Olé, olé! Limerick brand Pellador FC mixes Italia '90 with high-concept fashion
A model poses in Pellador FC's Italia '90-inspired knitted top
It might be a winter World Cup, but there’s no doubt about it - all the questions circling around the competition’s 2022 edition, from alleged working conditions at Qatari stadia, to human-rights concerns for LGBT* citizens and tourists, have arguably taken the joy out of the whole thing for many of us.
It’s tempting to cast your mind back to Ireland’s own World Cup triumphs and tragedies, taking a dig into Ireland’s modern collective psyche in the process - and while you’re there, you’ll no doubt find the iconic Irish jersey worn at the 1990 World Cup, which serves as one of the inspirations for a new fashion brand’s debut collection.
Launching online tomorrow, Pellador FC is a spinoff of Limerick fashion house Execute Exist, headed up by young designer and screenprinter Greg Hall, and inspired by an Irish-centric take on retro-futurist fashion - from Irish language-themed designs, to spirals inspired by those found at megalithic tombs like Newgrange, to riffing on the infamous Bart Simpson Leaving Cert aural tape.
This time, though, he’s weaving designs that mix the enduring appeal of vintage soccer jerseys with the solid and highly adaptable nature of classic knitwear. And since announcing the line on Tuesday night, Ireland’s homegrown fashion scene has been abuzz.
“It's been an amazing response. I've been buzzing with it, to be honest. I posted about it at seven o'clock yesterday, my phone has been hopping since. I couldn't have asked for a better response, because it was something that I've been working on for so long.
“It is kind of weird, putting something out that you've seen for months, but no one else has even seen it. You don't even know how it's gonna go down. Phone's been hopping since, followers flying in, just a lot of interest and a lot of great feedback on the jumpers.”
It might be a strange fit (pun intended) to some to try and marry the worlds of the vintage soccer aesthetic and the relative sensibility of knitwear to create designs like an Italia ‘90 throwback, or a loving nod to the ageless charm of golden-age Inter Milan jerseys, but that’s all in Hall’s own sartorial vision, looking equally at pop culture through an Irish lens, and the endgoal of sustainable Irish fashion.
“There's a lot of things working out in terms of timing right now. I've combined all of these different elements of inspiration into one basically. For the last couple of years, football jerseys have just been popping up in high fashion, becoming more popular as a fashion piece, rather than a sporting piece.
“I've always wanted to draw inspiration from that, and I just wanted to start doing knitwear, something I hadn't done before, something I'd love to wear. It was natural for me, to be honest, to start looking at the football kit patterns, the way there's a lot of these shirts that have these nice textures, especially from the '90s, which works with '90s, even '80s knitwear, with all these crazy patterns and colours.
“Also, a winter World Cup is happening, the first time ever, so just having the idea of a knitwear jersey that you could wear in different, more formal settings. That's the way I want them styled, I hope people style and wear them in more dressy ways.”
While fashion has never been shy of leaning into the past for inspiration, there’s something very distinct about Hall’s approach; whether it’s weaving soccer culture into haute couture pieces, or even amusing scarves like the ‘And Of Course, Celtic’ design referencing a viral video from many moons ago, or his broader work casting Ireland’s own history, iconography and late-capitalist-era perspective of the wider world into Y2K-inspired, retro-futurist threads.
“The thing that I enjoy most about using the Celtic and traditional design elements is putting them in places they've never been before. It's a stark contrast with the Y2K-style stuff, using the Claddagh, triskels and scallions and stuff, but just recontextualizing them in more of a streetwear style. Even just the way you position them - large prints, sleeve prints, and prints down the legs of tracksuit pants, just to see triskels and Celtic knots in those positions.
“There's tonnes of people looking to Celtic design for inspiration, more and more, in this modern way - people are more interested in this. Even I've noticed, since I've been doing this for the last two or three years, more and more people are beginning to comment on the Celtic elements of the designs that I like. It’s switching back to the traditional elements, but people love seeing them in modern ways as well. It was something that I found interesting and fun and exciting to do, compared to just using modern design and placement on modern garments.
“It's just so fun to think of designs that were made by people thousands of years ago. It feels like bootlegging, but the Newgrange entrance stone - that was carved into a stone 5,000 years ago, by a farmer praising the sun, and now I'm using it on a beanie hat. It's a great contrast, it's an homage and that's something that we want to do, keep traditional design elements from our own culture, and our own past going in modern ways and letting them evolve.”
- Follow Pellador FC on Instagram ahead of the brand’s website opening on Thursday: @pellador_fc.
- Greg Hall’s design work can be found at https://executeexist.com/target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">, and @executeexist on Instagram.
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