45/51, the brand that turns scarves into clothes

A few years before the pandemic, an aesthetic trend focused on sustainability had already been emerging in the world of fashion. This concept has gradually spread to the world of sport, particularly football. The affection for this theme is there for all to see, as evidenced by the initiatives of some brands and football teams, with reports and initiatives drawn up specifically, such as those of AC Milan and Juventus, and also by the increase in independent brands or artists working on the production of recycled objects in football. 

One of the pioneers is Nicole McLaughlin, an independent artist from New York who has attracted a lot of attention for her products via her Instagram profile. The American artist has managed to show how the recycling of sports objects in football is possible and, indeed, is also something aesthetically intriguing. Something that must have reached Anniken & Hermann, who decided to create 45/51 in Oslo in the summer of 2020, giving a new lease of life to those old scarves that we all have buried in our wardrobes. A passion that has managed to overwhelm in a short time, started more or less as a joke during a summer evening.

The two designers of 45/51 actually confess that they are not big football fans, in fact they have never even seen a football match: "we just love the material, the patterns, the colours and the starch! It's fun to put together different teams that might actually be 'enemies' and watch people's reactions. We love it when creative people put clothes from one place and mix them into a completely different scene. It's exciting and liberating."

For the two fashion students the scarf is not just a football item, they were literally captivated by the materials and colours prompting them to initially create a waistcoat, before ranging into long dresses, balaclavas and garments of all kinds. 45/51 was created with the intention and desire to erase all trends and rivalries, just as Maison Margiela did with its Scarf Sweater some time ago, anticipating that encounter between football and fashion which was destined to explode, giving life to a movement which in just a few years has gone from the neighbourhood playgrounds to the Fashion Week catwalks.