Flags, Fashion and a Derby Feeling

Flags, Fashion and a Derby Feeling

Each week, The Sport Subthread newsletter opens with one take on a moment shaping sport and culture, followed by work, ideas, and hopefully fun references for those of you working across brands, agencies, and rights holders. Welcome to our first edition.  


Share this post

Liverpool X Tommy Hilfiger

There’s been a lot written recently about the growing overlap between football and fashion, but one partnership announced last week with Tommy Hilfiger and Liverpool FC feels worth discussing. On paper, it’s a familiar setup, a global brand partnering with a global club but what’s interesting here isn’t that it happened, it’s what it says about how football clubs see themselves, and how they want to show up beyond the pitch.

When I think about how clubs build their brands today, I tend to come back to three things I heard years ago at a sports conference: culture, community, and content. Culture is the foundation – a club’s heritage, values, and identity. Community is the people it serves, from local supporters to a global fanbase. Content is how those two things are expressed and shared, on and off the pitch.

Viewed through that lens, the Tommy Hilfiger partnership starts to make more sense.