Over the recent years, a new fashion trend —‘Sportswear Fashion’ has emerged in the form of football jerseys, basketball jerseys, tennis skirts and tees/shirts, athleisure wear e.t.c. and they have been holding their own in the fashion scene since then. The popularity of Sportswear Fashion has been increasing and doesn’t look to be dying down anytime soon.
In this article, I broke down some of the more popular sportswear and how it has been modernised:
Football Wear
Jersey tops have always been worn by football lovers to support their club, favorite player or both but it didn’t always have the massive appeal that it now has among non-football enthusiasts and fashionistas.
This new-found appeal could be attributed to the new stylish designs, vibrant, stand-out colours and brand designers hopping on the wave and collaborating with sports brands to churn out football wear collections for their consumers.
The affiliation between fashion and football began budding from around 2015 till date, with creative geniuses like the late Virgil Abloh changing the football fashion, and laying down the groundwork for his predecessors to follow through and he mostly did this through his own brand, OFF-WHITE and professionally, through Louis Vuitton.
Nowadays, some of our favourite celebrities and influencers have been spotted rocking multiple designs and versions of the football shirt/jersey. One of the most notable ones in recent times has been the Brazil yellow-and green football shirt.
Tennis Wear
This is perhaps the most trendy one for the ladies. I have been seeing tennis skirts, tops, headbands, basically everything tenniscore on my Instagram and Pinterest feed, even more since Zendaya’s Challengers press tour and movie was released. The hashtag: #TashiMadeMeDoIt is no doubt fuelling this fad on social media but tenniscore has been thriving even before this.
The tennis wear fashion starter pack usually comprises of the tennis skirt/skort (almost always pleated) or a dress with similar structure, a collared shirt or tank top, tall white socks, tennis sweater, a cap, a tennis bracelet and white sneakers but you’re free to customise your outfit anyhow you choose to.
Sports brands like Nike, Fabletics and Fila to name a few, have been championing the tennis wear movement with their new collections and collaborations with well known celebrities and tennis players.
In popculture, tenniscore is being worn for day-to-day activities. These activities could be for picnics, streetwear, lunch/dinner or even to the office when you pair it with a blazer. The styling options are numerous.
Basketball Wear
Basketball is one of the most-watched sports in the world, next to football and has contributed greatly to many streetwear trends, some of which are still fitting for the present day street style.
When I think of basketball influence in mainstream and popular culture, Michael Jordan easily comes to mind, with his very popular collaboration with Nike for the Air Jordan sneakers in 1985.
Basketball Wear was pushed by the late 90s–early 2000s Hip-Hop and Rap culture. Back then, you were considered cool if you could rock basketball jerseys fashionably, as it was a popular fashion staple then.
With the fit fully immersed in pop culture in that era, iconic images of rappers wearing jerseys in their music videos were seared into the rap culture then.
In modern times though, basketball jerseys are being worn as streetwear but it doesn’t end there. High fashion brands including Prada, have joined the trend by releasing fancy fashion pieces that muddle the lines between luxury wear and athleisure.
Also, the average Millenial/Gen-Z are now styling their oversized basketball jerseys with high-top sneakers, and basketball shorts into stylish, wearable and unique outfits.
