The speaker discusses the growing influence of women's football on culture, fashion, and design, highlighting its shift from traditional tribalism to a more inclusive and human approach. She explains how women's football has grown from the inside out due to being undervalued and underfunded, leading to a unique indie aesthetic. She emphasizes that the cultural playbook is being written at the grassroots level by the people participating in the niche worlds, not by brands leveraging activations or unhinged social media strategies.
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Football is dominating culture, fashion, and even design - let’s talk about it 👇
I want to dig into what football, specifically women’s football (or in the US, soccer) is teaching the creative industry.
To directly quote Holly Gilbertson, managing partner of @pacer.global ,
“Historically, the football industry has been very insular, gatekept and also very commercial. It’s not typically behaved like a cultural industry”
Now post-pandemic, things have shifted. Holly goes on to say in @itsnicethat’s article (linked below,)
“[The pandemic] re-coded sports because health was wealth, and going out for a walk became the only thing that kept us going. At the same time, Tiktok reframed beginnerism, creating a more holistic culture around participation... It’s dismantling the old world of tribal fandom (you can only be a fan if you know everything) and becoming more about fun and community, rather than posturing.”
The old gatekept model of sport, the one built on exclusion and expertise, is being replaced.
And that’s where women’s football enters the scene.
Further reading/watching/following I recommend:
👉 @itsnicethat article “Women’s football isn’t only breaking records – it’s reforming the visual culture of sport” written by @gemfletcher
👉 @aguspanzoni reel on “Soccer Mania”
👉 “The Fashion of Football” by Jib Rules on Youtube
👉 @itsnicethat article “Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy on creative directing her contract renewal announcement” written by Olivia Hingley
👉 @refinery29 article “The Coolest Girls You Know Are Probably Wearing Soccer Jerseys” written by @toria.talti
👉 @lydiabirgani
👉 @caitoppermann
👉 @hollygilbertson / @pacer.global
Creators in green screen:
📸 by @deathtostock
@womensfootball on tiktok
@vintagefootballstore on tiktok
@sighfai on tiktok
@footballerfits on tiktok
@cpfcw on tiktok
@girlsgirls_runclub on tiktok
@girlgym.satx on tiktok
@parisrunclub on tiktok
@sejinnpark on tiktok
@jetsthetics on tiktok
pg8.ftbl on tiktok
@adidas on tiktok
#brandstrategy #sportmarketing #fitnessbrand #trendreport #football
Transcript
Okay. Have you noticed how football, specifically women's football or American soccer, is starting to dominate culture, fashion, and even design? If you haven't, you're about to because it's taking over. We're looking at what women's football is teaching the creative industry. Historically, football's image, especially in the men's space, has been all about legacy, loyalty, and tribalism. You weren't a fan unless you knew the stats. You didn't wear the kit unless you had earned it, but that's changing. Post pandemic, we saw a mass reset around movement, especially for women. Running, walking, and touching grass became like grounding rituals. And on platforms like TikTok, we saw something else. Beginnerism went from cringe to cool. The old gatekept model of sport, the one built on exclusion and expertise, is being replaced by something messier and way more human. And that's where women's football best the scene. Because women's football didn't break into culture through the traditional model of sport, mostly because it was undervalued, underfunded, and largely ignored. So it had to grow from the inside out. And ironically, that's what gave it its edge. The strategist Lydia Bergani Nia put it, we're shifting from heroic individualism to collective culture. The players and fans shaping women's football today aren't waiting for brands and funding to create culture. They're designing kits, styling it like streetwear, documenting their own narratives, running workshops, building networks, all from within. And that's what makes it honestly mega cool. That messy grassroots nature of the sport culture is what's making people actually wanna participate in it. And if you're as chronically online as I am, you've already clocked this seeping into the worse of of fashion, design, and even, like, community spaces. So if you're a creative, a strategist, a marketer watching this, stop looking at the top of the pyramid. The cultural playbook is being written at the grassroots by the people actually participating in the niche worse, not by brands leveraging activations or unhinged social media strategies. The entrance into culture is actually authenticity. Imagine that.
