The Future of Soccer Streetwear
At 17-years-old D.C.-based creator Sebastian Caillat is on a mission: help build a culture that connects both fashion and soccer in a way that lives up to the American standard. This past week, we caught up with Caillat ahead of his latest release to talk about the inspiration behind his project and what he wants soccer streetwear in America to be.
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Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this project?
Obviously, I follow a lot of different sports, and one of the sports I follow outside of soccer is basketball. And there is a huge culture that connects both fashion and the sport when it comes to the world of basketball. I feel like there’s a lack of that development in terms of culture when it comes to soccer. There’s so much potential. There are so many people that play soccer, and there’s so much that should be highlighted -- it just feels like it’s underdeveloped.
And so, when you sit there, and you look at players that are walking into games, they’re still wearing the basic LV shirt, the basic Gucci shirt, and you’re like, ‘come on guys, we should be doing so much better.’ So I’m sitting there in my room, messing around on Photoshop, and I’m like, ‘what if I could take what is occurring in the NBA with these vintage-style T-shirts, highlighting NBA history, and just switch it to soccer.’
What were some of your first designs, and what was the reaction you got?
After doing some logos for other brands and messing around on photoshop, I just started designing other stuff, and that's how that first drop came out. It was a Ronaldinho shirt, a Ronaldo shirt, a Beckham shirt, and a Pogba shirt. I just felt like those were some four iconic players that I knew I wanted to get started with.
When I started the page, in the first couple of days, MLS players started hitting me up, and they were like, ‘what is this,’ and they were very curious about what I was doing. I think that sort of shows how there’s room for developing the culture around soccer. If MLS players are mesmerized by a graphic tee, imagine the potential that you can have just taking stuff from the American culture that we have here and just applying it to a sport like soccer.
What are some goals you have for the future, and how do you see soccer growing in the next few years?
There’s potential to create that feel and that look that is lacking in U.S. Soccer. At the end of the day, we are America. If our soccer is behind, at least the things around it should be light years ahead. We should have the coolest jerseys, the coolest stadiums, the coolest social media pages, and then the soccer will catch up. But the fans will watch because of all these other things, and I think that’s how you grow a brand. That’s how you make something be cared about. That’s where I see myself, and that’s what I hope to be doing, short-term and long-term.
To check out Caillat’s work and his latest drop (released last week), head over to bysebastiancaillat.co.
