From bold tunnel fits to luxury collaborations, the French national team is redefining fashion in sports. As lawmakers prepare to debate a bill against fast fashion, the line between athletes and influencers is becoming increasingly blurred.
Pleated skirts, neon balaclavas, high-end coats—at Clairefontaine, the French football team isn't just training, it's making a fashion statement. Players like Jules Koundé, Ibrahima Konaté, and Kingsley Coman are turning heads not only on the field, but on the runway-like arrivals to training camp.
Style magazines such as GQ, Paris Match, and Gala now cover the team’s arrivals like fashion week events. Adrien Communier, fashion editor at GQ France, sees it as a shift: “It works because they’re public figures already rooted in popular culture.” Caminotv’s live commentators go further: “We don’t want them to dress ‘normal’ anymore!”
Young stylist Maï Jarach says her fashion-forward friends who don’t follow football are watching these mini runway shows. “When Jules Koundé wore a skirt, it made a huge impact,” she explains. “Now I see guys wearing skirts over pants. He gave the green light.”
Marie-Laure Gutton, curator of the Fashion in Motion exhibit at the Palais Galliera, reminds us it’s not entirely new. "Tennis player Suzanne Lenglen was already a style icon in the 1920s." But social media has changed the scale.
Today’s players are what brands call VICs—Very Important Clients. Even Lucas Hernandez, not currently on the squad, has drawn interest from luxury labels like Vuitton and Hermès. Some players, like Koundé and Coman, have launched their own collaborations with designers.
While these athletes redefine the fashion game, lawmakers in France are preparing to debate a bill regulating fast fashion. The law, supported by Trade Minister Véronique Louwagie, will likely be discussed in May in the Senate.
First passed in the National Assembly, the bill tightens the definition of fast fashion and introduces financial penalties based on business practices. It also bans influencers from promoting such products and requires labels to display environmental impact information.
Platforms like Shein and Temu are directly targeted, accused of flooding the French market with cheap clothing. In 2024 alone, 4.6 billion parcels were imported, 91% from China, according to the French Commerce Council.
Former minister and current MP Olivia Grégoire calls it “unfair competition,” stressing the need to protect France’s 600,000 textile jobs. “Our companies invest in sustainability—those platforms flood the market with disposable fashion,” she said.
As the French team continues to turn heads with their looks, the government is trying to regulate the broader fashion ecosystem. One group sets the trends, the other sets the limits.
With AFP
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