Antonia Bronze ’s journey into football fashion was ignited with a bag.
On December 10th, 2023, Arsenal beat Chelsea 4-1 in front of almost 60,000 people – a record-beating attendance for any Women’s Super League match, and Antonia was there.
An Arsenal fan since childhood, Antonia was sitting in the Diamond Box at the Emirates, invited by The 400 Club, a brand that brings together women in business and women in sport.
She was given a goodie bag, filled with all sorts of memorabilia, including a pack of unassuming Arsenal stickers.
Absentmindedly, she stuck some to her silver shoulder bag and snapped a quick photo for her Instagram. Before long, she was overwhelmed with DMs, asking to buy her sticker-adorned bag.
“People keep asking me about this bloody bag; it was a joke!” she laughs.
But it had ignited inspiration for her. She realised how popular football fashion was and began working on designs.
Antonia’s love for fashion design started at a young age and she eventually went on to do work experience with a Strictly Come Dancing costume designer when she was just 14.
“My grandparents were all seamstresses. When they came over from Cyprus, they all worked in the factories and that’s how they made their living. I literally used to sell hair scrunchies in school, so I’ve always been making stuff since I was little.”
She turned her passion into a business, running a successful clothes and swimwear brand as seen on Love Island’s Antigoni Buxton in 2022.
“For a while, even when I got London fashion week, I was thinking, I don’t really understand why this is all happening. And you kind of have a thing in your head where you’re thinking ‘Am I just lucky?’ and it was like actually no, maybe you’re good at doing this.”
Antonia Bronze found success in swimwear, but when winter came around and sales slowed down, she found her itch for creativity returning, and she was ready to tackle her next big challenge.
“Once you’ve designed a collection and it’s at the factory point, you kind of reach a point where you think, I miss being creative. I don’t want to just sell units of clothing – that didn’t really do it for me.”
Not long after, she posted to her Instagram stories the process of making a handbag out of a football, and she noticed her followers engaging with the content, wanting more.
After 4 months of playing around with designs and ideas, Antonia felt like she was finally back to being more creative, and this fusion of football and fashion led her to the jacket she made for the 2024 Euros.
“My phone exploded. It went viral, like completely blew up! I’ve had people like Bollywood actresses wear my stuff that have 30 million followers, but this felt different. I knew at that moment I was like, okay, this might actually be something, I need to get on top of this.”
Since then, Antonia has gone on to create jackets in collaboration with PlayStation and Squid Game, even featuring on Amazon Prime’s ‘Married to the Game’ when she made Gabrielle Figueiredo and her daughter Maya matching mummy and me jackets ahead of Arsenal’s first Champion’s League game.
Antonia beautifully showcases the wearers’ personal style, effortlessly weaving in detail that reflects their connection to the game in every football jacket she makes, but I think it is most clear in Gabrielle’s design.
Their jackets are more than adorable and strike a perfect balance between statement and sentiment and include an abundance of details that any eagle-eyed fan of Gabriel Magalhães’ will appreciate.
“Arsenal” stands bold on the front on white panelling, with red, white and blue details breaking up the design.
The back of the jackets is where Antonia’s attention to details shines brightest: the Brazil flag and their names are stitched at the nape of the neck, Gabi’s shirt number 6 sits in the middle of a cannon, and some of the lyrics to his “King of Brazil” chant sit below it. Adorably, Maya’s jacket changes the lyrics with “My Daddy is the king of Brazil” on the back, rather than “Our number (6)” like Gabrielle’s.
Antonia hasn’t slowed down since and Yasmin Bergkamp, daughter of Dennis Bergkamp, Leah Williamson, and Isabella Rousso, fiancé of Gabriel Martinelli, were soon to follow in the footsteps of this new trend.
There is no doubt Antonia has inexplicably paved her way and made a name for herself in the football fashion scene that will not be forgotten.
“There’s been so many times as a creative in the industry where you’re constantly making attempts to try to just make a living from something that you’re really passionate about” Antonia explained.
But she is far from that now.
Other celebs such as Peggy Gou, Idris Elba and Chris Eubank Jr. also have commissioned Antonia Bronze Couture jackets, with Eubank Jr. wearing his in his walk out when he fought against Conor Benn.
She can’t tell us who she’s working with next, but Antonia has promised it’s going to be big, and she “couldn’t be more excited”.
Antonia Bronze continues to create and redefine the game, and the world is hanging on, one thread at a time, to see what she comes up with next.
She’s only just warming up, and her fans are ready to cheer her on.
