A famous football partnership is back: Bikkembergs and Fossombrone. The brand has launched a new collaboration with the Italian club, revisiting a story that began in 2005 when Dirk Bikkembergs took over Fossombrone. His idea was to merge football and fashion, with players also working as models—an idea now returning today.
By Kinsley Ah-Chion
Bikkembergs has renewed its partnership with Fossombrone’s football club, bringing back a collaboration where fashion and sport meet in a unique way. It all goes back to 2005, when founder Dirk Bikkembergs bought FC Fossombrone, a small team in Italy’s Marche region, close to the brand’s headquarters. His vision was to turn the club into a kind of creative lab—an environment where football and design could blend, helping to shape and express the brand’s identity.
At the time, Fossombrone was playing in the Eccellenza league, but it didn’t take long for the club to stand out—thanks in part to its bold, unconventional kits. The team eventually worked its way up to Serie D and even came close to reaching C2. But the real story went beyond results on the pitch. The project attracted attention for its cultural and media impact, turning the club into a creative hub where players were directly involved in the design process and featured in campaigns.
It evolved into a space where athletic performance and fashion naturally came together. Starting with an amateur club was a planned choice, rooted in values like passion, discipline, and body awareness—qualities that reflected the brand’s ideology.
This initiative also served as a testing ground for new ideas in footwear. Players wore early designs that eventually led to the launch of the Tirosegno boots at Pitti Immagine Uomo 2008, later adopted by well-known footballers. Bikkembergs’ connection to football goes back even further, with soccer-inspired shoes introduced in 1998 that became popular in the early 2000s and continue to influence design today. The renewed partnership with Fossombrone brings attention back to a concept that connected sport, fashion, and culture ahead of its time.
The Return of a Classic: Bikkembergs Revives Its Legendary Soccer Shoe
Since its early days, Bikkembergs has built a strong identity by connecting fashion with sport and design experimentation. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the brand gained honour for a style formed by athletic references and Italian tailoring. That direction returns today with the revival of the Soccer line, now guided by Lee Wood, bringing renewed focus to one of the label’s most recognizable ideas.
The brand first made a name for itself on the runways of Antwerp and Paris, but it didn’t stay in the traditional fashion route for long. It soon started showing collections in football stadiums in cities like Milan and Barcelona, bringing a different kind of energy to its presentations.
A real turning point came in 2000, when Dirk Bikkembergs did an informal fitting with the captain of a small Italian club he would later buy—an experience that shaped his belief that fashion could feel more immediate and relatable. That thinking led to the creation of the Bikkembergs Soccer shoe, inspired by sport and designed without the usual fashion rules. Over time, the brand built strong ties with the football world, collaborating with major teams and working with players, naturally blending performance and design.
Born from the ambition to fuse everyday fashion with the spirit of football, the soccer shoe is more than just footwear, it’s a statement.
The latest chapter started in June 2025 with a collaboration with Gosha Rubchinskiy, known for his work with Yeezy. He reimagined the Soccer sneaker through a streetwear lens, tapping into the “bloke-core” trend and bringing it to a younger audience. Looking ahead to Spring/Summer 2026, new versions of the shoe will arrive with updated materials and colors inspired by early 2000s style. With this return, Bikkembergs is revisiting a concept that still naturally connects sport, movement, and design across generations.