That Umbro makes a sneaker called “Hooligan” is crazy. That the Hooligan is actually a wildly stylish dad shoe rivaling Bottega Veneta for sublime style is Joker-level crazy. Well, maybe not that crazy, but close.
Umbro’s Hooligan is a strangely named sneaker with a impressively grounded, Y2K-leaning approach to design.
It’s low-profile and tastefully decorated in colorways that lean into dadcore metallics or warmly retro hues. As one of the product reviews notes on Umbro’s site, where the shoe retails for about $95, the Hooligan is a nice balance of sleek and chunk.
Which makes the whole framework that much wilder.
It should be said that the Hooligan is one of many extremely good sneaker designs proffered by Umbro Korea, a wholly separate division from the Western Umbro.
Umbro’s Korean and Japanese branches are operated by Descente, the Japanese sportswear giant and, like The North Face Purple Label, are exclusive to each region. Also like TNFPL, these brands are so incredibly fashion-forward that you forget that they’re tied to a century-old sportswear giant.
Until you remember that this otherwise charming dad shoe, which looks suspiciously similar to Bottega Veneta’s $1,000 Orbit sneaker, is called the Hooligan.
Now, as an American, I don’t think too much about the phrase “hooligan.” To me, it’s synonymous with general ruffianism. But in the UK, where Umbro is a household name, it’s a loaded phrase used to describe a certain breed of broadly distasteful football fans, often clad in Umbro, Stone Island, and Nike’s TN sneaker.
As a coworker told me, for Umbro to sell a sneaker called the Hooligan would be like if an American sportswear company sold a shoe called the “Redneck.” It feels off, entirely divorced from this modestly stylish sneaker.
But therein lies the fascinating cultural divide, an unexpected middle ground between adopted aesthetics.
Umbro Korea is only one of several Asian sportswear imprints to willingly lean into “blokecore” branding which is, by now, a term equating to self-parody in the UK. It’s rare that stigma carries any weight internationally — hence why Japanese workwear brands still design “confederate army” shirts.
But hooliganism isn’t quite as loaded a concept as the American Confederacy, and certainly not in South Korea. So, if all “Hooligan” means now is really good dad shoe, so much the better.