The vision of Hammersmith FC, London's most elegant club

With over 40,000 registrations, England is by far the country with the highest number of registered football clubs on the planet. Among so many teams, it is hard to emerge and set yourself apart, especially the further we go down the system. The smaller, amateur clubs are mostly driven by a merely recreational mentality, serving as social hubs that people turn to to have fun on the weekends - most, but not Hammersmith FC.

Founded only 3 years ago in London’s Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, Hammersmith FC is a club like no other. Competitiveness, and professionalism are etched in the team’s spirit, something that is very unusual for a club that is still only taking its very first steps. In fact, both the women’s and men’s teams won their first two league titles back-to-back, proving just how competitive Hammersmith strives to be. The club is also unique in its approach to the female side of the game, with the women’s teams considered a core element of the club’s development strategy going forward.

The Kappa Partnership

But beyond the on-pitch heroics, there is a real desire to build something more than a football club, something more akin to an institution or a brand - something that can have a real legacy. This is where Hammersmith FC has recently made headlines for its three-way collaboration with Kappa and the award-winning electronic music duo Chase & Status, creating two limited edition kits in a beautiful crossover between music, fashion, and sports. «I think football, fashion, and music have always crossed over naturally, and it happens without people necessarily putting a name to it.» says Tommy Fish, serial entrepreneur and club founder. «Kappa has always been a really cool football streetwear brand. We thought that our men and women winning back-to-back league titles two years in a row was so unique, that we needed to mark it with something. Kappa was the obvious partner to go with in terms of authenticity, but also because the Omini logo is a man and woman sitting back-to-back. That's part of our ethos as a club. It's like men and women together, fighting side by side, back to back». Hammersmith FC was never just about football - it is a hub of creativity and self-expression that uses the beautiful game to disrupt a system characterized by the status quo «Rebellious, disruptive, not doing what everyone else is doing» adds Akin Okunola, Brentford Academy coach and co-founder, when asked how he would describe Hammersmith FC.

Kappa's decision is bold and in line with the Italian brand's strategy of focusing on grassroots clubs with a strong identity and esthetic rather than professional teams. This is precisely why it has chosen the Hammersmith FC project. «There's very few clubs that actually have the rebellious nature and unique authenticity to go with the Kappa brand» says Akin, while Tommy also connects it to their time in Marseille and the admiration they have for Naples «Akin and I have both lived in Marseille before and we love the football streetwear, full tracksuit vibe that you find in cities like this. Naples, Marseille, those kinds of rebellious port cities». 

Akin describes it as «going against the grain», recalling when a pub sponsor was offered to the team - one of the traditional ways of gaining exposure in English amateur football. «I said, “yeah, thank you very much. It's very kind of you.” But that's the kind of the mentality that other clubs have, which is the acceptance of a pub sponsor. And that's not to say that there’s anything right or wrong with that, but we are on a quest for excellence on and off the pitch, a quest to do things differently, uniquely, in a way that allows us to be sustainable financially, have fun, and win trophies. There's not many clubs that are actually like us in that respect».

The Chase & Status connection

But the club also wants to keep its connection to Hammersmith, to the area and the borough and the community around it. This is why adding the duo Chase & Status to the mix elevated this partnership to an entirely new level of authenticity and uniqueness «When it comes to Chase & Status, one of them is from Hammersmith, the other one is from nearby in West London. I'm born and bred in Hammersmith, Akin’s from nearby in West London, so it was a perfect marriage. They're dance music pioneers who cross over into other areas of music, such as grime, and it goes well with Kappa’s streetwear nature» explains Tommy Fish. «The next step in terms of partnerships is we're going to get as many Hammersmith based or born or related celebrities or influencers wearing our shirts. We want to make fans out of people like Hugh Grant, who's born and bred in the area, Lily Allen, Tom Hardy, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, George Groves, Arlo Parks. There is quite a long list of people we're reaching out to that we would love to make honorary members of the club.»

Ultimately, Fish and Akin are trying to establish an institution their way and their way only. Any preconceived ideas or methods are thrown out of the window to make way for their vision of the club and how they want to use it to advance causes dear to them. As Tommy says, «We have gone out of our way, especially Akin, to build a women's team from scratch and really boost participation in women's football in our area. This is one of the main things we stress when talking to brands and establishing partnerships. We also do outreach work with careers workshops in local state schools, where we go in and we bring in speakers from different creative industries to show the career path you can take. We want to show that you don't have to go down the linear path that society tells you, that there are things to chase in creative industries, like music, fashion, and sports».

Hammersmith FC, Kappa, Chase & Status - an unlikely partnership that unites three industries to promote a strong message: be yourself and challenge the status quo. A partnership that, as Akin states, «Not only makes perfect sense in terms of our brand, but also in terms of us not wanting to do what everyone else is doing, being unique»