FIFA. Great at filling stadiums at summer club tournaments, great at picking World Cup host nations and great at sharing around its presidency to ensure fresh ideas and full accountability (three in the past 51 years).
But what about fashion? Is football’s global governing body any good at that? And is that a question you ever thought you would be asked?
Well, heck, we know Gianni Infantino can do fashion. IShowSpeed’s new best mate is something of a pioneer actually, as anyone who witnessed his dashing hoodie suit last year can attest.
Infantino is wearing a suit-hoodie pic.twitter.com/WoUNCqtRej
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) February 4, 2024
Whether Infantino has personally overseen FIFA’s new 1904 range is unclear, but what is abundantly obvious is that the organisation has put plenty of time and money into it, with it having been designed by fashion big dog Marcus Clayton, formerly of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Fenty (Rihanna’s short-lived fashion line).
It was given a sparkly launch in Beverly Hills recently with glamour players such as former Chelsea and England midfield clogger Dennis Wise and ex-Queens Park Rangers and Canada defender Marc Bircham in attendance.
Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt, the number 1904 could be referring to the cost of a pair of FIFA pants, rather than the year football’s world governing body was founded. This is being branded as luxury fashion, so it is not cheap. You can expect to part with £117 ($158) for a hoodie, £109 for some joggers, £60 for a T-shirt and £49 for a cap. The Athletic has checked and, despite those price points, none of the items contain melted gold or the DNA of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Why so expensive? And are the clothes any good? The Athletic has no idea, so here’s the expert opinion of former sportswear designer and now senior lecturer in sportswear design at Manchester Metropolitan University, Sarah Collins. She knows her onions.
“They’ve gone quite high-end in terms of sportswear,” Collins says. “It’s interesting where they’ve pitched it at market level; they’re saying they’re targeting the professional player and young professionals who can afford those price points.”
Dennis Wise, left, and Marc Bircham at the FIFA 1904 launch dinner in June (Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for FIFA 1904)
While the full range won’t be released for another few months, the initial clothes and images certainly give a flavour of both the style and cost of FIFA 1904.
The lead image on the range’s website shows a chap with a hoodie underneath a jacket. Hey, maybe Infantino did oversee this after all.
“It’s interesting they’ve taken a classic tailoring approach to the jacket and re-fabricated it in what looks like a sportswear fabric, a nylon or a polyester,” Collins says. “It’s the same for the women: a loose-fit, classic jumpsuit. It looks really quite smart and sophisticated, quite grown-up.
“That’s maybe a reflection of the way we dress today — we don’t always dress in sportswear (only) to go and do sports in, you might wear a graphic tee with a tailored jacket, and there’s that sort of mixing to create an identity that draws on different types of clothing.”
Elsewhere, there are navy, black and white T-shirts with a FIFA™ 1904 logo (don’t forget the trademark, folks), which must be pretty good if they cost £61 each.
Collins adds: “It’s a ‘catch-all’ wardrobe.
“What’s quite interesting is the branding is on there, because it’s sportswear, but it’s fairly minimal and understated. The actual styles they’re chosen, the tees, the hoodies, they’re all classic sportswear styles, but they’ve cut them quite loosely because that’s maybe the fit that would appeal to people wearing these in a professional context rather than with their mates.
“The colour palette is blacks, blues and whites, meaning you could wear these pieces with the other pieces in the range, again meaning it’s ‘catch-all’.
“They’re designed for longevity — you don’t need to update the graphic tee every season of the year. They’re saying it’s an investment piece, the opposite of what you get in football when clubs want you to buy three or four new kits every year.”
The FIFA blurb that accompanies the range is quite something.
“The modern uniform for the next generation of player,” FIFA says, in conjunction with fashion label and retailer VFiles.
“More than just a wardrobe, FIFA 1904 imbues football’s character and culture into expertly-crafted garments that are both innovative and original.
“The laws of the game are the same for everyone, but it’s what a player does with these constraints that defines their character. For FIFA 1904, character is playing the game with class and elegance while experimenting with the rules, breaking barriers and seizing opportunities, so that those who wear our garments can find their feet and discover their own style of play.”
Come again?
“Every garment range ‘promises’ something,” Collins says. “It could be improved performance, or an innovative approach, but it’s really difficult to know exactly how innovative this range has been with its fabrications.
“Some brands do actually innovate with fabrics and invest in the textiles. Whether it’s true in this case, I don’t know. Looking at the garments on the website, they are fairly standard fabrics in terms of cottons. If you look at the hoodie, for example, it says French Telly, which is a standard sportswear fabric.
“They do also mention sustainability, but it’s difficult to know how they imagine that. Or perhaps that means they’re seeing sustainability more as longevity of wear.”
For £49 a cap, you’d certainly hope to get a few wears out of it.
(Top photo: Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for FIFA 1904)
