If you take a scroll through the SportsMafiaBoys IG feed, the uniform is clear. Air Max TNs and a football top. Now that may seem like a pretty open dress code to some, but that combination is only adopted by the few. Whilst the page has recently become slightly convoluted, allowing anyone and their Aunt who’s wearing some hip Nike shoes to feature, back when it birthed there was a pretty strict aesthetic. Perhaps the owner of the page realised there were only so many of these Mafia Boys posting up fit pics on the gram, the rest of them hiding within the ranks of the Mob. Jokes aside, the style is one that is only becoming more popular.

I first came across this style from the infamous escalopeviandehache. What does that mean? You’re probably thinking. Well, according to a French Columbia Buyer, it translated to “Minced Meat”. This is an apt name for the French-Tunisian as he’s always churning out quality content. It seems like every day of the week that his boys are popping wheelies on dirt bikes, graffing up stationary trains and posted up on camp out chairs (less hardcore but equally as cool). That was back when he was rocking a measly 7K followers. He must have realised the power of his aesthetic as he now, as of me writing this, has 101K followers. No doubt people caught onto his authentic street lifestyle of football jersey’s and Nike TN’s. Whilst I’m not saying he invented the aesthetic, he is definitely one of its pioneers.

The SportsMafiaBoys are definitely a bigger presence within France and Italy. Perhaps this is because their football shirts were always more beautiful than our English kits. I suppose the Arsenal kit was quite nice back in the day but I would be biased in saying that. Take the Paris Saint Germain or Juventus kit for example, the colourways just flowed a lot more. The symbolism behind the kits were no doubt affected by the players whose artistic style of football were attached to the kit. The Brazilian Ronaldo is not only a football icon for his amazing skills, but for his effortless style. He was in a way, the Michael Jordan of football. You can see pictures of him all over football fan as well as Air Max style pages, because his off the pitch footwear selection was always on point.

Therefore, people want the Inter Milan kit to feel like Ronaldo or the AC Milan kit to feel like Ronaldinho, because its more of fashion statement that taps into the charisma of footballers from late 90s/early 2000s. Nike’s Total 90 marketing campaign from the early 2000s also had a huge part in creating an iconography around these already hugely recognised kits.

I myself have been on the hunt for a Juventus kit with the Panasonic sponsor beckoned on the front as well as the early 2000s Marseille kit. However, you won’t catch me paying £80 and onwards for it. The SportsMafiaBoys style is one that I am definitely a fan of, but never having owned a pair of TN’s, its sadly one I cannot embrace. I can only hope that when summertime rolls around, I get a chance to match my recently purchased Peruvian Football kit with my Air Max 90 Infrareds. That counts right?

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