Some thirty years ago, a working-class subculture was taking grip of cities across the UK that has left a lasting legacy. This began on the back of the mod revival of the late 1970s when notorious football firms from the cities like Liverpool, Manchester and London stole expensive designer sportswear from the countries they visited. It didn’t start with the high-street giants telling these lads what to wear. Instead, they set the trends and the high-street stores caught up. As the 1980s began in Britain, under the radar the ‘casual’ had already arrived.

From Barcelona to Berlin, Milan to Moscow, teenagers today are copying fashions and a culture that developed on the streets and terraces of British cities. But how did the football casual subculture come about? What did they stand for? What made them tick? Why it’s legacy is still having an impact on today’s fashion industry.

The documentary will contain various interviews and archive footage with personalities whose lives were greatly influenced by the Casuals fashion genre and concludes by questioning if the 80’s casual phenomenon was indeed the last working-class youth subculture, following on from the Teddy Boys, mods, skinheads and punk.

This film is a testimony of the impact that the football casual had to a time when football and fashion mattered more than corporate hospitality and sanitised stadiums.

Directed by:
Cass Pennant