If we had told you five years ago, when Nike was the only acceptable sports brand to be seen dead in (remember?), that you’d be lusting after a pair of Kappa trackies come 2017… you’d think we’d lost our minds, wouldn’t you? But it’s true. The 1990s staple you bought into because of Sporty Spice is back and everyone is wearing them.
But let’s go back to the beginning: the Italian sportswear brand, founded in 1967, first made its way to Britain in the 1980s on the back of football teams and fans alike. Instantly recognisable thanks to its logo of a man and woman sitting back-to-back, it then found its fashion feet with the 90s Britpop lot, particularly Blur’s Damon Albarn.
Then came Sporty Spice Mel C, whose tracksuit bottom wardrobe was pretty much solely populated by Kappa and adidas three-striped numbers with popper fastenings on the legs. Note: those pop-closure trackies are also this year’s other unlikely comeback kids thanks to Kim Kardashian teaming them with fishnet tights and heels. The antidote to Posh Spice’s little Gucci dresses, Mel C’s signature style was accessible to anyone whose parents were willing to buy them a tracksuit on a weekend visit to JD Sports, and so we all spent the 90s looking like tiny benched footballers. * *
Kappa’s cool was not to last, though, as its with Matt Lucas’ most famous Little Britain character, Vicky Pollard grew when she adopted the brand’s pink tracksuit jacket as her uniform. It really seemed like the nail in the coffin, killing off any cool-kid sightings of Kappa from 2003 onwards, until 2016 when the label started creeping back on to our fashion radar.
First it was that girl from Peckham you follow on Instagram, who was also the quickest to start re-wearing Fila and ellesse like it’s 1998 again. Then Kendall Jenner stepped out in a Juventus F.C. Kappa jacket from back in the day, while Brooklyn Beckham teamed his Kappa trackie top with a Louis Vuitton holdall for a trip to Paris with his mum, perhaps reminding Posh of her former Spice Girls bandmate.
And now? Now everyone is on the act. Khloe Kardashian (also a fan of a full adidas tracksuit) has the classic 222 Banda trackie bs in white. Travis Scott wears the black version. And with celeb super stylist Maeve Reilly rocking them to Coachella last month, it’s surely only a matter of time before her clients – including Hailey Baldwin, Justine Skye and Madison Beer – follow suit.
Add to that a collaboration with It designer Gosha Rubchinskiy and Kappa is officially cool again – just in time for its 50th birthday. Want in on the action? Shop Kappa online now and get the Gosha Rubchinskiy collab from Dover Street Market.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.