{"id":8384,"date":"2025-10-19T13:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/8384\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T13:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:20:07","slug":"saturdays-football-merging-soccer-passion-with-apparel-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/8384\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturdays Football merging soccer passion with apparel in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

As soccer continues to surge in New York City, Saturdays Football<\/a> has been key to soccer\u2019s popularity surge not only in the Big Apple, but in the United States.<\/p>\n

The lifestyle brand, which sells its own line of streetwear and merchandise alongside its vintage soccer jersey collection, opened its flagship store doors in mid-August on 45 Crosby St., in the middle of Soho. Saturdays had another brick-and-mortar store in the Rockefeller Center in 2023, but closed it to make space for the Soho location.<\/p>\n

In addition, Saturdays has permanent locations in Los Angeles and Chicago and pop-up stores all over the country year-round.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original mission is creating a home for football fans here in the United States,\u201d founder, CEO, and creative director Mathew Davis told amNewYork. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have LA and New York to be able to do that, so what better place than in Soho?\u201d<\/p>\n

LA-native Davis started the brand in 2018 in his garage, heat-pressing his designs onto shirts and named his brand after the day when \u201cwe celebrated the game, we played, we hung out, and we watched matches,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe whole week\u2019s anticipation was up to that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, fans started asking about vintage jerseys, and Davis obliged. The brand became \u201chalf-vintage, half-lifestyle,\u201d but Davis acknowledged the brand is slowly moving back to his lifestyle roots.<\/p>\n

Davis designs all the merchandise, from the club-specific caps <\/a>to city-specific Saturdays Football hoodies, which have patches of local amateur teams sewn onto the hood. The designs are minimalist, matching Davis\u2019 personality.<\/p>\n

Racks of jerseys hang on walls everywhere inside, and Saturdays\u2019 line of merchandise, from caps and hoodies to socks and Diego Maradona-inspired t-shirts, greets customers when they enter the store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, all the lights in the store point towards two sprawling leather couches around a coffee table stacked with soccer books in the middle, and a massive TV on one side playing match highlights. A foosball table is just behind that, while another match-day setup is further behind.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Jonathan Mak\/AMNY<\/p>\n

The store has been the place for soccer fans to not just find fashionable soccer streetwear pieces and grab their favorite jerseys from yesteryear, but also hang out, surround themselves in soccer memorabilia, and meet passionate, like-minded fans of the beautiful game.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur permanent stores \u2014 especially here in Soho \u2014 we very much want it to be an experience where people could walk in and feel like they\u2019re home,\u201d Raul Navarrete, the New York City store manager, said. \u201cThe number one goal is for this to be the hangout spot for everybody to be comfortable. For people to have a safe space where they could call [fellow fans] friends, crew members, and down the road, long-term friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plastered all over the entryway walls are posters of models in Saturdays\u2019 clothes with the brand\u2019s slogan: Always Play Free underneath each one. It takes a jab at the U.S.\u2019s pay-to-play model at the youth level<\/a> \u2014 a shoehorned, convenient reason when a fan takes a jab at the quality of soccer in the U.S. and at the national team level.<\/p>\n

The store has been used for free events and watch parties for some of the biggest European games of the season. John Shin<\/a>, better known as GoodVibesJohn<\/a> online, has hosted watch parties<\/a> at Saturdays for his team, Manchester United\u2019s Europa League final loss in May this year, and a Q&A<\/a> with Brazilian legend Zico during the Club World Cup this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Korean-American has also collaborated with the store to host its first two Kitted Out parties, which celebrate the city\u2019s soccer community.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the [free] elements that have to do with these events, it\u2019s because it\u2019s not every day that these people who come visit us have them back in where they\u2019re from,\u201d Navarette said. \u201cSo for us to provide a place where they feel comfortable, feel like they\u2019re one of us, we\u2019ll continue to do [these events] as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more like this Saturdays Football feature, visit AMNY.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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