, Leah Williamson has been tapped to star in campaigns and serve as an ambassador for a variety of names, including Burberry and Martin Rose.
As Footballer Fits celebrates its fifth anniversary, we discuss the changing landscape of football culture, challenging the ideology of athletes being one-dimensional, and the importance of encouraging players to leverage their position in football to evolve. Talk to Clark about sex. field.
Courtesy of Jordan Clark
Hey Jordan! How did you become interested in soccer and fashion?
Jordan Clark: I’ve always been a football fan, but during the coronavirus pandemic, I think everyone got interested in fashion and different aspects of it because all you could do was buy things online. I had years of experience managing soccer fan pages, but I knew that pushing fashion only to strictly soccer fans probably wouldn’t grow much.
When did you realize there was a gap between the two worlds?
Jordan Clark: I was inspired by the American culture surrounding the NBA and NFL and how their athletes are celebrated. I realized that soccer players didn’t have the same support because they didn’t have a platform to express themselves. obviously had [Héctor] With Bellerin [David] Aside from Beckham, few athletes have been involved in fashion for fear of being criticized for posting their outfits.
Football is a very traditional sport and I don’t mean to generalize, but the elders in the football scene were not necessarily the most confident in themselves because their generation didn’t encourage self-expression. They are not capable of self-expression. On top of that. FF was born as a platform to advocate for players and provide avenues and routes for self-expression.
“A lot of times in soccer players’ shoots, you can see they don’t want to wear what they’re actually wearing.” – Jordan Clark
When did you start noticing that Final Fantasy fans were demanding more editorially focused content?
Jordan Clarke: A lot of times when a footballer shoots, you can tell they don’t really want to wear what they’re wearing, and the interviews focus solely on the football, the result and their next transfer move. You can guess. No one actually asked for their favorite brand. These are all questions that young viewers wanted to know. I came up with the “Unfiltered” series. There, we go to their homes, have them style them, and do very low-key shoots where their skin is exposed. Because there’s no “lights, camera, action.”
How do you think Gen Z viewers reacted to a soccer player launching his own clothing brand?
Jordan Clark: I think the difference between this generation and the younger generation is that they’ve grown up with social media, so they’re more open to it and they encourage it. The majority of them want to see ballers make music, they want to see the fashion side of things, otherwise FF wouldn’t have become this big.
Do you think soccer players should use their status as soccer players to explore different creative avenues?
Jordan Clark: Relying solely on football when you don’t know how much time and distance it will take may not be the best decision, so I encourage my players, whether they’re playing professionally or not, to try different creative strategies. I always encourage people to look for a field. , especially if you have the freedom to do so because you don’t have to do a 9-5.
Now that there’s a market for it, if you make enough noise about what you’re doing and you have a platform and a fan of football, people will listen to you and Footballer Fits will buy into it.
Courtesy of Jordan Clark
How does Footballer Fits promote personal style more off the pitch than on it?
Jordan Clark: Two years ago, no one was talking about what players wore to training. Most people think it’s not even an argument, but when they started working with Crystal Palace on the tunnel fit, their engagement completely increased from that point on. It was a fashion element. Since then we have worked with Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest. We also have an exciting partnership with Harvey Nichols where we invited two baseball players to shop inside the department store and set up an outfit challenge.
FF also covers seizures in female soccer players. Do they get the same attention from a male-dominated audience?
Jordan Clark: When I first started, I was wary of the reception, but some female players get much better engagement than male players. We featured Leah Williamson and Lauren James, and I think the balance is that the women in Final Fantasy need to be wearing streetwear, so that the majority of viewers can relate. I think so.
One of the things I love about this platform is that everyone celebrates. I think this is one of my proudest achievements in terms of our community because every post is positive about that player. If a soccer player received a notification saying, “I’ve been tagged by FF,” I don’t think they would think, “Oh, no.” It’s a moment they can get excited about.
Stylistically, what are three notable Dazed soccer players?
Jordan Clarke: Barcelona’s Jules Kounde is arguably the best-dressed player in the game at the moment, but not everyone likes his fit due to his lack of safety measures. He appears in cropped, oversized pieces. Rafael Leão from Milan is an interesting figure, a role model for many eras, and a completely different career in terms of a typical footballer’s trajectory. Finally, Memphis Depay – I would call him the Drake of football in terms of his lifestyle and fashion choices. He has an upper class style.
