Latitude 2023: The rise of football shirts at music festivals

Football shirts were erstwhile a awesome of the disfigured broadside of the beauteous crippled for a batch of radical - much apt to conjure up thoughts of lad civilization and hooliganism.

But implicit the years, things person changed and the shirts are present precise overmuch backmost successful fashion, with immoderate highly sought aft and exchanging hands for hundreds of pounds.

This inclination tin beryllium intelligibly seen astatine euphony festivals.

Some events - including Radio One's Big Weekend successful Londonderry and TRNSMT successful Glasgow - person antecedently placed a site-wide prohibition connected shot shirts. But elsewhere, shot shirts person go an progressively communal site.

At this year's Glastonbury, Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings swapped his cardigan for an Ipswich Town fan's replica shirt, portion rapper Aitch's show connected the Pyramid Stage was utilized to unveil Manchester United's caller location kit. A period later, and the Latitude Festival successful Suffolk is the latest to beryllium awash with festivalgoers showing disconnected their favourite shirts.

Rudi Obasi-Adams, 32, from Preston, is simply a regular festivalgoer - having antecedently been to Glastonbury, Leeds Festival, Sonar successful Barcelona, and NOS successful Portugal.

"Football shirts are decidedly backmost arsenic a manner statement," helium says. "I deliberation there's been an summation [at festivals] - particularly England shirts combined with bucket hats.

"It has go much of a manner connection alternatively than radical conscionable representing their clubs, and I deliberation you spot rather a wide scope of people.

"It's not conscionable geezers, you spot tons of girls wearing them nowadays and older people."

Rudi is simply a Manchester United instrumentality but is wearing a 1989 Ajax garment to Latitude.

"I got this arsenic a lockdown contiguous - we did a concealed Santa and we each got each different retro shirts.

"Somebody other got the 2018 Nigeria garment and idiosyncratic other got 1 of the 90s Bayern Munich garment - I deliberation I got the champion of the bunch."

"This is an aged yellowish Spurs shot garment that my fellow made maine wear," jokes Ffion Moon, who is 23 and travelled to Suffolk from Swansea.

"I'm not truly a shot instrumentality if I'm honest, but volition deterioration it - it's comfy.

"The vintage shirts look chill and different."

While determination is decidedly a dense antheral to pistillate ratio of shot garment wearers astatine the festival, Ffion says things person changed implicit caller years. "I'd accidental determination are much women wearing shirts, particularly with the World Cup coming up," she says. "I don't deliberation it truly matters immoderate more."

"Even though I unrecorded obscurity adjacent Manchester I was calved into being a fan," says Shaan Sagoo, 18. "Basically my archetypal ever present, for being born, was a Man United kit from 2004.

"[Eric] Cantona was a peculiar subordinate to my dada and my grandad, truthful for my 18th day my dada decided to springiness maine a retro Cantona kit.

"It was beauteous peculiar due to the fact that the designs of the retro kits are truthful overmuch much intricate than the designs nowadays. I deliberation present excessively overmuch of the shot kits are taken implicit by sponsors.

"I've ne'er heard of Sharp Viewcam truthful it indispensable beryllium a happening from good backmost successful time.

"People halt you, particularly astatine festivals and are similar 'you're excessively young to person seen Cantona', and past they spell 'ooh, ah, Cantona'… it's an absorbing experience."

Volunteer idiosyncratic Sam Ralphs, 27, says the scope of vintage shirts are proving fashionable astatine the Oxfam store astatine Latitude.

"We've had the shirts for the past 3 oregon 4 festivals and they alert retired - radical get truly excited astir peculiar ones, particularly the older ones," helium says.

"We had a fewer truly bully ones astatine Glastonbury - a Wet Wet Wet from Clydebank, which is simply a spot of a unicorn - it's a 3rd kit and we sold that for £220, which was truly cool.

"I cognize a batch astir shot shirts but not a batch astir football.

"It's truly absorbing to spot which ones radical get excited about, but it's usually the much obscure ones oregon little league teams.

"People find 1 from 5 oregon 10 years ago, which means thing to them, their dad, mother, uncle, oregon whoever and gets them excited - which is chill to see."

'The cognition has been turned connected its head'

"Football shirts, for the bulk of their existence, were seen arsenic the sphere of the tasteless oregon the nerd," says Neal Heard, writer of The Football Shirts Book.

"In beforehand of our eyes, mostly implicit the past 2 years, this cognition has been wholly turned connected its head.

"Right now, determination is nary cooler entity of streetwear and, for me, this is conscionable the beginning. Football shirts volition travel the pathway of the erstwhile humble grooming footwear and their dispersed and power volition turn exponentially successful each realms from the shot manufacture itself to streetwear and fashion.

"Football shirts lend themselves to ownership and belonging, some successful presumption of being into thing 'on trend' but besides successful presumption of allegiance to your squad oregon adjacent with sponsors.

"They are marque vehicles of a fewer dimensions and this pushed up their quality to talk to people.

"What amended mode to amusement disconnected this emotion than astatine a euphony festival."

"This is the Norwich 93 garment - it's from erstwhile they were astatine their astir successful," says 35-year-old Joe Barker, from Lowestoft.

"It's affectionately known arsenic the vertebrate poo shirt. It divides opinions. Sometimes it makes the apical 10 worst shot shirts ever made, but I emotion it.

"We are successful Suffolk, and not excessively acold distant from Ipswich, and my dada was disquieted determination would beryllium immoderate Ipswich fans who would bushed maine up oregon enactment aggressively to me.

"It's inactive aboriginal days, but fingers crossed it seems OK, we are astatine Latitude."

'Football shirts and identity'

"Wearing a shot garment says thing astir you earlier you've adjacent spoken," says creator Corbin Shaw. "We are each avid performers of our race, sex and people and the shot garment helps america to bash that.

"Fashion designers person started to parody the shot garment successful their collections.

"Martine Rose, who made the iconic twisted shot shirt, precocious said successful an interrogation for SEASON zine: 'If we saw idiosyncratic walking successful a shot shirt, we were told to transverse the roadworthy to beryllium safe. It was thing dangerous, unpredictable.'

"I spot truthful galore artists and creatives these days harnessing the powerfulness that erstwhile oppressed them and subverting to to archer their message.

"In a akin vein, I utilized the ocular connection of shot (merch, branding etc) to person my accidental connected masculinity.

"It is truthful overmuch much than a garment to immoderate people, and to others it conscionable looks good. Either is wholly valid."