Originally announced in the late spring of 2019, the Palace x Juventus collaboration was initially expected to be released over the summer as teams began to debut their kits. Rumors died out quickly as Juventus debuted their 2019/2020 kit with no Palace feature and it wasn’t long before the idea of a potential release was dismissed. It tends to go that way in the rapid cyclical nature of streetwear. With the collaboration now released and sold out via Palace, adidas, and Juventus, it’s only right to explore the interesting partnership forming between streetwear and soccer (aka “football” to everyone else).
Unlike soccer, it makes total sense that skateboarding is the sport most associated with streetwear when you consider its origins. Supreme started as a traditional skate shop and as for Palace, Skateboarding is literally in the name. The community surrounding skateboarding is easy to rally around, and skate teams, the kind that spawn brands, are looked at in awe by spectators enamored with what is essentially a low-level local celebrity in their eyes.
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But soccer has its own draw and makes sense as the runner-up sporting subculture to adopt streetwear, and in some instances, for streetwear to adopt. Soccer fans are used to a continuous game schedule in which teams will wear up to four different jersey designs each season for supporters to collect. It’s not entirely different from streetwear’s fast paced release schedule of constant drops and releases of new product. Streetwear fans enjoy the frequent opportunities to purchase something new and get those good brain chemicals going. Soccer fans on the other hand, especially those of smaller clubs, haven’t always loved the idea that they need to buy new kits every year. In the 1980s, some fans even petitioned their teams to keep jersey designs for two years, a move that was quickly squashed by sponsors. The intersection of the two attitudes will likely make for an interesting juxtaposition of customers; one who wants to purchase the latest hot collaborative item from their favorite brand and another entirely different kind of fan who wants to collect a highly limited piece of future heritage and team history.
This collaboration between Palace and Juventus isn’t the first time streetwear has collided with professional soccer. In a blink-and-you-might-miss-it instance, these two subcultures collided over a Yohji Yamamoto designed Real Madrid Kit in 2015. While mostly known for their iconic white uniforms, Yamamoto switched it up, delivering a black kit featuring a dragon across the chest. While not a professional collaboration, Kith-designed soccer kits have appeared in FIFA and on adidas athlete Dele Alli through a collaboration of their own with adidas. In 2018, Paris Saint-Germain superstar and World Cup Champion Kylian Mbappe was featured in a lookbook for Off-White’s collaborative soccer collection with Nike. But Palace x Juventus and Yohji Yamamoto for Real Madrid stand above past soccer and sporting collaborations due to their appearance on the pitch during real, competitive league games.
Streetwear’s growing popularity as a part of soccer’s subcommunities has drawn more than just the eyes of fans. FIFA 20, the most recent iteration of EA Sports’ popular soccer franchise, recently incorporated a new game mode titled, “Volta.” The game mode allows players to engage in a small street soccer game where players can wear streetwear during games. The game mode provides you the option to dress your player however you want as you play through the story mode and create your street soccer team. It’s just a matter of time before one will be able to dress their player in a Palace Tri-Ferg crewneck or Supreme Box Logo hoodie for the game mode.
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Palace x Juventus Official Lookbook via Palace Skateboards
Now, Palace’s name, logo, and sportswear has graced the professional sports arena for the second time. There’s something about this co-sign and collaboration that feels bigger than a Wimbledon co-sign, even if it was a winning Wimbledon cosign. Juventus is one of the most watched football clubs in the world and features some of the worlds best players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala. The club is no doubt a favorite to win Italy’s national competitions, currently sitting in first place in Serie A and winning the Coppa Italia. But beyond just their competition in Italy, they’ll be looked at as a serious competitor in the Champion’s League, a competition whose final drew over 11 million viewers in 2019. Beyond even the potential co-sign of a team that could be one of the best in the world, the value of Cristiano Ronaldo wearing the jersey could be Palace’s largest win. Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t just soccer’s largest star, with 186 million followers he’s also Instagram’s, over 20 million more than Ariana Grande in second place. Palace’s collaboration with Juventus could put their logo and name in front of millions of people who’ve likely never been exposed to the brand, nearly all of which look to Ronaldo as a superhero, let alone an influencer.
The Palace x Juventus collaboration announcement came as a shock to some but the two brand’s aligning makes sense for both parties. Beyond just being a great team, Juventus is widely regarded as one of the cooler and more progressive teams in professional football. A partnership with a brand like Palace is likely to only further expand their popularity as a fun team to be a fan of, even if you’re not from Italy. For Palace, this is a move that will put their brand in front of millions. The question now is whether Palace Skateboards can hold and convert the soccer fanatic into a supporter of the brand’s more eccentric non-collaborative items.
Shop the entire Palace x Juventus collaboration on StockX here.
