2023-06-16 12:57:39
The football shirt, once confined to stadiums, has become a garment in its own right, prized by supporters, influencers or collectors. The result of a marketing strategy orchestrated by clubs and equipment manufacturers, this massive distribution is not always to please the guardians of the footballing temple.
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You can put it on to go to the supermarket, the bank, the university or the theater. Formerly confined to stadiums or pubs on match days, the football jersey is now everywhere without shocking anyone – just like the sport itself, which makes international headlines. and the subject of endless debates between specialists or articles by academics who like to reflect on the sociological, economic and geopolitical scope of the discipline.
“The fact that football has become a very popular, appreciated and recognized sport, we assume more to wear a jersey in the street”, observes Vincent Mourgues, doctoral student in sports history. Basically, the round ball has become respectable and its derivatives too.
A godsend in the eyes of clubs and their equipment manufacturers, who know that merchandising can be a significant financial windfall. For League teams 1 French, the sale of derivative products generally represents between 8 % et 10 % of annual turnover. For teams with worldwide influence such as Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, it is between 20 % et 25 %. “And for Manchester United, which has developed its brand for around 30 years, it can go up to 30 %”, reports Vincent Mourgues.
Haute couture swimwear
The temptation is therefore great to diversify the offer. For this, there are several levers. The first is to play the nostalgic fiber of football lovers. “Each jersey tells a different story and brings back different memories to me, enthuses Carlo, a young Milanese who has more than 300 pieces of which he likes to tell the specificities on the Instagram account Magliofili. When I go through my collection, I see different things that tell me about certain eras, certain players, certain historical events that happened.”
The craze for vintage jerseys, widely perceptible on social networks, has therefore not escaped the clubs which regularly reissue old tunics testifying to a glorious past, like AS Saint-Étienne and the equipment manufacturer Le Coq Sportif who marketed, in limited edition, the jersey worn by the Greens during their European epic in 1976.
Another strategy, aimed at a more affluent public: the marketing of higher-end jerseys. In recent years, countless major European clubs have called on prestigious names in haute couture to redesign collector’s versions of their jerseys. : Paris-Saint-Germain who calls on designer Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, Real Madrid on stylist Yohji Yamamoto, AC Milan at the Koché house. Even teams not well known for their “bling bling” are getting into it since, recently, the discreet Stade Rennes teamed up with Balenciaga. An association which however owes nothing to chance since the two institutions share the same owner : the Pinault family.
And one, and two, and three jerseys !
Finally, more basically, the clubs no longer hesitate to give free rein to their marketing creativity through what is called the third jersey. There was a time not so long ago when there was a “home shirt” (featuring the iconic colors of the club) and an “away shirt” (with the same colors but reversed). Simple, but limited when it comes to stocking the shelves of sports shops. “With the third jersey, the equipment manufacturers have carte blanche, or almost, to seek to conquer new audiences”, explains Vincent Mourgues.
Also in recent years we have seen Manchester play in black, PSG in pink or the Girondins de Bordeaux… in mustard yellow. Only, the fans do not really like that we touch the colors of their favorite team. And sometimes let it be known by launching petitions demanding the withdrawal of controversial jerseys. Very often without result.
The important thing, in the end, is that these swimsuits exist, are worn, shown and, with a little luck, end up attracting the attention of a fashion influencer with thousands of subscribers on Instagram or TikTok. “One of my colleagues told me that she now wears football shirts because it’s trendy. And she doesn’t know anything about football, reports Carlo. But that’s what it’s all about. : of the diffusion of a style that goes beyond the love for football. And I find that beautiful because football leaves its domain to reach other disciplines, other passions.”
We don’t have the same jersey but we have (almost) the same passion
But there again, as good guardians of the footballing temple, some fans see in this overproduction an additional distortion of the values of the round ball. In order to express their disapproval of all-out merchandising while affirming their love of football, supporters can show “their desire to distinguish themselves from a recent football culture, with clubs which have developed recently, by choosing to shirt of underground clubs. We show that we are connoisseurs of football rather than just recent consumers,” said Vincent Mourgues. A low-key protest embodied by the singer Manu Chao who, during his concerts, inevitably wears the jersey of a Latin American club.
Because the football shirt can also become a political object. In 2017, the deputy of La France insoumise François Ruffin had put on one in the National Assembly to defend a bill on the financing of amateur sport. Result: the elected official of the Somme had been fined more than 1 300 euros for having violated the strict “dress code” in force in the Hemicycle.
The footballer’s tunic does not yet have the right of citizenship everywhere. Despite its trivialization in the public space, there are still uncrossed dikes. It is hard to imagine, for example, being able to go to a job interview today with a PSG jersey. Especially if you are applying for a job in Marseille.
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