FLAIR PLAYER - Football fashion from Faversham's You-R-Nice
Designer Alfie Stevens wanted to challenge the notion of ‘football fashion’ with a collection that brings technicolour to the terraces
“Looking at what’s available for ‘football fashion’, it’s very kind of on the nose, like, here’s a football shirt, that’s it.”
In the summer of 2024, designer Alfie Stevens project Matchday won gold at the Kornit Digital catwalk show during Graduate Fashion Week in London.
Having been one of just five competition entrants to be flown to Venice to watch his designs printed on to sheet fabric, Alfie, under his design name You-R-Nice, then went one better and took home first prize during the show at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.
Having studied his foundation at UCA Canterbury before moving to the Rochester campus and finally Epsom to finish his degree in textiles, Alfie’s final Matchday project almost didn’t happen.
“I remember when I said to the tutors I wanted to do it about football, they were like ‘Oh no, what are we going to expect from there?’,” says Alfie. “But I really wanted to challenge that notion and stereotype of football and have it as a celebration because it’s the sort of thing when I go, I try to focus on. I’ve always enjoyed going with my dad to watch and I think that should be celebrated, rather than focusing on the negative aspects.”
Having grown up playing football in and around his hometown of Faversham, Alfie took on the idea to challenge what ‘football fashion’ is.
Away from the kits themselves, football fashion is often caught up in the militaria-styled clothing, with hard-wearing and neutral colours of brands like Stone Island and CP Company, or the retro sportswear styles of Sergio Tacchini or Fred Perry.
In more recent times, football clubs have started to experiment with their team shirts and merchandise, bringing in more unusual and collectable designs as well as art-led collaborations. But, as most of us football fans tend to do, looking backwards at past glories often drives the inspiration and hopes for the future. The stylings of products such as the uber-cool Mundial magazine are a great example of this.
“The bright colours and bold mark-making help to reflect the energetic nature of watching or playing football”
“I wanted to focus on the mavericks of the game, the players who would do something crazy,” says Alfie. “I wanted to somehow work with that idea, rather than all this sleek and hyper-clean imagery in modern football.”
As well as photos from watching his beloved Millwall FC, Alfie spent time travelling to stadia across the capital to capture matchday colours, from the pitch to the skies to signposts.
“It was to build out a selection of imagery, along with pictures of me playing when I was younger and just do loads of drawings,” he says. “Getting the iconic stuff that you instantly recognise as football stuff and building up a kind of library of motifs.”
Alfie set about designing 12 garments and accessories, which eventually made up four outfits.
“The bright colours and bold mark-making help to reflect the energetic nature of watching or playing football,” he explains.
“The workwear shapes and materials celebrate the tradition of fans going straight from to the stadium after work. And I wanted to use materials that show off the print.
“We had to address the sustainability element - most of it is made from cotton drills, which are hard-wearing. It’s something that is supposed to last - you buy it and you keep it for 10 to 15 years. It’s an investment piece.”
From a waterproof coat to oversized fleece, and from work trousers with reinforced knees to ponchos and joggers, the collection is vibrant but also practical.
To pass the final year, students must enter their work into at least two competitions and thankfully Alfie’s project was selected to be shown during Graduate Fashion Week, with his work also created out in Italy. “I did not expect it at all,” he says.
While his own fashion shoot featured Alfie’s friends modelling the garments at Faversham Town FC, the Kornit Digital show provided a runway, pro models and the real fashion experience.
Having won gold in the show, Alfie’s work was also then put forward to a Best Of event at the end of the week.
Alfie and You-R-Nice are now looking at ways of developing the pieces and potentially making them available for sale while also starting another project focusing on outdoor wear and nature. We’re looking forward to seeing what‘s next.
INFO: www.yrnice.com
