Better late than never: Portuguese football enters the fashion market with a bang

Portuguese football was never one for the aesthetics. Kits rarely get too far away from classic templates and the commercial irrelevance of the professional leagues makes it easier for brands to simply dispatch the simpler models they have in hand.

Supporters aren’t too demanding either, as they are usually seen sitting on the stands wearing the same kit year after year, making the attractiveness of a vibrant shirt market dilute into a dullness that usually repeats itself season after season. Until now it seems. 

After all, how many times do you remember seeing a kit from a Portuguese side rank in the most valued shirts in the world by specialised publications? Exactly. But that is precisely what happened this year and the most extraordinary thing is that it was not a Big Three kit or something that came out of the usual Primeira Liga contenders. No. You had to go all the way down to the Liga 3 amateurish world to find it at the Tapadinha, the old school football ground of beloved Clube Atlético de Portugal, one of the most historical sides from Lisbon.

And despite all the worldwide accolades, the Alcântara club is not alone. Over the summer months, we were treated to the sight of some of the most visual breathtaking kit launches we have seen in ages and almost all of them came from sides who rarely get airtime. Something seems to be changing below the radar and it’s well worth looking into it.

Football becomes fashion              

Football kits have positioned themselves as streetwear clothes over the past few years. It’s a trend that mixes the nostalgia from the past that has enabled clubs and brands to throw back to the streets beloved models from the 1990s, appealing to the vintage spirit that has taken over the life of that Millennial generation about to reach their forties, and the urban styling of the Generation Z. Football powerhouses have been using their third and fourth kits over the years as experiments to conquer a wider audience. It began with women, promoting kits using different colours, textures and templates and then soon moved to a bolder style, usually inspired in video games like the EA FC franchise, thanks to the popularity of the Ultimate Team mode.

What became a thing for the most common names in the game soon spread out. Less well-known sides took notice and realised that if they wanted to be talked about and there was no perspective of that happening for performances on the pitch, fashion would be a valid alternative option. No club sums that best than Venezia, a side that was still playing in Serie B when they became fashion icons up to a point that they are now in the hands of NOCTA, a company belonging to rapper Drake. Venezia’s football achievements have been scarce but their name is now known worldwide thanks to the aesthetic beauty of their kits and, most of all, their ability to surprise each season with a new bold design.

Venezia have dropped the kit quartet of the year ???????????? pic.twitter.com/uGTX0apnzA

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 28, 2021

Soon other sides started to copy their style guide and smaller brands became aware that, they too, could grow in the collector’s market if they decided to go more fashion and less football on their kit designs. Long are the days when football kits were like Subbuteo templates. Those one layered, one-color shirts and shorts have been replaced over the years with bolder designs. The need to keep on selling shirts season after season also made many historical brands permanently push boundaries but, in a way, they became predictable and more focused on pleasing a large majority rather than being innovative.

During the 1980s brands like Adidas, Umbro or Admiral started to create templates that came out of the ordinary, but the following generation of kits normalized what was then different. In a sense business started to kill the artistry across the board, until the recent approach to streetwear fashion changed the game all over again. And Portugal is starting to realise it in the way you would least expect.

Portugal enters the game

During the summer of 2024 some of the most iconic kits we saw came from Portuguese football. Atlético took a step further with a design that not only respects the club’s history but also pushes the visual boundaries of a side that is an essential part of the first fifty years of Portuguese football heritage. They may be away from the elite for far too long but in Lisbon, at least, Atlético remains well-beloved. The revival of former neighbours and rivals Casa Pia, alongside the whole drama around their also neighbours Belenenses, have made the club realise the potential they have, especially with an iconic ground that has one of the best views of a city that has now become an mandatory tourist destination for people from all around the world.

What is better than to visit Lisbon and get back home with an Atlético kit that you know that you can wear on special occasions or on a day-to-day basis, even if you never actually saw them play? Lacatoni’s breathtaking design throws you back to “that” iconic Germany kit from 1988 and presents you with a clear sight on what a football kit should look like when you want to take a stand and look different from everyone else.

The Portuguese brands have been working the football market for years but in this past few seasons Lacatoni has raised their game and that has allowed them to offer more than just the Tapadinha’s shirt this summer. Look at Tirsense alternative blue kit, a thing of beauty that helps to bring visibility to a football club that was once, in the mid-1990s, one of the biggest footballing references in the golden age of the Ave valley region but has since almost dipped into oblivion. The usual all black or all white kits from the Santo Tirso side almost reached European football back in the days when Marcelo, Giovanella and Paredão played there, but now in the Liga 3, their blue kit marks a new entrance into football kits paradise.

Simples, 10/10! O FC Tirsense não desiludiu. ???? pic.twitter.com/cVNJz11TS2

— Betclic Portugal ???? (@BetclicPortugal) August 7, 2024

Alverca, from Segunda Liga, or Pevidém, also from Liga 3, are other football clubs dressed by the Portuguese brand who have shown this summer to have some of the most ravishing kits in Europe, but you don’t need to look only to the lower leagues to feast your eyes. Gil Vicente, also a Lacatoni customer, have set the bar high this summer as well with their alternative kits bringing a mix of the Minho cultural heritage and a ticket entrance to the Milan Fashion Week.

And speaking about Italian brands, it’s impossible to forget to mention Estoril new Kappa iconic designs. The Linha side have been playing first-division football for a few years now and this summer their collaboration with Kappa as presented us with two of the most lauded kits of the year. And it’s not something you might think, it’s something internationally well-known projects dedicated to football kit designs have been talking about for the past weeks. With a mix of the 1990s retro designs with a more streetwear approach of today, Estoril’s kits combine the best that the past and future have to offer. 

Portugal playing catchup

In a way, like Lacatoni, Kappa found that they could never compete against the big brands in terms of market value and exposure, but they can take a stand on promoting fresh, modern and iconic designs that set them apart. That seems to be the way for many brands and football clubs, a phenomenon that almost every football league in Europe is experiencing one way or another.

Portugal has arrived late to the party, and the lack of interest from the local supporters in football kits doesn’t help either. If you check the websites of most football clubs, they are yet to make them appealing to the eye. The same can be said of their official stores. Most are closed outside matchdays, for the occasional buyer or tourist to grab a kit. Prices don’t help either, with the low income of the average football supporter making it harder to buy a new kit each year, contrary to what happens in northern Europe where differences between kit prices and income are way less.

Still, despite all that, it seems that Portugal has awoken to this new reality and there are brands worth keeping an eye on. For the next few months, we will be delighted by some of these beautiful designs and all eyes are now set for the next summer moves. After all, like the old Half Man Half Biscuit song could go if released today, all I want for Christmas is an Atletico Home shirt.

By Miguel Lourenço Pereria, author of “Bring Me That Horizon – A Journey to the Soul of Portuguese Football”.