Adidas and Puma eye chances in soccer's fashion moment

LONDON : Sportswear brands like Adidas and Puma are seeking to take advantage of a flirtation with soccer by the fashion world to reach a new customer base, building in part on demand created by this summer's successful Women's World Cup.

With celebrities like Kim Kardashian seen attending matches and wearing soccer jerseys, clubs too spy new merchandising opportunities. One Premiership team has hired a creative director to expand its apparel offering, while Adidas in September launched an "exclusively off-pitch" apparel collection for some of the big-name teams it sponsors.

    "The love-in between football and fashion is only just beginning," said Richard Busby, CEO at sponsorship consultancy BDS Sponsorship.

The Women's World Cup showed there is huge unmet demand for soccer-related merchandise for women: Nike drew a backlash from fans for not offering replica kits for England's Mary Earps and other goalkeepers playing in the competition.

But the trend extends to fashion-conscious fans of both sexes, Busby said. "Premiership clubs have a lot of wealthy supporters but very few of the items they sell appeal to them, whether men or women."

Second-division Greek football club Athens Kallithea is among those giving its jerseys a makeover. Its campaigns show women wearing the unisex tops with satin skirts and styled as smart casual clothing to wear out to dinner.

The ranges are designed to appeal beyond a club's traditional fan base.

Kardashian has been spotted wearing vintage Roma and Paris Saint-Germain shirts, while 20-year-old model Mia Regan paired an Arsenal shirt with a long denim skirt and boots at a Paris Fashion Week show in October.

In August, Crystal Palace hired Kenny Annan-Jonathan as creative director focused