How Fashion has finally entered in FIFA

In recent editions, maybe version 18, FIFA is increasingly defining a reality that goes beyond pure gaming. The fact that EA Sports has entrusted Hector Bellerin with the artistic direction of the outfits of Volta Football - the street version of FIFA - indicates how the video game wants to offer its players the chance to appear with the same outfits as reality. Not surprisingly, Bellerin is the most aesthetic, fine and modern footballer among his colleagues, and at FIFA they couldn't choose better creative director to play such a role - "it can offer a unique vision" said about him David Jackson, vice president of EA Sports. 

On FIFA the relationship with fashion is among various contexts of the video game. From the 20 edition, you can create the avatar of a coach by choosing every detail of his outfit, from sneakers to the hairstyle; Equally, Volta mode has included in its clothing options the urban reality that today defines fashion among young people. For this reason, in designing the models Bellerin was inspired by the outfits of the skateboard scene in Barcelona, his hometown. The outfits that can be used on Volta are specially chosen to offer the gamer any possibility that can make it more original, and the designers who then make other garments for the Volta tournaments also work on alternative and experimental designs. Like real football jerseys, digital only. 

In fact, Bellerin's is not the first case. A similar operation had already happened in 2019 with the collaboration between Louis Vuitton and League of Legends, in which the characters of the videogame were dressed with the garments of the Arnault brand, or alaways by the French brand, a virtual fashion show on Animal Crossing. Gucci also entered this tour with outfits for Tennis Clash, in which the Italian brand's clothes were even available to buy on its online store. Yet, in nearly a decade of collaborations between fashion brands and video game developers, Travis Scott's appearance on Fortnite was the mainstream event that lit up the gaming scene as a new frontier for fashion and beyond. And in fact, collaborations are increasing. 

For this edition of Volta Football, adidas will be present with its own collection of clothes to wear, including shoes, sweatshirts and playing jerseys. But there will also be Nike, with some items from the Liverpool and PSG Lifestyle collections making Volta's wardrobe even more complete. And this joins with the very variable Ultimate Team, another FIFA game mode in which you can customize the uniforms. The phenomenon is increasingly enveloping and crosses creativity and design, leaving the user on one hand to feel free to use a different jersey for their online team, and on the other hand, it can open up to a world in which specialized designers - such as Angelo Trofa - work exclusively for online models. As did adidas in 2019, which made with EA Sports the fourth kit of Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to use only on FIFA. Don't forget the trend of jerseys created specifically for gamers, which club representatives use in virtual football tournaments around the world. 

The combination of realistic and creative elements has become a leitmotif of new digital outfits. Designers and insiders - like Bellerin - are massively entering the world of virtual football and helping to create this relationship between fashion and egames. This becomes a testament to the real growth of gaming not only as a business environment - a 159.3 billion dollar market in 2020 - but also as a reality that is no longer a side in the sporting world. Even if fashion, in fact, which has become very relevant even in sport, is taking such a deep interest in gaming, then we can no longer consider video games just a pastime. Nor the clothes in which we dress the avatars a mere set of pixels.