Ted Philipakos: “The ‘90s into the early ‘00s is recognized as a golden age of football”

Ted Philipakos
President and creative director of Athens Kallithea FC.

Dimitris Rapidis
Grants Officer & Political Researcher - ETERON

You grew up in New York in the 1990s. NBA, music, diversity, different cultures, the World Cup of 1994. To what extent all these elements have pushed you to a creative role in fashion and football?

Yeah, the ‘90s in New York was an exciting cultural moment — the golden age of hip-hop, the birth of brands like Supreme, the new positioning of sports in popular culture, especially through the NBA, the street styles, the social climate — and of course that influenced my taste, sensibility, and point of view, all the way up to today.

 Speaking more specifically to my work, a lot of what I’ve done can be traced back to my childhood relationship to football. The ‘90s into the early ‘00s is recognized as a golden age of football in many respects — the dawn of the Premier League, the beauty of Serie A, the styles of the period. That era is foundational in my view of the game, in terms of the way it should feel, the way it should look. As it relates to football shirts, this has come through in the shirts we’ve presented from Venezia FC to Athens Kallithea FC — for example, bringing back collars and long-sleeves, and the overall aesthetic that has prevailed from season to season — but it goes well beyond just the shirts. 

How do you see the cultural influence of football impacting current fashion trends? Is nostalgia a part of this trend and if so, why is that? 

 Going back to England in the ‘80s, there’s a historical dialogue between football culture and sportswear/streetwear. In the modern era, as football evolved into a new positioning within broader culture (which came through several forces, and now had fresh influence from the States), you started to see football shirts being worn in a different context by some musicians and other trendsetters around the late 2010s (for example, Drake wearing the pink Juventus shirt in 2016), my work directing Venezia FC pushed the football shirt into further prominence starting in 2021, and then blokecore became a global trend in 2022. Since then, major brands like Balenciaga, Aimé Leon Dore, and Supreme have included football shirts in their collections, and major celebrities have been seen wearing football shirts (Kim Kardashian wearing a vintage Roma jersey in 2023). So, the football shirt became ubiquitous, and it’s still enduring to this day, at least for now.

 As to the second part of your question, this trend has been driven by both football fans and non-football fans (people casually interested in the sport or not interested at all but mainly interested in the style), and nostalgia is only a factor for the football fans.

 For the non-football fans, there are a few things happening. First, it’s just another form of appropriation of subculture, which is a common behavior, sort of analogous to someone wearing the t-shirt of a niche punk band but they are not truly into the band or part of the scene. Similarly, the football shirt or the band tee allows that person to tap into and demonstrate certain characteristics, like a bit of subversiveness. Second, I think these people are pretty conscious of brand, and I think they understand that football clubs carry a lot of history and prestige, so they are wearing a sort of heritage brand. Third, because there are so many countless football shirts — historical or contemporary, with a wide range of styles, from all over the world — I think for people who are really into styling, this is a playground for them, it gives them the chance to make choices and demonstrate their personal taste and style. For this group, nostalgia only becomes a factor for those who are drawn to the vintage ‘90s shirts, because of the bolder designs and baggier fits that are emblematic of that era. 

Many collaborations are happening between high-end fashion brands and football clubs. What is the story of Athens Kallithea FC?

I should emphasize, although our shirts have become popular around the world (more than 90% of our sales are outside of Greece), if you’re asking me about the story of Athens Kallithea FC in the broadest sense, fashion isn’t a part of it. I’m not thinking about high-end fashion brands.

Athens Kallithea FC’s mission has an international dimension and a local dimension. 

 The international dimension is easy to explain. I wanted to present our view of Athens, to create a dialogue between Athens and the rest of the world, and to see better representation of the city within football culture and broader culture. 

 The local dimension is more complex. Since we began this project three years ago, we wanted to create an environment that would be a kind of oasis that is separate from the toxicity that has plagued Greek football and pushed too many people away from the sport in recent years in recent years, through (1) a curated brand that is positioned in the context of culture, community, and entertainment, (2) a supporter base that is fully inclusive and reflective of the makeup, character, and values of a broader part of society rather than just the minority slice of football fanatics who dominate at other clubs, and (3) a matchday environment that sets a tone of positivity, civility, and harmony. There is zero tolerance for hooliganism and anything even close to it. We believe football should belong to society at large, the way it once was when there were full stadiums around the country.

Over the last two seasons, we have had people at the stadium who were coming to a football match for the first time in their lives, and it was in perfect harmony with the traditional fans, and we want to continue down that road and bring people together with a spirit of community.

The shirts are partly creative expression and partly an asset to draw people into this mission.

 In your opinion, what makes a successful process in designing a football shirt, and what potential pitfalls to avoid? I am asking you this considering also that you act as president and creative director of Athens Kallithea FC. 

 You start by asking, Who are we? What’s our story? What’s our taste? What’s going to come across to people as a truly authentic message from us? 

There is a balancing act where we’re looking to honor history and at the same time seeking out new territory, to create something that is original but with context, working to blend tradition and modernity, and do it in a way that could resonate with people both within our world and beyond it. 

On the surface, it’s style and aesthetics. On a deeper level, it’s not just about a shirt, but about what the shirt represents, or more specifically, what the brand represents. When you buy a t-shirt from Supreme, you’re not just buying a t-shirt, you’re buying everything that Supreme represents, its ethos, its entire universe. 

 With Athens Kallithea FC, I want to represent an old Athens and a new Athens at the same time, in both sport and cultural contexts. As the club was founded in 1966, we’re occasionally touching upon the ’60s and ‘70s (the short film that we shot last summer used a Tzeni Vanou song, this season’s ticket campaign used a Litsa Diamanti song), but at the same time we’re contemporary (one of our last campaigns was shot at Latraac), so we’re blending ‘60s and ‘70s nostalgia with modern Athenian attitudes. Simultaneously, we’re blending Greek perspectives with my more international perspective, and we’ve developed both a local audience and an international audience. The idea of the brand is to very carefully play with these dualities, and that comes through from aesthetics to campaigns to brand communications and so on.

How has the evolution of social media and digital platforms influenced the way football fashion is designed, marketed, and consumed?

I personally appreciate being able to reach a wide audience, it can be very impactful for a smaller club, but social media has also created too much copying and superficiality and naked commercialism. Leveraging the power of social media, there are a lot of football clubs that are trying to position themselves as fashion and just pumping out product purely for commercial gain, but they are often coming across as desperate and inauthentic, and the product is often derivative or just bad to mediocre, and that’s harmful to the culture. I think a lot of what football clubs are doing will ultimately be seen as cliché, and I think fans and consumers will ultimately feel some exhaustion from a flooded market.

 Looking ahead, what emerging trends or innovations do you foresee further bridging the gap between fashion and football in the next few years in Greece?

 In Greece? I don’t know if I see much changing any time soon. Besides “fashion”, just speaking generally, there is no sensibility for branding, marketing, communications, and creative direction throughout the league, and at the same time there is a complacency or a resistance to change, despite that the Super League is 10-20 years behind the other modern leagues of Europe.