This Is “Sportswear for the Cool Kids,” According to Acne Studios
Acne Studios and Kappa enter their debut football-inspired collaboration with inimitable track records.
On the one side is a Scandinavian fashion house with the prowess to make a $550 football jersey sell-out in an instant. On the other, there’s Kappa, the Italian sportswear brand with a deep heritage of outfitting the beautiful game, from iconic 20th-century kits to dressing the most stylish teams of the present day.
So, while the concept behind their collaboration isn’t a novel one, the sheer mention of the two brands working together is enough to make ears prick up.
High fashion labels repurposing the clobber of the football fan is no breaking news: It happens constantly, to the extent that it’s even gotten a bit weird. But this isn’t a bare-faced jump onto the stylish football bandwagon, Acne Studios has been serving up this kind of apparel since long before the word blokecore was uttered by a TikTok content creator.
Modeled by legendary British musician Tricky, the 22-piece Kappa x Acne Studios collection is a wide-ranging one. There are all the things you would expect from this kind of link-up — football jerseys, co-branded tracksuits, and tight-fitting second-skin layers — but also some more surprising additions.
Among the many items in the drop is a handbag, a new iteration of the Acne Studios’ Bowlina bag with flame-inspired decoration, and there is denim (an Acne Studios signature) decorated with Kappa’s taped branding along the sides, as you’d expect from track pants.
And making this a head-to-toe footballing extravaganza, there are also sneakers. A long foldover tongue, a slim shape, and tiny studs (those are cleats, for all American readers) make these sneakers exist somewhere in the gray area between an indoor football boot and a fashionable shoe.
Available now from the Acne Studios website, it’s a huge crossover collection bringing together two forces who know how to make fashion from football gear. And according to Acne Studios' creative director Jonny Johansson, it’s a combination that’s entirely natural.
“I have always loved Kappa,” says Johansson in a statement. “Rebels wear Kappa, which appeals to me – it’s sportswear for the cool kids. In a world where the lines between classic workwear, streetwear, ready-to-wear and sportswear are blurred, it feels totally natural for Acne Studios to collaborate with Kappa on a collection that represents a modern way of dressing.”
