How Héctor Bellerín Became Soccer’s Style God

While Arsenal’s Héctor Bellerín is known for his speed and defensive skills on the pitch, his off-the-pitch choice in fashion is what’s made him a global star. Fashion is a huge part of the soccer world, and with a robust discretionary income typically comes a penchant for dabbling in designer clothes.

“I come from a family that has been built around fashion,” Bellerín told Arsenal Player. “My grandma and my grandpa opened a little fashion retail shop and used to make their own clothes from scratch.”

Seeing the process from an early age surely had an impact on Bellerín’s passion for clothing, manufacturing and seeing what goes on behind the scenes.

“My mum joined them and that’s what she studied when she was young. She was working in swimwear for lots of years and then always like making my clothes smaller or making my clothes, altering them. They always wanted me to dress well when I was going to different places, and that’s something that’s stuck with me since I was a kid.”

“Now I have a chance to actually do my own thing and express myself and sometimes even inspire people,” he said.

Bellerín has made an impact on the fashion world, but he’s also conscious of how that energy crosses over into soccer culture. He recently created some content with the BBC where he went through his favorite football kits and talked about the retro aspect that he feels teams today should incorporate in their current releases. His favorite kit growing up as a kid in Spain was Real Betis, as his father was a huge supporter of the club and made sure he stuck with the club through and through—even though he was interested in switching his support to FC Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Bellerin's style ranges from rocking some awesome Vans kicks to head-to-toe Balenciaga outfits. The fit that catapulted Bellerins fashion career was a Christopher Shannon jacket over gold pajamas from Zimmermann and embroidered Gucci slippers. Being sponsored by PUMA is also a massive perk. Hector showed his excitement on the 'gram when PUMA collabed with BAPE.

It will be interesting to see how Hector tackls the fashion industry post career, as he has built up a great reputation within that community and seems to have a lot of passion for stepping out of the normal path that most footballers take. For now, though, he's soccer's resident style guide.