Gary Aspden on the Launch of Adidas SPZL F.C.
Do you remember what you got for your 10th birthday? There was likely a birthday cake, maybe you even had a party where you gave (and kept for yourself) goodie bags packed with sweets and plastic tat. And if you’re a football fan, a potential present to mark the double digits could have been a shirt branded with the name of your favourite player.
That sport-centred nostalgia is something that the Adidas SPZL line taps into with every collection they churn out, and to celebrate a decade of doing so, Gary Aspden and the Three Stripes launch SPZL F.C.
As its name suggests, this capsule is an ode to the beautiful game and how its influenced the sartorial style of its fans. As well as pieces to wear pitch side – think: tracksuit set, a parka for rainy days and an renewed Lothertex trainer – expect updates on classics studs, called the Made in Germany Copa Mundial SPZL F.C and the Mundial Team SPZL F.C.
Fronting the campaign is another Spezial within the footy-sphere, ex-Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who exclusively told Esquire: “I had idols, I had heroes, I had pictures of players in my room, and I had my brand pretty early – it was the Three Stripes.”
Our gift to you (birthday or not) comes in the form of an in-depth look at the collection, via an interview with the mastermind behind it. Learn more about why Aspden chose the boots that he did, who he’d have loved to have seen wear the garms and his predictions on football fashion.
How did you go about picking what Adidas shoes to bring back?
I asked to work with the Copa Mundial as, design-wise, they are arguably the most iconic boot of all time and are manufactured in Germany to this day. When we explained to the team from Adidas Football what we wanted to do with the Copa, they suggested that we also do an Astro turf shoe, so the Mundial Team felt like a choice that aesthetically would be complimentary to the boots. We needed an off-pitch lifestyle shoe to accompany the on-pitch footwear, so opted to bring back the Lothertex SPZL in a colourway that would merchandise with the apparel pieces. The fact Lothertex SPZL has a low profile and an adiTex membrane to help with inclement winter weather makes it an appropriate choice.
Was there a particular time period, player or kit that inspired the pieces?
I love those Adidas presentation suits that football teams would wear in the seventies. There is a sharpness and maturity to them that I am a fan of. It feels very European, and I wanted to create something that harked back to that in a contemporary way but with more luxurious fabrics and finishes. It was the 1980s when sportswear became sloppier and more garish in colour; a lot of that look was driven by the U.S. I guess that has its place for some people but it's not a reference for Adidas SPZL.
Tell me a bit about the design process. How much research did it take? Did you have a particular objective in mind when you started designing the capsule?
With Adidas SPZL the product research is constant and ongoing by virtue of my personal archive of product and catalogues, along with the kind support of some of the vintage Adidas collectors and sellers that I know. Football boots sit at the core of adidas's design language – they sit at the very foundations of the brand's identity: Adidas were making football boots before they were making training shoes. Since the early days of Adidas SPZL apparel we have constantly looked for those design elements that feel distinctively Adidas yet sit outside of the three stripes (we barely used the three stripes on most of the early SPZL apparel pieces).
With the apparel for SPZL F.C. main range we decided to go primarily for charcoal grey. We knew we were planning to do some products that were connected to Adidas sponsored football clubs further down the line. The generic SPZL F.C. range introduces the project by offering neutrality, and an entry point for anybody regardless of club allegiances. Hopefully, people will understand that the clubs we choose to work with are about creating a progressive extension to Adidas' football club portfolio.
What’s your favourite piece from the capsule?
That's a tough one to answer. I guess I should go for the Copa Mundial SPZL, as it was an honour to be allowed to work on that boot. Working on a football boot is a first for SPZL so that was an exciting proposition for me personally.
How does it feel to have Jürgen Klopp front the campaign?
Couldn't be happier. I first met him a few years ago and he genuinely likes the SPZL range, so it made the process really easy. I like to think that there are many football fans out there who respect Jürgen Klopp regardless of club allegiance. Aside from his sporting credentials, he looks really good in the product.
If you could pick any other footballer, past or present, to wear the capsule, who would it be?
Franz Beckenbauer, he personified Adidas to me, or Bryan Douglas. My dad said Bryan Douglas was the greatest ever to play for Blackburn Rovers, and when it came to football, I trusted my dad as he went to the game regularly for most of his life.
How do you feel about the cross over between football and fashion today? Does it bother you that some people might engage with football fashion – i.e. in a ‘blokecore’ way– without loving the game?
I couldn't care less. I have little time for the self-appointed gatekeepers of 'football casual' fashion. If a new generation reinvent themselves and change the context of how brands that were staples of casual style are worn, then frankly that's up to them and really is none of my business. Live and let live.
For me, people who legitimately dress in so called casual style are a million miles away from the football shirts and mullets of 'blokecore'. Casual style is nuanced. Not sure whether someone even has to love football to dress like a casual. When I was a youth, some of the best-dressed casuals I knew didn't even bother going to the game, they were grafters, not football hooligans.
Do you have any predictions as to how football fashion will be in ten years time?
It depends on how you define football fashion, as it is so multi-faceted and fragmented with regional/national differences – it's a really mixed bag. From the Ultras who are move in mobs dressed head to toe in black, to those who are obsessed with niche clothing, be that vintage eighties brands or modern technical outerwear brands.
If you are asking about casual style, then that will always exist in some form. It is more like a mindset than a trend, and will continue long after the hipsters move onto something else.
It’s been ten years of Adidas SPZL, what’s been your proudest moment during that time?
It was probably the opening of the DECADE anniversary exhibition in Darwen this summer. Being amongst my friends in the town where my interest in clothing and trainers started, seeing most of the work we have produced in both product and communications under one roof whilst raising a chunk of money for homeless youths in my community... it doesn't get much better than that.
Do you have a favourite product from the last 10 years?
There are a few. For summer, the Lacombe SPZL and for winter, the Winterhill SPZL. I love the Horwich jacket from 2017 and it was great to work on a Haslingden jacket with Paul Harvey at C.P. Company. The older SPZL apparel pieces appear to be becoming increasingly more popular and collectible which I am really pleased about.
The SPZL F.C. collection arrives in limited quantities on 17 September and is available through Confirmed and select retailers.
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