November 15, 2022 • 22 mins
Premium, stylish, sophisticated football apparel for on and off the pitch. Futsol draw inspiration from the simple pleasure of playing with the ball. They see beauty in the ball, in the places where games of football are enjoyed around the world and those moments of shared connection and joy.
In this episode of the MenswearStyle Podcast we interview Nicolas Willson, Founder of Futsol about his love for sport and how the journey with his new football inspired clothing brand began during the Covid-19 global pandemic. Our host Peter Brooker and Nicolas talk about design and fabrics, market positioning, why they're not promoting the brand during the World Cup, retail partners, raising capital, and their latest collaboration collection with Printed Goods.
Whilst we have your attention, be sure to sign up to our daily MenswearStyle newsletter here. We promise to only send you the good stuff.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
PB (00:11):
Hello, welcome to another episode of the menswear style
podcast. I'm your host PeteBrooker. Today on the show I'm
talking to the founder of foot.
So, Nicholas Wilson, but sospelled fut S O L is a premium,
stylish, sophisticated footballapparel for on and off the
pitch. They draw inspirationfrom the simple pleasure of
(00:31):
playing with the ball. They seebeauty in the ball, in the
places where games of footballare enjoyed around the world and
those moments of sharedconnection and joy. And you can
check out the apparel at footso.co. We'll leave all the links
in the show notes over atMenswear. style.co.uk And you
may have noticed it's been awhile since we've had a guest on
(00:53):
the show. And of course, as aresult, the default mic was set
to my laptop and not my Rodemicrophone. So my audio is a
little thin but that's okay.
Nico comes through just fine andlet's face it. It's only Nico we
want to hear today. So I'll getthat fixed for next time around.
(01:14):
And if you're interested incoming on the show, to talk
about your brand, email us hereat info at Menswear.
style.co.uk. In the meantime,here is Nicholas Wilson to tell
you about himself and footsore.
Unknown (01:27):
Sure. So I was born and raised in London, always a big
sportsman, keen sportsman,whether football, rugby, tennis,
cricket, skiing, etc. A big partof my life and growing up. I
moved to New York for collegeundergraduate, and then did a
graduate degree in journalism inNew York. And as during that
(01:48):
period, where I was sort ofentering the world of digital
media content marketing,journalism, and when brands, the
sort of DTC brands of ourgeneration, the caspers, etc,
were creating digital contentand sort of publishing their own
magazines and storytelling. Andwas when I really started to
(02:09):
think about brand building andthe brand that I really was
attracted to at the time, mainlythrough their sort of YouTube
videos and amazing aesthetic wasrefer this liking brand from
London, which I came acrossduring that period and spent a
lot of time in the coffee shop,and was a big inspiration for me
(02:30):
and what they've created.
PB (02:32):
I see. So, going from New York, coming back to London is
that when you've discoveredfootsoldiers, it kind of on the
plane on the way over.
Unknown (02:41):
Yeah, it was a sort of, I was playing a lot of amateur
football after work on a sort ofWednesday, Thursday night in New
York. And I recognise that, youknow, the experience of playing
football hadn't changed for mefor 20 years. You know, all
around me, there were theseexperiences from yoga studios
(03:02):
and Pilates. And whether it'sBarry's Bootcamp or you know, we
captured a community and peoplestayed and hung out at the bar
afterwards and had a shower andgot changed and went back to
work. Football was still youknow, you turn up you pay a
fiver to the organiser. It's alldone on WhatsApp, all very
manual, someone's dropping outlast minute, you've got to find
(03:22):
a ringer from the side of thepitch. And I was always just a
bit disappointed that thisexperience that obviously so
many of us loved, and was a hugehighlight of our week, was often
badly organised and sort ofhadn't really evolved. You know,
in the past 20 years or so I'vealways thought there was an
opportunity to bring thefootball amateur football
(03:44):
experience to another level,which is something that we were
aiming to do first your productand then through experiences and
community. Maybe we
PB (03:53):
should also just describe futsal is and perhaps even the
best place to do that. How doyou how do you to show it to
your friends? Sure. So
Unknown (04:03):
we call it a sort of lifestyle destination for
football lovers. We produceprimarily football apparel that
suitable both on an offer pitchthat isn't tied to any
professional team or clubs. Ialways felt as a big football
fan myself I would never wear orI would rarely buy any football
(04:23):
kit. People I was playing wereoften wearing you know Lululemon
shorts or old cotton,rock'n'roll T shirts to play,
there was rarely any sort of newNike, Adidas, Man United or
Chelsea gear. And I startedmaking me think as a consumer,
you know, there weren't manyoptions for me. And I was you
(04:47):
know, wasn't buying footballspecific apparel. So, you know,
I thought there was anopportunity to create something
that is obviously football inits design aesthetics, but it
may be a bit softer in terms ofgraphic xx without sponsorship
and garish Chevrolet logos andbright, brighter colours suited
for the television. I thoughtthere was something possible a
(05:10):
bit softer and and I guess a bitmore stylish.
PB (05:15):
And also without a name on the back with a player that's
gonna get sold in the transferwindow that maybe any laughs
stuck with 108 you can top thatyou can't wait because he's gone
to your rival team or theirshirts athleisure in terms of
can you play football? Andthese? Are they designed for
(05:36):
playing football in the park? Orare they designed for more kind
of social events and going out?
Unknown (05:41):
Definitely. So something we noticed early on in
doing bit of research amongstplayers and friends is, as I
said, you know, people wereplaying in cotton T shirts in
old vintage gear from the 80s.
And it didn't seem to affecttheir performance. So we
realised you know, the newestNike Dri Fit and added as, you
know, extra tights the SpursJersey doesn't make it doesn't
(06:04):
make your fibre site performancemuch better. So yeah, we
realised that there is apossibility to use these fabrics
that are obviously sweat wickingand have the performance of
athletic fabrics, but they'realso more suitable for leisure
wear. Something we're looking atis a lot of fabrics are sort of
(06:28):
PK polyester, which is as oldcotton style, we have a bit of a
sort of variation in the fabricis not totally flat. And we're
looking at bringing in, youknow, older fabrics that were
used in the 80s and 90s, such asMerino and was into our
performance based so it's a mixof modern polyesters and old,
(06:51):
traditional sports fabrics.
PB (06:56):
are you designing these yourself? Are you kind of
recruiting we
Unknown (07:00):
have? Yeah, we have.
Yeah, we have a design team.
Luke and the Tom's Luke is asort of advisor slash sort of
creative director, who was xRafa and track Smith. I'm not
sure if you know, the runningbrand out of Boston. But yeah,
he's been helping from the earlydays, setting the positioning
(07:21):
and trying to find a space wherewe are definitely not competing
with the Nike and Adidas is ofthe world because it's pretty
impossible.
PB (07:30):
What's the point? Yeah, So how old is the brand now then.
So it's,
Unknown (07:35):
it's definitely a COVID COVID story, launched late last
year, sort of this time lastyear, actually, with our first
collection of four jerseys,different colours. And we quite
consciously decided from the getgo that you know, we would stick
to perfecting the footballjersey and our take on it first.
(07:59):
So we've done a few differentdesigns, collaborations, some
more sort of graphic influencedsome more understated, just to
get a sense of you know, how wecan produce these what how the
supply chain works, who aredifferent suppliers, our
timelines, etc. And now we'relooking to sort of expand that
we've landed our first retailpartner launching in for the
(08:22):
World Cup. And we are expandingthe product range to sort of
create a capsule collection,which we'll be presenting early
next year.
PB (08:32):
And was the World Cup always like a destination in your mind
when you are starting the brandas to will soft market but then
really hope to get on the on thejet flames of the World Cup and
catapult the brand?
Unknown (08:45):
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think in
general, there's so much noisearound the World Cup, every
brand is obviously trying to dosomething football oriented. So
you know, maybe it was astrategic decision to actually
stay away from it until, whilewe're so small. And you know, we
don't want to compete onkeywords in such a popular
(09:06):
moment, although we're not doingmuch digital ads. But it
wouldn't really make sense. Butit does definitely make sense as
a sort of what we'll be doinglater this month is sort of our
first test events for communitybuilding, to bringing people
together in an environmentwhere, you know, we can share
the brand story and sort of testour assumption of people wanting
(09:29):
to watch football in a niceenvironment. Not the sort of
standard lager filled pub whereyou know, you don't know who
you're standing next to and whatthey're going to be sharing.
PB (09:40):
Which is great, by the way when you're in your mid 20s.
I've discovered the middle ofWetherspoons but but also, I
mean I remember doing that wasin one of the World Cups of
South Africa World Cup, so Iguess I'm early 40s By that
point, but it was a realconvivial atmosphere, all my
mates everyone from carsstruction and we're all just
(10:01):
waiting for a girl. But thetournament was so miserable. I
mean, that was the one where weabsolutely got dumped by Germany
as well, I think for onesomewhere. But us all you want
to do when you're a fan in thepub is for us to score a goal.
Like when it's when it's adruggie nail now or like, you
know, there's, there's nothinggoing on the game and we're crap
(10:22):
or we get talked for one. Thepub is actually the worst place
because people have just beenthere pretty much all day. And
now they now they can't get allof a can't fend, can they? They
can't get all of that stuff outby cheering on anything. So they
kind of take that and trailblazeout into the streets afterwards,
and it becomes something else.
Unknown (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, the atmosphere is pretty sour quite
quickly. Yeah. Yeah.
PB (10:48):
Sorry, I digress. I've just, I've just recapped a load of my
days in the pub. So yeah, muchmore. Now. I'm in now number
four is very much got to watchit on the telly at home and put
my tops on. Invite the guysaround and have that kind of
Yeah, that atmosphere at homeand safe course. Yeah. But yeah,
sorry, just going back to whatyou're saying about having
(11:10):
something. I mean, you didn'tplan it to be on the back of the
bowl cup. But something thatcould also get swallowed up. In
that time. I remember I hadbooked a launch with my book
about James Bond style. And thefilm, no time to die was coming
out. For all this would beperfect, you know, released a
book film comes out. And then wejust discovered, oh, this is
(11:30):
just gonna get swallowed up. Andyou want to release a book
around this time and competewith like trailers on TV and
brands bringing out their ownstuff like jumpers and
Unknown (11:40):
anyway, so yeah, well, yeah.
PB (11:43):
50 really, with what to do with that? It's tricky.
Unknown (11:46):
Ya know, always seems like the a good idea. And then
you realise, actually, maybeit's best to just sit this one
out and wait to hear there's abit more power behind you to
actually have an impact.
PB (11:58):
But did you find when there was pandemic and locked down
that people had more time ontheir hands anyway. So in order
to get hold of people that mightbe hard to reach like that?
Perhaps were too busy to pick upthe phone, they had almost a lot
of downtime. So it was quitegood to create a project like
this. Because it was people moreaccessible. Did you find that?
(12:20):
Yeah,
Unknown (12:20):
I think I mean, I think I think what was really
noticeable was how we were allremote. I was in I was in the
UK, another was in Spain. Twoothers were in Margate. So it
was really started online, thisbrand and through zoom, which is
fascinating to see. And what didget difficult was as soon as
(12:43):
sort of products to touch andfeel and fabric choices, sending
that round the world four timesin getting each person to touch
and feel it gets a bit moredifficult. That's where you
really want everyone in the sameroom where you can pin stuff up
and sort of just make decisionsquickly. Thankfully, now, we
were able to do that, and canmove a bit faster. But yeah,
(13:05):
that was definitely a learning.
PB (13:07):
And you mentioned that you got a retail partner now. So
how's that shaped?
Unknown (13:11):
Yeah, we're, we're excited. We don't really they're
about to launch in the next twoweeks. I think sort of still
under wraps. But yeah, we'llwe'll see. It's a big store on
Oxford Street. So we'll set abit of a different target
audience to who we had initiallyimagined. But you know, they
approached us we're excited tocome through.
PB (13:35):
Oh, that's, that's much better. I mean, I know. Yeah.
You must be pitching it aroundas well. And hoping that, you
know, people, people becomeaware of the brand, but for them
to come to you must be quitequite fun. Definitely. Yeah.
Unknown (13:45):
I mean, I think yeah, it's, it's always nice to have
that. And, you know, comeJanuary we'll, we'll be pitching
to others will hopefully get afew more on board. Yeah,
definitely.
PB (13:56):
So I'm always intrigued. The Ico when I'd much rather start
talking to brands at startups.
And they're in their kind ofinfancy as it were, I know
you've been going a couple ofyears, but rather than, like the
household name brands andgetting people on like designers
and stuff, because I feel like alot of people are in your
position that want to start abrand, maybe don't know how, but
also don't really know how toraise capital. So that's
(14:19):
something that's always my most.
For me, my most interestingpoint of discussion is how you
got the capital to raise it. Getthe brand off, like definitely.
Unknown (14:31):
You know, now it's not an easy time, in general,
especially for consumer brands,and the days of the Warby
Parker's and the caspers and DTCbrands out in New York where
there's sort of bigdifferentiation, those days are
finished. And I think people areaware that the growth trajectory
(14:52):
from a consumer brand is verydifferent than that of a sort of
software, SAS startup. So Uh,yeah, I mean, we started with a
very small friends and familyround. And we're sort of still
sort of relying on that we don'thave major plans to go to VC or
that kind of route, potentially,you know, we would be looking at
(15:18):
more strategic investment froman ex footballer, or someone who
celebrity a big fan of big fanof the sport to, you know, could
become an ambassador for thebrand. That would obviously be a
more clear route for us. Butalso, we want to build something
that's sustainable from thestart. So hence, the wholesale
(15:40):
model for us has become quiteimportant. And that's something
where we're sort of pivotingtowards with the idea to grow
the direct to consumer side withthe wholesale side. So we can
actually have retail partnerswho are who are showcasing the
brand and finding our audiencethrough them as well as sort of
playing around on the on the DTCside and figuring that out.
PB (16:04):
Yeah, must be quite interesting to have an
ambassador, that's an exfootballer. I'm trying to think
of someone that's more suited. Imean, linic is always a safe
bet, isn't he? I mean, becauseyou also have to think down the
road like what, what footballand might get embroiled in a
scandal and all those things. Soyeah, trying to pinpoint someone
(16:29):
that also that's not sodivisive. Sounds like you throw
it on Gary Neville, no,Liverpool fans going to be
buying your Yeah, yeah. Right.
So trying to find that balance.
Unknown (16:37):
I think that's that's also why we're looking at, you
know, not only, I think, thenostalgia aspect to our sort of
target audience, maybe feelcloser to x players and current
players. But also, obviously,the current players are
associated with their clubs,predominantly. And so I think
that's something we, I mean,like, we wouldn't say no to
(16:57):
Harry Kane. But certainly wewould, we would, not
necessarily,
PB (17:05):
yeah, I'm sure you'd be picking up the phone, even if
you have to, you know, saygoodbye to a lot of Ghana
supporters that might be buyingyour brand new. Cool. The brand
looks terrific. I was justshowing a couple of screen grabs
here. We'll be putting this onYouTube. So people will have an
idea. And flame, obviously, youcan check out the
(17:26):
brand@football.com. I'll put allthe links over in the show
notes. But did you do all thephotos yourself? Was it all kind
of in house? Because they looklook fantastic?
Unknown (17:37):
Yeah, so it's something we were thinking about. And I
think the pandemic sort ofstarted this, they will. Each
project is sort of, let's callit a capsule. So this one you're
sharing now is a printed goodscollaboration that was with a
specific photographer wasintroduced by the two guys a
friend of theirs. And you know,we always think that a
(17:57):
connection between the subjectand the photographer is always
helpful. There's a there's ageneral, relaxed atmosphere
around the subject, they don'tfeel tight and uneasy. So at the
moment, it's all been with a fewdifferent people here. But we do
feel longterm, having a sort ofin house style that's
immediately recognisable, isprobably beneficial for that
(18:20):
consistency. We look at brandslike Emily on door, which is,
you know, one of our favouritepin ups, and you know, what they
just do so well as their stylingand consistency. And look, you
know, they've been copiedeverywhere, but you still know
which one? Which one's theauthentic one. So yeah, I think
that that's important movingforward. But yeah, we did a
shoot in Rio. And that wasreally just finding local
(18:44):
photographers who we could sendsome product to, and have them
shoot it in their own style andway. And that, yeah, that turned
out really well.
PB (18:55):
The cat just jumped on the laptop and press the load. So
that doesn't mean anything toit. Just still recording the
recording. I think I didn'tcompletely sabotage it. Yeah.
And so any plans to get intobricks and mortar outside of the
concessions that you might havewith a retailer that are going
to do anything like a pop up totest them out?
Unknown (19:16):
Yeah, I think yeah, definitely down the line. Our
vision, you know, much like therapper style is to have these
sort of clubhouses, where peoplecould come and watch games have
a retail floor where people canbrowse and speak about product
and speak about football withlike minded audiences, have a
(19:37):
space where you can watch gamesin a nice environment with, you
know, familiar faces and evenhave your leagues and games
organised through the brand. Youknow, I've always felt, you
know, if I were to go to NewYork for business now, and I
wanted to play a game of pickupfootball on a Wednesday night,
it'd be pretty much impossible.
I'd have to sort of text aroundold old groups and probably
(19:58):
getting gnawed. So I ended upsort of standing at pitchside
her like with my hand in the airhoping for someone to drop out
and get in. But you know, Iideally, I could just book a
book a slot and turn up and youknow, play with some people and
that would be the dream. Sothat's hopefully something where
we can get to in the nearfuture.
PB (20:19):
So, what's your position? I mean, five aside, is it fine
besides just kind of like a freefor all? Like, you don't really
have defence made an attack? Oram I not doing it any justice?
Unknown (20:31):
Yeah, literally. Yeah, maybe? Yeah, I think probably
smaller it is, the more the moreloose the positions are. But
yeah, I've graduated from beingat the top of the pitch to
slowly glide back to the goal.
As I've gotten older,
PB (20:49):
you're still on the pitch though. Oh, Nico. Thanks for
jumping on. I really, really digthe brand. Some I kind of liked
the idea of wearing somethingthat's fun and being around
football, but not so on thenose. Like you say that you have
to wear something so logo heavy,because I mean, even though I've
(21:09):
follow a team, I don't followlogos as such. I don't wear any
logos outside of what I mightwear on my football tops or
having something like you guys,actually, actually does a fix
for me. So yeah, great. Where doyou like to hang out with your
social channels and people canfind it.
Unknown (21:28):
Yeah, we're on Instagram at footsore. Dotco. Fu
T. sol.co. That's the website.
And yeah, we're only onInstagram right now. But if you
subscribe to the newsletter,we'll be sending updates about
any events that are happening inLondon. And yeah, hopefully see
some people at some World Cupevents and screenings.
PB (21:53):
Where are you going to watch it? Have you got your seat
booked? Anyway,
Unknown (21:56):
as difficult around me, all the pubs have sort of given
up on showing football on TV. SoI think it's, you know,
everywhere, everywhere sort ofreduced. They will become gastro
pubs in sort of given uppredominantly at home or with
friends. But yeah, we've got afew places in mind, where I'll
(22:17):
book a table.
PB (22:19):
Nico from me, and from the cat. It's been great talking to
you and I hope to catch up wecan see
you've been listening to themenswear style podcast, be sure
to head over to menswearstyle.co uk for more menswear
content and email info atmenswear style.co.uk If you'd
(22:43):
like to be a future guest on theshow. Finally, please help
support the show by leaving areview on iTunes or wherever
you're listening to thispodcast. Until next time,
Hello, welcome to another episode of the menswear style
podcast. I'm your host PeteBrooker. Today on the show I'm
talking to the founder of foot.
So, Nicholas Wilson, but sospelled fut S O L is a premium,
stylish, sophisticated footballapparel for on and off the
pitch. They draw inspirationfrom the simple pleasure of
(00:31):
playing with the ball. They seebeauty in the ball, in the
places where games of footballare enjoyed around the world and
those moments of sharedconnection and joy. And you can
check out the apparel at footso.co. We'll leave all the links
in the show notes over atMenswear. style.co.uk And you
may have noticed it's been awhile since we've had a guest on
(00:53):
the show. And of course, as aresult, the default mic was set
to my laptop and not my Rodemicrophone. So my audio is a
little thin but that's okay.
Nico comes through just fine andlet's face it. It's only Nico we
want to hear today. So I'll getthat fixed for next time around.
(01:14):
And if you're interested incoming on the show, to talk
about your brand, email us hereat info at Menswear.
style.co.uk. In the meantime,here is Nicholas Wilson to tell
you about himself and footsore.
Unknown (01:27):
Sure. So I was born and raised in London, always a big
sportsman, keen sportsman,whether football, rugby, tennis,
cricket, skiing, etc. A big partof my life and growing up. I
moved to New York for collegeundergraduate, and then did a
graduate degree in journalism inNew York. And as during that
(01:48):
period, where I was sort ofentering the world of digital
media content marketing,journalism, and when brands, the
sort of DTC brands of ourgeneration, the caspers, etc,
were creating digital contentand sort of publishing their own
magazines and storytelling. Andwas when I really started to
(02:09):
think about brand building andthe brand that I really was
attracted to at the time, mainlythrough their sort of YouTube
videos and amazing aesthetic wasrefer this liking brand from
London, which I came acrossduring that period and spent a
lot of time in the coffee shop,and was a big inspiration for me
(02:30):
and what they've created.
PB (02:32):
I see. So, going from New York, coming back to London is
that when you've discoveredfootsoldiers, it kind of on the
plane on the way over.
Unknown (02:41):
Yeah, it was a sort of, I was playing a lot of amateur
football after work on a sort ofWednesday, Thursday night in New
York. And I recognise that, youknow, the experience of playing
football hadn't changed for mefor 20 years. You know, all
around me, there were theseexperiences from yoga studios
(03:02):
and Pilates. And whether it'sBarry's Bootcamp or you know, we
captured a community and peoplestayed and hung out at the bar
afterwards and had a shower andgot changed and went back to
work. Football was still youknow, you turn up you pay a
fiver to the organiser. It's alldone on WhatsApp, all very
manual, someone's dropping outlast minute, you've got to find
(03:22):
a ringer from the side of thepitch. And I was always just a
bit disappointed that thisexperience that obviously so
many of us loved, and was a hugehighlight of our week, was often
badly organised and sort ofhadn't really evolved. You know,
in the past 20 years or so I'vealways thought there was an
opportunity to bring thefootball amateur football
(03:44):
experience to another level,which is something that we were
aiming to do first your productand then through experiences and
community. Maybe we
PB (03:53):
should also just describe futsal is and perhaps even the
best place to do that. How doyou how do you to show it to
your friends? Sure. So
Unknown (04:03):
we call it a sort of lifestyle destination for
football lovers. We produceprimarily football apparel that
suitable both on an offer pitchthat isn't tied to any
professional team or clubs. Ialways felt as a big football
fan myself I would never wear orI would rarely buy any football
(04:23):
kit. People I was playing wereoften wearing you know Lululemon
shorts or old cotton,rock'n'roll T shirts to play,
there was rarely any sort of newNike, Adidas, Man United or
Chelsea gear. And I startedmaking me think as a consumer,
you know, there weren't manyoptions for me. And I was you
(04:47):
know, wasn't buying footballspecific apparel. So, you know,
I thought there was anopportunity to create something
that is obviously football inits design aesthetics, but it
may be a bit softer in terms ofgraphic xx without sponsorship
and garish Chevrolet logos andbright, brighter colours suited
for the television. I thoughtthere was something possible a
(05:10):
bit softer and and I guess a bitmore stylish.
PB (05:15):
And also without a name on the back with a player that's
gonna get sold in the transferwindow that maybe any laughs
stuck with 108 you can top thatyou can't wait because he's gone
to your rival team or theirshirts athleisure in terms of
can you play football? Andthese? Are they designed for
(05:36):
playing football in the park? Orare they designed for more kind
of social events and going out?
Unknown (05:41):
Definitely. So something we noticed early on in
doing bit of research amongstplayers and friends is, as I
said, you know, people wereplaying in cotton T shirts in
old vintage gear from the 80s.
And it didn't seem to affecttheir performance. So we
realised you know, the newestNike Dri Fit and added as, you
know, extra tights the SpursJersey doesn't make it doesn't
(06:04):
make your fibre site performancemuch better. So yeah, we
realised that there is apossibility to use these fabrics
that are obviously sweat wickingand have the performance of
athletic fabrics, but they'realso more suitable for leisure
wear. Something we're looking atis a lot of fabrics are sort of
(06:28):
PK polyester, which is as oldcotton style, we have a bit of a
sort of variation in the fabricis not totally flat. And we're
looking at bringing in, youknow, older fabrics that were
used in the 80s and 90s, such asMerino and was into our
performance based so it's a mixof modern polyesters and old,
(06:51):
traditional sports fabrics.
PB (06:56):
are you designing these yourself? Are you kind of
recruiting we
Unknown (07:00):
have? Yeah, we have.
Yeah, we have a design team.
Luke and the Tom's Luke is asort of advisor slash sort of
creative director, who was xRafa and track Smith. I'm not
sure if you know, the runningbrand out of Boston. But yeah,
he's been helping from the earlydays, setting the positioning
(07:21):
and trying to find a space wherewe are definitely not competing
with the Nike and Adidas is ofthe world because it's pretty
impossible.
PB (07:30):
What's the point? Yeah, So how old is the brand now then.
So it's,
Unknown (07:35):
it's definitely a COVID COVID story, launched late last
year, sort of this time lastyear, actually, with our first
collection of four jerseys,different colours. And we quite
consciously decided from the getgo that you know, we would stick
to perfecting the footballjersey and our take on it first.
(07:59):
So we've done a few differentdesigns, collaborations, some
more sort of graphic influencedsome more understated, just to
get a sense of you know, how wecan produce these what how the
supply chain works, who aredifferent suppliers, our
timelines, etc. And now we'relooking to sort of expand that
we've landed our first retailpartner launching in for the
(08:22):
World Cup. And we are expandingthe product range to sort of
create a capsule collection,which we'll be presenting early
next year.
PB (08:32):
And was the World Cup always like a destination in your mind
when you are starting the brandas to will soft market but then
really hope to get on the on thejet flames of the World Cup and
catapult the brand?
Unknown (08:45):
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think in
general, there's so much noisearound the World Cup, every
brand is obviously trying to dosomething football oriented. So
you know, maybe it was astrategic decision to actually
stay away from it until, whilewe're so small. And you know, we
don't want to compete onkeywords in such a popular
(09:06):
moment, although we're not doingmuch digital ads. But it
wouldn't really make sense. Butit does definitely make sense as
a sort of what we'll be doinglater this month is sort of our
first test events for communitybuilding, to bringing people
together in an environmentwhere, you know, we can share
the brand story and sort of testour assumption of people wanting
(09:29):
to watch football in a niceenvironment. Not the sort of
standard lager filled pub whereyou know, you don't know who
you're standing next to and whatthey're going to be sharing.
PB (09:40):
Which is great, by the way when you're in your mid 20s.
I've discovered the middle ofWetherspoons but but also, I
mean I remember doing that wasin one of the World Cups of
South Africa World Cup, so Iguess I'm early 40s By that
point, but it was a realconvivial atmosphere, all my
mates everyone from carsstruction and we're all just
(10:01):
waiting for a girl. But thetournament was so miserable. I
mean, that was the one where weabsolutely got dumped by Germany
as well, I think for onesomewhere. But us all you want
to do when you're a fan in thepub is for us to score a goal.
Like when it's when it's adruggie nail now or like, you
know, there's, there's nothinggoing on the game and we're crap
(10:22):
or we get talked for one. Thepub is actually the worst place
because people have just beenthere pretty much all day. And
now they now they can't get allof a can't fend, can they? They
can't get all of that stuff outby cheering on anything. So they
kind of take that and trailblazeout into the streets afterwards,
and it becomes something else.
Unknown (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, the atmosphere is pretty sour quite
quickly. Yeah. Yeah.
PB (10:48):
Sorry, I digress. I've just, I've just recapped a load of my
days in the pub. So yeah, muchmore. Now. I'm in now number
four is very much got to watchit on the telly at home and put
my tops on. Invite the guysaround and have that kind of
Yeah, that atmosphere at homeand safe course. Yeah. But yeah,
sorry, just going back to whatyou're saying about having
(11:10):
something. I mean, you didn'tplan it to be on the back of the
bowl cup. But something thatcould also get swallowed up. In
that time. I remember I hadbooked a launch with my book
about James Bond style. And thefilm, no time to die was coming
out. For all this would beperfect, you know, released a
book film comes out. And then wejust discovered, oh, this is
(11:30):
just gonna get swallowed up. Andyou want to release a book
around this time and competewith like trailers on TV and
brands bringing out their ownstuff like jumpers and
Unknown (11:40):
anyway, so yeah, well, yeah.
PB (11:43):
50 really, with what to do with that? It's tricky.
Unknown (11:46):
Ya know, always seems like the a good idea. And then
you realise, actually, maybeit's best to just sit this one
out and wait to hear there's abit more power behind you to
actually have an impact.
PB (11:58):
But did you find when there was pandemic and locked down
that people had more time ontheir hands anyway. So in order
to get hold of people that mightbe hard to reach like that?
Perhaps were too busy to pick upthe phone, they had almost a lot
of downtime. So it was quitegood to create a project like
this. Because it was people moreaccessible. Did you find that?
(12:20):
Yeah,
Unknown (12:20):
I think I mean, I think I think what was really
noticeable was how we were allremote. I was in I was in the
UK, another was in Spain. Twoothers were in Margate. So it
was really started online, thisbrand and through zoom, which is
fascinating to see. And what didget difficult was as soon as
(12:43):
sort of products to touch andfeel and fabric choices, sending
that round the world four timesin getting each person to touch
and feel it gets a bit moredifficult. That's where you
really want everyone in the sameroom where you can pin stuff up
and sort of just make decisionsquickly. Thankfully, now, we
were able to do that, and canmove a bit faster. But yeah,
(13:05):
that was definitely a learning.
PB (13:07):
And you mentioned that you got a retail partner now. So
how's that shaped?
Unknown (13:11):
Yeah, we're, we're excited. We don't really they're
about to launch in the next twoweeks. I think sort of still
under wraps. But yeah, we'llwe'll see. It's a big store on
Oxford Street. So we'll set abit of a different target
audience to who we had initiallyimagined. But you know, they
approached us we're excited tocome through.
PB (13:35):
Oh, that's, that's much better. I mean, I know. Yeah.
You must be pitching it aroundas well. And hoping that, you
know, people, people becomeaware of the brand, but for them
to come to you must be quitequite fun. Definitely. Yeah.
Unknown (13:45):
I mean, I think yeah, it's, it's always nice to have
that. And, you know, comeJanuary we'll, we'll be pitching
to others will hopefully get afew more on board. Yeah,
definitely.
PB (13:56):
So I'm always intrigued. The Ico when I'd much rather start
talking to brands at startups.
And they're in their kind ofinfancy as it were, I know
you've been going a couple ofyears, but rather than, like the
household name brands andgetting people on like designers
and stuff, because I feel like alot of people are in your
position that want to start abrand, maybe don't know how, but
also don't really know how toraise capital. So that's
(14:19):
something that's always my most.
For me, my most interestingpoint of discussion is how you
got the capital to raise it. Getthe brand off, like definitely.
Unknown (14:31):
You know, now it's not an easy time, in general,
especially for consumer brands,and the days of the Warby
Parker's and the caspers and DTCbrands out in New York where
there's sort of bigdifferentiation, those days are
finished. And I think people areaware that the growth trajectory
(14:52):
from a consumer brand is verydifferent than that of a sort of
software, SAS startup. So Uh,yeah, I mean, we started with a
very small friends and familyround. And we're sort of still
sort of relying on that we don'thave major plans to go to VC or
that kind of route, potentially,you know, we would be looking at
(15:18):
more strategic investment froman ex footballer, or someone who
celebrity a big fan of big fanof the sport to, you know, could
become an ambassador for thebrand. That would obviously be a
more clear route for us. Butalso, we want to build something
that's sustainable from thestart. So hence, the wholesale
(15:40):
model for us has become quiteimportant. And that's something
where we're sort of pivotingtowards with the idea to grow
the direct to consumer side withthe wholesale side. So we can
actually have retail partnerswho are who are showcasing the
brand and finding our audiencethrough them as well as sort of
playing around on the on the DTCside and figuring that out.
PB (16:04):
Yeah, must be quite interesting to have an
ambassador, that's an exfootballer. I'm trying to think
of someone that's more suited. Imean, linic is always a safe
bet, isn't he? I mean, becauseyou also have to think down the
road like what, what footballand might get embroiled in a
scandal and all those things. Soyeah, trying to pinpoint someone
(16:29):
that also that's not sodivisive. Sounds like you throw
it on Gary Neville, no,Liverpool fans going to be
buying your Yeah, yeah. Right.
So trying to find that balance.
Unknown (16:37):
I think that's that's also why we're looking at, you
know, not only, I think, thenostalgia aspect to our sort of
target audience, maybe feelcloser to x players and current
players. But also, obviously,the current players are
associated with their clubs,predominantly. And so I think
that's something we, I mean,like, we wouldn't say no to
(16:57):
Harry Kane. But certainly wewould, we would, not
necessarily,
PB (17:05):
yeah, I'm sure you'd be picking up the phone, even if
you have to, you know, saygoodbye to a lot of Ghana
supporters that might be buyingyour brand new. Cool. The brand
looks terrific. I was justshowing a couple of screen grabs
here. We'll be putting this onYouTube. So people will have an
idea. And flame, obviously, youcan check out the
(17:26):
brand@football.com. I'll put allthe links over in the show
notes. But did you do all thephotos yourself? Was it all kind
of in house? Because they looklook fantastic?
Unknown (17:37):
Yeah, so it's something we were thinking about. And I
think the pandemic sort ofstarted this, they will. Each
project is sort of, let's callit a capsule. So this one you're
sharing now is a printed goodscollaboration that was with a
specific photographer wasintroduced by the two guys a
friend of theirs. And you know,we always think that a
(17:57):
connection between the subjectand the photographer is always
helpful. There's a there's ageneral, relaxed atmosphere
around the subject, they don'tfeel tight and uneasy. So at the
moment, it's all been with a fewdifferent people here. But we do
feel longterm, having a sort ofin house style that's
immediately recognisable, isprobably beneficial for that
(18:20):
consistency. We look at brandslike Emily on door, which is,
you know, one of our favouritepin ups, and you know, what they
just do so well as their stylingand consistency. And look, you
know, they've been copiedeverywhere, but you still know
which one? Which one's theauthentic one. So yeah, I think
that that's important movingforward. But yeah, we did a
shoot in Rio. And that wasreally just finding local
(18:44):
photographers who we could sendsome product to, and have them
shoot it in their own style andway. And that, yeah, that turned
out really well.
PB (18:55):
The cat just jumped on the laptop and press the load. So
that doesn't mean anything toit. Just still recording the
recording. I think I didn'tcompletely sabotage it. Yeah.
And so any plans to get intobricks and mortar outside of the
concessions that you might havewith a retailer that are going
to do anything like a pop up totest them out?
Unknown (19:16):
Yeah, I think yeah, definitely down the line. Our
vision, you know, much like therapper style is to have these
sort of clubhouses, where peoplecould come and watch games have
a retail floor where people canbrowse and speak about product
and speak about football withlike minded audiences, have a
(19:37):
space where you can watch gamesin a nice environment with, you
know, familiar faces and evenhave your leagues and games
organised through the brand. Youknow, I've always felt, you
know, if I were to go to NewYork for business now, and I
wanted to play a game of pickupfootball on a Wednesday night,
it'd be pretty much impossible.
I'd have to sort of text aroundold old groups and probably
(19:58):
getting gnawed. So I ended upsort of standing at pitchside
her like with my hand in the airhoping for someone to drop out
and get in. But you know, Iideally, I could just book a
book a slot and turn up and youknow, play with some people and
that would be the dream. Sothat's hopefully something where
we can get to in the nearfuture.
PB (20:19):
So, what's your position? I mean, five aside, is it fine
besides just kind of like a freefor all? Like, you don't really
have defence made an attack? Oram I not doing it any justice?
Unknown (20:31):
Yeah, literally. Yeah, maybe? Yeah, I think probably
smaller it is, the more the moreloose the positions are. But
yeah, I've graduated from beingat the top of the pitch to
slowly glide back to the goal.
As I've gotten older,
PB (20:49):
you're still on the pitch though. Oh, Nico. Thanks for
jumping on. I really, really digthe brand. Some I kind of liked
the idea of wearing somethingthat's fun and being around
football, but not so on thenose. Like you say that you have
to wear something so logo heavy,because I mean, even though I've
(21:09):
follow a team, I don't followlogos as such. I don't wear any
logos outside of what I mightwear on my football tops or
having something like you guys,actually, actually does a fix
for me. So yeah, great. Where doyou like to hang out with your
social channels and people canfind it.
Unknown (21:28):
Yeah, we're on Instagram at footsore. Dotco. Fu
T. sol.co. That's the website.
And yeah, we're only onInstagram right now. But if you
subscribe to the newsletter,we'll be sending updates about
any events that are happening inLondon. And yeah, hopefully see
some people at some World Cupevents and screenings.
PB (21:53):
Where are you going to watch it? Have you got your seat
booked? Anyway,
Unknown (21:56):
as difficult around me, all the pubs have sort of given
up on showing football on TV. SoI think it's, you know,
everywhere, everywhere sort ofreduced. They will become gastro
pubs in sort of given uppredominantly at home or with
friends. But yeah, we've got afew places in mind, where I'll
(22:17):
book a table.
PB (22:19):
Nico from me, and from the cat. It's been great talking to
you and I hope to catch up wecan see
you've been listening to themenswear style podcast, be sure
to head over to menswearstyle.co uk for more menswear
content and email info atmenswear style.co.uk If you'd
(22:43):
like to be a future guest on theshow. Finally, please help
support the show by leaving areview on iTunes or wherever
you're listening to thispodcast. Until next time,
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