How Arsenal became fashion’s favourite football club

Arsenal implemented a brand-new advertising technique in 2021 to spotlight fan culture and align with brand names that represent its follower network, states Collection advertising supervisor Adam Gardiner. Labrum developer Foday Dumbuya is an Arsenal follower, while Aries, a North London brand name with Collection fans on its design team, plays purposefully with familiar club signs.

For the club, collaborating with brands like Labrum attract their fans– however past them, too. “Cooperations like these open us and our partners to new target markets with various, intersectional interests,” claims Gardiner. “We know there’s a huge worldwide audience that yearn for that sense of coming from Toolbox, and brands like Adidas and now Labrum and Aries have done such a good job in appealing to various fans and serving them with style options.”.

If unofficial– can increase a brand’s account, an association with Collection– also. Take Antonia Bronze, a young designer who produces tailor-made leather coats, for instance. She designed a coat for Tolami Benson, influencer and partner of Collection best winger Saka, to wear to the Euros over the summer. Photos of Benson went viral, and Bronze swiftly saw an uptick in ask for her job; she has since made coats for various other ladies in the Toolbox circle, as well as fans-come-influencers consisting of Chloe Burrows and Saffron Barker. “I wish to do things that’s not fast lane,” claims Bronze. “For me, it’s been life changing in the sense that I’m able to do the jobs I wish to do. I have actually not had to reach out to a solitary customer because this all started.”

Unlike various other major football clubs, that may ink tailoring partnerships with established deluxe brands like Armani (Italy’s nationwide team) or CP Company (Manchester City), Arsenal has straightened with great, cult brands that boast solid areas. Collection’s style congratulations comes from its gamers, as well. Those on the style radar consist of Rice, that recently put on a double-breasted Prada fit to the London Football Honors; Bukayo Saka, a routine participant of Burberry shows and star of the Aimé Leon Dore x New Equilibrium project; Leah Williamson, that is a Gucci ambassador; and Lotte Wubben-Moy, profiled in the current concern of The Gentlewoman.

For brands, working with a football club with 126.5 million followers across social platforms no question charms. The reach is significant: Lefty data discloses that Labrum’s made media value (EMV) grew by 997 percent following the Emirates show, making it the fastest-growing brand at London Fashion Week. (EMV is the comparable advertising and marketing spend to achieve the exact same number of impacts.).

At the beginning of October, Toolbox also teamed up with British streetwear brand name Aries. Days after the collection landed, at the Toolbox vs Southampton video game, the motto tee can be found throughout the group, a sign that followers are straying away from the Stone Island and The North Face getups commonly seen on football terraces.

It was, says Aries CEO Nikki Prospective Buyer, one of the most successful collaboration the brand has actually ever before produced. “One of the most expensive thing in the collection sold the quickest for both brand names– the woollen university coat,” she says. Arsenal records that at the optimal of demand, the club was taking an Aries order every two-and-a-half seconds. “I believe, longer term, we will certainly see [proceeded] conversion into our globe,” claims Bidder. “There’s been brand education and storytelling, which belongs of completion goal.”

Gardiner states that it’s the credibility of Dumbuya’s work, as a Sierra Leonean designer who frequently highlights African society, that made it resonate with the football follower base. “Making every effort to be initially can feel fairly surface at times,” he claims.

Collection has actually been crucial in the rise of ladies’s football, also, with all females’s suits this period due to be played at the 60,000-capacity Emirates ground– a very first for the Women’s Super Organization. A recent record compiled by Visa forecasts the business value of the women’s video game to enhance sixfold over the next decade, and Pacer’s Gilbertson sees Collection’s investment as savvy. “It’s a brand name that has style trustworthiness with streetwear-adjacent followers but it’s likewise extremely resonant within sapphic society in London.”

In September, British label Labrum London became the first-ever brand to organize a fashion program at Toolbox’s Emirates Arena. Unlike various other major football clubs, who could ink customizing collaborations with well established luxury brand names like Armani (Italy’s nationwide group) or CP Business (Manchester City), Toolbox has straightened with cool, cult brands that boast strong communities. Arsenal executed a new advertising and marketing technique in 2021 to highlight follower society and align with brand names that represent its follower network, claims Arsenal advertising and marketing director Adam Gardiner. Labrum developer Foday Dumbuya is an Arsenal follower, while Aries, a North London brand with Arsenal fans on its design group, plays purposefully with acquainted club signs. Arsenal’s Aries cooperation featured Clive Palmer, host of the popular ‘Toolbox Vision’ podcast, alongside gamers and up-and-coming musicians.

In some cases, connecting to fans is all about ‘if you know, you recognize’ marketing. Toolbox’s Aries partnership included Clive Palmer, host of the popular ‘Toolbox Vision’ podcast, alongside players and up-and-coming artists. “That was definitely something that Toolbox was taking a look at– as Easter egg aspects,” Bidder states.

This season, Dumbuya became the very first stylist to make a t shirt put on by players of a Premier League group. The away set– a black shirt with zigzag outlining and red and eco-friendly accents– is a homage to Toolbox’s solid African fan base, and was created in collaboration with Toolbox set sponsor Adidas.

“Adidas made use of a material called aeroready that offers the player 360 motion,” Dumbuya claims. The zigzag that you see is obtained from African masks.”

Also beyond club linkups, fashion brands themselves are leaning into the football visual. Take the ‘blokecore’ trend, for instance, centred around vintage football t-shirts and scarves. It has actually caused the marketing out of T-shirts, including the Wales Bonner layout for Jamaica in 2023, along with remodelled football designs from the similarity Martine Rose, Balenciaga, Marine Serre and Conner Ives.

Rice specifically is ending up being quite the fashion influencer. He, also, starred in an Aimé Leon Dore project previously this year, wearing on-trend watercraft shoes and a duty jacket. GQ dubbed his design “quietly assured”. This impact is ending up being quantifiable. In a report using data from influencer advertising firm Lefty, Karla Otto located that Rice was the fourth most significant professional athlete across the Spring/Summer 2025 programs after strolling Labrum, with a social networks involvement price of 7.71 percent.

Dumbuya, meanwhile, has actually seen an indisputable influence; thanks to the Toolbox package, he’s become something of a celeb. “People come up to me on the train,” he states. “Everywhere I go, everyone is wearing the kit, also at [Notting Hill] Circus. My buddies were teasing me stating, ‘Oh, you’re popular now.'”.

In September, British label Labrum London became the first-ever brand to stage a style program at Toolbox’s Emirates Stadium. Collection midfielder Declan Rice walked the program along with speaker Clara Amfo and rapper Ghetts. Players Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly viewed from the pitch side, amongst the company of the fashion group and celebs consisting of presenter Reggie Yates, star Micheal Ward and footballer-turned-broadcaster Eniola Aluko.

Toolbox is, of program, not the only club exploring style. Developer Kenny Annan-Jonathan was appointed as creative lead at Crystal Palace last year, while Rhude owner Rhuigi Villaseñor was introduced primary brand name police officer at Italy’s Como 1907 just last month. It certainly brings a brand-new type of consumer.”

Holly Gilbertson, managing partner at sports and style pattern forecasting firm Pacer, sees Toolbox’s venture into style as a veteran coming. “Toolbox have been a steezy club for many years– considering that [gamers] Freddie Ljungberg and [Thierry] Henry,” she claims. “In the 2010s, they [Arsenal] were teased by rival followers for being rubbish on the football pitch, but were merchandising enormously. They’re very much the ones chuckling now, because they were thus far in advance in regards to browsing this more culturally fluid world of football.”