Football sneakers celebrate their comeback and the gen z ventures onto the street with tunnel shoes. What is behind this new trend? Experts from Adidas and Zalando provide information.
King Football has been playing an important role in fashion again for some time and, in addition to the streetwear, also influences the collections of the designers: inside. Football jerseys were indispensable even on brands such as Balenciaga, Koché and 3rd paradise. The trend seems to have been shot to a new level with tunnel shoes as IT-Piece.
Football on the catwalk
Already at the SS25 collections, fashion houses used the soccer shoe as a styling element for their catwalk collections to round off the football theme. For example, Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas used soccer shoes for their collaboration project Y3 with cams from the Herzogenaurach athlete and also present the official jersey of the Japanese national soccer team. Louis Vuitton even sent her own branded football shoes on the right lawn walkway.
Collaborations between luxury brands and sporting goods such as Prada and Adidas, who have launched a joint football shoe, also illustrate the fashionable relevance.
Meanwhile, Berlin’s online retailer Zalando notices an increasing interest in soccer shoes, explains Matthew Glynn, Head of Strategy & GTM, Sports at Zalando. He noticed these developments, especially in the “Back to Club” season from July to September-the restart of the national football leagues.
Comeback of the football sneakers
A fashionable no-go were long-distance soccer shoes in any form-whether as a model with tunnels or turf sole, which is used for the hard court or as a lifestyle shoe. Only with teenagers who would have preferred to kick their day than sitting at school were such shoes a must-have ten to 20 years ago.
Now these teenagers are grown up and iconic models such as the Nike Total90, which was launched for the first time in the early 2000s, are celebrating their comeback as a new edition. The direct competitor Adidas also starts with such a classic. The Herzogenaurach sporting artist has just reissued the football shoe silhouette F50 as a sneaker, which will be available for 120 euros in five color paths from mid-June. This is mixed with the Lifestyle shoe Taekwondo, so that the new version gets a slimmer sole and the slip-in tap, but maintains its shiny upper material.
“The fusion of football and lifestyle is still very popular,” said Oliver Brüggen, Senior Director Pr Central Europe at Adidas. “We are now increasingly taking up this trend, which was previously represented primarily in the clothing segment, in the sneaker area, for example with the launch of the F50 Taekwondo.”
Glynn, who perceives a trend towards football-inspired lifestyle shoes, also notices these developments. Sneakers are particularly popular, “which combine the sporty heir with an everyday look. This reflects a larger trend in which sport is increasingly influencing streetwear.”
While the inner child of the Millennials is pleased that they can carry their beloved football shoes again and the fashion fans also adapt these models as part of the large Y2K trend, the young generation goes one step down again.
On the short video platform Tiktok, the #Bootsonly number, in which soccer shoes with cams and tunnels-models that are actually intended for the grass field-are currently being integrated into street-style looks and ensure interpolition in the comments. The “Football Boots” are combined with casual jeans and streetwear-oriented pieces and integrated in the existing style of the carrier: integrated inside without adapting the rest of the look to it.
@Unknowncr7TTV #bootonly number #landedinusa #Futbol⚽️ #Cleats #vapor #newrend #hs @not_ethan03 @anthonysotelo @3nriqueee.e ♬ Original sound – Spragga ⛷️
The trend then got international attention through Rosalía. The Spanish singer was photographed on the way to a fitting appointment for this year’s Met Gala in a simple white T-shirt with the saying “Protect Me from what I want” and a voluminous white skirt. Under the long skirt, a white pair of football shoes from the New Balance brand flashed through its neon-green and pink accents.
“Football shoes have long since found their way from the stadium onto the street. Today they stand for a expressive fashion style with which you set a statement,” says Glynn. “Trends such as #Bootsonly number, in which tunnel shoes are worn in urban environments, show this change very clearly.”
Glynn, who plays football himself, notes that classic tunnels are not on asphalt for everyday life and that this can only confirm this from its own experience.
Whether this trend also gains a foothold outside of social networks will be shown in the coming weeks when the Pitti Uomo initiates the menswear season and the latest street style looks are also published.
Colored tunnels
Sebastian Richter, Team Lead Buying, Streetwear at Zalando, realizes that the #boat only number trend has made waves on social networks, but also assumes that the carriers have determined that the shoes are not made for the hard surface. Therefore, the brands also reacted and developed everyday models that are inspired by football shoes with a tunnel profile.
“A good example of this is Nike R9 Mercurial Cyroshot with Patta,” said Richter. “I am convinced that in the coming months we will see many other models that are inspired by sports and made for everyday life.”
Some straps: Interior in turn missed an update in DIY-style football shoes and present their styles on Instagram and Co. There, for example, the tunnels are given a plastic shell or are replaced by a loafer sole.
Whether with tunnels or without, the road belongs to the football shoe this summer.