If you walk around London on a sunny weekend in summer 2025, chances are that every other person you pass will be wearing one half of a football kit. Shirt or shorts, but never together (very bad look).
The fashion football shirt reached peak popularity last summer, with everyone and their aunt releasing hot, new, hyper-specific football shirts. Fontaines D.C., Rizla, Palace, Jameson whiskey, Beigel Bake, you name it. If it breathed and it had brand consciousness, it had a football shirt.
Then came the love of football-style shorts, primed for summer 2025. At some point in the last month, the girlies of East London’s brainwaves were all subconsciously influenced into purchasing a pair of Adidas three-stripe shorts, an oversized blue shirt, and a pair of crew socks. The decree has been issued, the summer uniform has been set, the matcha latte has been ordered.
But now, a more divisive trend is catching on. It’s not one for the fair-weather football fashion fans, that’s for sure. Because in summer 2025, we’re going studs in.
That’s right, just when you thought blokecore couldn’t go any further, the super stylish are click-clacking about the streets in actual football boots, studs and all, as part of what TikTok has dubbed “boots only summer”.
It’s a trend recently endorsed by singer Rosalia, who arrived in New York for the Met Gala wearing a long white skirt, a slogan tee that read ‘Protect Me From What I Want’ and real, New Balance football boots emblazoned with hot pink lettering.
rosalía spotted at nyc using football boots pic.twitter.com/UUpTzHYy8p
— LUCAS (@cunaltura) May 4, 2025
Elsewhere, over on TikTok, the trend has racked up 15.8 million posts, while the “Boots Only Summer Challenge” (the challenge to wear football boots in summer) has over 23 million. American actor Noah Beck is among the viral participants, with a video of him repping silver and neon orange football boots in a concrete parking lot earning 169,000 likes.
While the trend is great news for anyone who’s just finished up at five aside and realised they had their bag stolen, it’s worrying to some football boot brands, who warn it can ruin the integrity of the shoes.
Football boot manufacturer UnoZero declared the trend a “terrible idea”, advising: “The studs on the bottom of your boots provide traction on grass or turf, not on asphalt, concrete, or other hard surfaces. When you take them out of their element, you risk damaging the studs, which affects their performance and longevity [...] Damaged studs not only reduce grip, but they can also make your boots uncomfortable, potentially causing blisters or poor fit.”
@noahbeck now here’s a trend i can get behind🤧 @MP #haveawordwithhimref #greedyyy
♬ original sound - Spragga ⛷️
But there are alternatives. Designers have been trying to capitalise on the aesthetic appeal of the studded football boot, sans the discomfort, for a long time. In 2022, Martine Rose released a collaboration with Nike that included the Nike Shox MR4, with the shoe’s trademark stud-style “shox” raised higher to resemble a heel. This subversive version of the traditionally male shoe was later worn by the United States’ women’s national team for their arrival at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Meanwhile, shoes that look like football boots are trending, with trainers like Adidas Speedcats offering a distinctly de-clawed side to football-esque shoes. Similarly, sneaker styles with long, prominent tongues, such as Grace Wales Bonner’s undying Adidas Samba collaboration, or the Adidas Taekwondo silhouette, are also having their football-adjacent moment in the sun.
Just remember, if you’re looking to partake, maybe go sans studs when you’re on anything but grass. For the good of the shoes and everyone else’s eardrums.
