Agree with 98% if this. 1% off for the Burberry x Chelsea suggestion - Chelsea have a poor reputation for a history of racism amongst their fans, and recent ownership that represents a debasement of football (Russian Putin pal who corrupted the league with dirty money and now culture fund who clearly don’t get football and are again up to dodgy financial tricks). The only reason it might work is cos Burberry themselves have an inauthentic brand at the moment, but if they’re looking to establish themselves partnering with a low quality club with dubious morals isn’t the one.
Oh and the other 1% is cos even as Arsenal fan who has loved the he brand revival and executions over the last 5 yrs, I feel we need to evolve the executions. There’s been way too many merch drops. The last couple of years
Agree there's been a lot of inauthentic collabs, but I don't think football x fashion is special in that sense, a lot of brand collabs are just trash in general.
Some great ones though! Wales Bonner x Jamaica '23 one of my favorites, would love to see her do an Arsenal kit w/ Adidas.
I think you nailed it with authenticity. Maybe it's the globalization of football, but its seems that clubs are so out of touch with their core fanbase. They are so focused on partnering with brands like an OVO because it might earn them an extra 100 or 1000 fans in some random US city (I am not discounting these fans, I am an American fan myself). But, it's at the cost of coming off as corny and out of touch with the heartbeat of your fanbase.
Football and fashion are so intertwined, I find it laughable that so many clubs seemingly can't find anyone in their fanbase to help create culturally relevant collaborations. We want more things like C.P. Company x Bologna and Adidas Spezial x Leeds/Nottingham Forest. Even Juventus and Palace is cool. Not whatever dumb and lazy graphic t-shirt that is currently getting churned out. It's all shit.
Who seriously wants to see their clubs align with a random big celebrity or brand because their trending that week? No one...
It's become a rat race to gain the most fans and no longer about nurturing the community that's already there. Clubs need to start catering to THEIR fans again, not prospective fans. Building the right culture will inevitably grow your fanbase and community organically.
Preach, Daniel!! Everyone’s chasing relevance but skipping the fundamentals. Who at the club actually understands culture? Who are the “cultural tastemakers” leading this?
“Rooted in legacy.” Whose legacy? Based on what?
These collabs only work when there’s real intent behind them. Otherwise it’s just product with zeroooo pulse.
Putting the pieces together, this smells like someone at Fanatics picked up the phone to OVO and said let’s do something with Chelsea to kick off the new ecommerce partnership and ride the Wireless wave.
This is what happens when authenticity gets left out of strategy.
Round of applause. You know these are my thoughts exactly!
"....Chelsea’s recent collaboration with Drake’s OVO merch line (fashion label would be too generous a descriptor)": I laughed hard. Bless your soul!
Agree with 98% if this. 1% off for the Burberry x Chelsea suggestion - Chelsea have a poor reputation for a history of racism amongst their fans, and recent ownership that represents a debasement of football (Russian Putin pal who corrupted the league with dirty money and now culture fund who clearly don’t get football and are again up to dodgy financial tricks). The only reason it might work is cos Burberry themselves have an inauthentic brand at the moment, but if they’re looking to establish themselves partnering with a low quality club with dubious morals isn’t the one.
Oh and the other 1% is cos even as Arsenal fan who has loved the he brand revival and executions over the last 5 yrs, I feel we need to evolve the executions. There’s been way too many merch drops. The last couple of years
Agree there's been a lot of inauthentic collabs, but I don't think football x fashion is special in that sense, a lot of brand collabs are just trash in general.
Some great ones though! Wales Bonner x Jamaica '23 one of my favorites, would love to see her do an Arsenal kit w/ Adidas.
I think you nailed it with authenticity. Maybe it's the globalization of football, but its seems that clubs are so out of touch with their core fanbase. They are so focused on partnering with brands like an OVO because it might earn them an extra 100 or 1000 fans in some random US city (I am not discounting these fans, I am an American fan myself). But, it's at the cost of coming off as corny and out of touch with the heartbeat of your fanbase.
Football and fashion are so intertwined, I find it laughable that so many clubs seemingly can't find anyone in their fanbase to help create culturally relevant collaborations. We want more things like C.P. Company x Bologna and Adidas Spezial x Leeds/Nottingham Forest. Even Juventus and Palace is cool. Not whatever dumb and lazy graphic t-shirt that is currently getting churned out. It's all shit.
Who seriously wants to see their clubs align with a random big celebrity or brand because their trending that week? No one...
It's become a rat race to gain the most fans and no longer about nurturing the community that's already there. Clubs need to start catering to THEIR fans again, not prospective fans. Building the right culture will inevitably grow your fanbase and community organically.
Preach, Daniel!! Everyone’s chasing relevance but skipping the fundamentals. Who at the club actually understands culture? Who are the “cultural tastemakers” leading this?
“Rooted in legacy.” Whose legacy? Based on what?
These collabs only work when there’s real intent behind them. Otherwise it’s just product with zeroooo pulse.
Putting the pieces together, this smells like someone at Fanatics picked up the phone to OVO and said let’s do something with Chelsea to kick off the new ecommerce partnership and ride the Wireless wave.
This is what happens when authenticity gets left out of strategy.