Designer Spotlight: How VLACKBOOK is Rewriting Soccer Fashion for the World Cup
- Ellen Jones
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Soccer jerseys have become one of fashion's most coveted cultural artifacts. They’ve migrated from terraces to runways, from Sunday league sidelines to Bad Bunny’s new adidas collab. But while plenty of brands are cashing in on football-core, Miami designer Jesus Pineda of VLACKBOOK is asking a different question:
What happens after the final whistle?
Launching in conjunction with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, VLACKBOOK's new World Cup Collection doesn't simply borrow soccer’s aesthetic. It completely reconstructs it. Crafted from vintage jerseys destined for landfill and reclaimed materials, each piece transforms one of sport's most recognizable symbols into something entirely new.
For Pineda, though, this collection didn't begin with fashion. It began with a lifetime on the pitch.
"I've played football my whole life," he says. "This project felt like the perfect combination of different parts of my journey. My love for the game, my background in fashion, and the past two years of exploring upcycling, reconstruction, and giving existing materials a new identity."
That overlap between football and fashion feels surprisingly natural in his world. "Football has always been about community, creativity, and self-expression," he explains. "I see a lot of similarities between the culture around the sport and the way I approach VLACKBOOK."
More than Merchandise
To most people, a soccer jersey is merchandise. To Pineda, it's memory stitched into fabric. "Football jerseys carry a lot more meaning than just being merchandise," he says. "They're symbols of identity, memories, loyalty, and culture."
Which is exactly why cutting into them feels almost taboo. "It's a very sensitive process," he admits. "Naturally, it comes with its own criticism." But that's also what makes the work exciting.
Rather than dismantling pristine collector's pieces, Pineda actively hunts for forgotten jerseys - bootlegs, damaged shirts, stained kits, the wrong sizes - the pieces most people have already written off.
"I specialize in sourcing jerseys that are often overlooked, pieces already headed for landfills or no longer wanted, and giving them a new life through design." And the result are inspired. Messi jerseys are turned into capri shorts. Vintage jerseys are smocked with ruching detail or patched with denim crosses.
Sometimes the story becomes even more personal. "I also work with clients who trust me with their original authentic jerseys and are open to seeing them transformed. Being able to take something that holds personal meaning and create a new piece from it is a huge honor. It's about preserving the story while creating a new chapter."
The Art of Taking Things Apart
Anyone can sew garments together. Pineda's process begins by taking them apart. "What I enjoy most is the problem-solving," he says. "Working with jerseys pushes me into a different space. It forces me to slow down, study how the garment is constructed, and figure out how to take it apart without losing its integrity."
It's less like fashion design and more like solving an elaborate puzzle. Each vintage jersey arrives carrying decades of history…and plenty of imperfections.
"Sometimes the stains, wear, or damage become part of the story," he explains. "Other times, I have to work around them. The original condition is never ignored; it becomes part of the decision-making process and ultimately part of the final design language."
Ironically, the part shoppers never see is the hardest. "The deconstruction is always the most time-consuming part of the process," Pineda says. "People usually only see the final reconstructed piece, but a lot of the labor, precision, and decision-making happens before any design even begins."
It's slow fashion in the truest sense, not because it's trendy to say so, but because the garments simply can't be rushed.
Football as Cultural Language
Although the collection launches around the World Cup, it isn't really about soccer. Not entirely. "Football is the entry point," he assures. "But the conversation goes much further."
His real interest lies in the objects we assign value to, and what happens when we stop valuing them. "I'm asking why we value certain objects, what happens when they're no longer wanted, and how they can be given a new purpose."
Football simply provides the perfect metaphor.
"Jerseys carry so much emotion and history, but the same approach can be applied to other sports, industries, and everyday objects we often overlook."
That philosophy has become the foundation of VLACKBOOK.
Pineda isn't interested in representing one club, one league, or one nation. "Every team, league, and country has its own unique identity, energy, and I find value in all of them," he says. "Rather than focusing on one direction, I'm inspired by the diversity of football as a whole and how different communities bring their own stories into the sport."
The result feels remarkably inclusive; less fan merchandise, more cultural remix.
Memory plays an equally important role. "With jerseys especially, there's already a built-in emotional layer like memories of games, players, and moments connected to them. When I reconstruct them, I'm working with that existing memory rather than against it."
The Runway Becomes Part of the Story
The collection will make its runway debut on July 5, but Pineda sees the show as something bigger than a presentation. "The runway turns the collection into an experience," he says. "It's about creating a space where the process, the energy, and the community around the work are visible."
That distinction matters.
"When designing garments, the storytelling is embedded in the object itself; in its construction, material, and transformation. For the runway, the storytelling becomes spatial and experiential. One is intimate and tactile, the other is collective and performative."
Playing by Different Rules
Perhaps that's only possible because VLACKBOOK operates outside fashion's traditional playbook. "That freedom is essential," Pineda says. "Working independently allows me to move at my own pace, experiment without restriction, and build ideas that aren't limited by traditional systems."
In an industry obsessed with newness, VLACKBOOK proves that the future of fashion might already exist, it may just be hanging forgotten in someone's closet.
This World Cup, Pineda isn't asking people to pick a side. He's asking them to look at the shirt differently.
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