Lovers FC Goes Back to its Terrace Culture Roots in New Collaboration with Lyle & Scott

In a new capsule collection designed with Lyle&Scott, Lovers FC re-imagine classic retro kits to promote a new idea of football fashion, between respect for the heritage and contemporary streetwear.

If you saw a picture of Neal Heard, you wouldn’t guess this charming man was the founder and head honcho of London collective Lovers FC – one of the most exciting realities currently reinventing football fashion. Heard looks like your friend’s cool dad, someone that secretly hides treasures and secrets in his closet; these being a gorgeous collection of rare football kits manufactured between the 1980s and 1990s. Grown between the 1980s terrace culture heydays the Serie A fever that spread across the UK following Italia 90 - by many regarded as the last great world cup – Heard has succeeded in turning those references into the cultural and stylistic cores of his Lovers FC venture. 

After collaborating with fashion heavyweights like YMC and Versace, Lovers FC have reconciled once again with Lyle&Scott, a casualwear staple and one of Heard’s teenage loves. The two brands have reworked 10 iconic kits from the 80s and 90s for a capsule collection that combines streetwear with a distinctive respect for the shirts’ heritage and original design. 

The capsule collection re-interprets 1970s-to-1990s iconic European and international kits.

The choice of using knitwear over Lyle & Scott’s usual pique cotton, is a winning one making the tops closer to authentic 1970s and 1980s kits. Even 90s synthetic ones like Vialli and Mancini-era Sampdoria or Euro ‘88 Netherlands are given a hip, knitted twist.  

Heard’s love affair with 90s Italian football, which was ignited by Channel 4’s Football Italia show, is well visible in the collection alongside the tribute to some older international classics like Maradona-era Boca Juniors, Italia 90 West Germany, Argentina 78 World Cup Perù, Lev Yashin’s CCCP black goalkeeper shirt, and Euro 84 Belgium away top. The latter, with its argyle chest hoop, works more than others as Heard’s declaration of love to the 80s casual culture and its thing for such a pattern, copiously adopted in the form of Lyle & Scott and Pringle V-neck jumpers, or in Paninari’s Burlington socks.  

The collection, with its unisex cuts and identity, also shows Lovers FC’s determination in turning football into a progressively inclusive space, without compromising on its heritage yet inaugurating new frontiers the way the game, its style and culture should be experienced in 21st century society