Stylo Matchmakers is an alternative, authentic designer sportswear brand for football fans across Merseyside who seek the perfect blend of fashion and football. The brand has a fan first mentality and is against greed in the football industry. We refuse to support any football clubs financially and do not recruit corporate media partners. Instead, we supply unique sports fashion products directly to supporters who yearn for change. We have a punk mentality and are against modern football and the official club powers and channels. We rely on the word of mouth of their customers and supporters groups, as they do not receive support from the clubs or media. Our brand has a rich history with some of the biggest clubs in professional football, since we first launched in 1966.
Stylo Matchmakers Liverpool
By this point, Stylo Matchmakers had already signed up the World-Class strikers Pele and George Best but Liverpool FC winger Steve Heighway was one of the next targets on Stylo Matchmakers’ list. Heighway was the first Liverpool player to endorse Stylo Matchmakers but this was just the start of Stylo Matchmakers in Merseyside.
Heighway had recently been brought in under one of Liverpool FC’s greatest ever managers, Bill Shankly. In the true spirit of Shankly, Bill was working hard on rebuilding an underachieving team of the 1960s. Shankly wanted Kevin Keegan.
In Comes Keegan
In 1971, Shankly signs up a young Kevin Keegan and plays him up front along side fellow Stylo Matchmakers legend John Toshack.
When promoting his 2018 autobiography “My Life in Football“, Keegan reflected on fellow Stylo Matchmakers legend George Best and told the newspapers:
“I benefited from Bestie more than anybody. I got his boot contract, Stylo Matchmakers. I was 20. I wasn’t 16 like him when he first came over. He was the first and it’s always hard to be the pioneer.”
Keegan explored a closer relationship with Stylo Matchmakers and working with the design department, released his own KK Stylo Matchmakers boot model.
Liverpool FC Glory Days
By 1974, Shankly had taken Liverpool FC to new heights and with Heighway and Keegan sporting the Stylo Matchmakers football boots, it was time to bring the brand in as the clubs first ever boot sponsor.
Whilst Shankly would sometimes wear a suit or smart attire for some matches, like many other legendary managers of the 70’s era, (Brian Clough, Don Revie, Jock Stein, Jimmy Armfield) he brought in Stylo Matchmakers as the boot sponsor but he also wore the boots at matches including the 1974 FA Cup Final. which Liverpool won and in training sessions.
As the brand was so popular across Liverpool, the Stylo Matchmakers Liverpool football boot was released. It was a similar design to the famous 1974 style however the white parts of the upper were this time inked with red, and there was the text “Liverpool” across the outside.
Following Shankly, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley took over and continued to endorse and promote Stylo Matchmakers within the club.
2017 Stylo Matchmakers Return To Liverpool
After years out of the game, in 2017 we returned to a corporate lead, finance fuelled, internationally driven sportswear market.
With this professional market flooded with German and American brands, we were so proud to be back supporting the local sports community with our British roots and heritage, reconnecting to a nostalgic football audience who don’t want what’s force fed to them by their clubs anymore.
From this day forward the brand would no longer monetize sports consumers by bribing influencers by way of sponsorship deals and the way we operate as an independent fashion brand was going to become one of our main unique selling points.
The Corporate Competition
In an aggressive sportswear market which big brands compete by bribing influencers with the biggest pay cheque, corporate sports brands continue to buy up bragging rights, in order to create demand for their merchandise.
We on the other hand, refuse to compete. We’re not interested in those sports consumers who want to pay over the odds and support immoral corporate practices. For more on this, feel free to read our home page introduction.
The competition will continue to spoon feed supporters who have a herd-like mentality, whilst we continue to appeal to maverick football fans who are proud to have control over their style.
Stylo Matchmakers For Merseyside Mavericks
In Liverpool, we live in a democracy.
We have a right to do what we want, within the boundary’s of the law of course.
We don’t let any clubs tell us what to do, or what to wear.
We already know that mindless modern day sports fans just want the branded products of which they’re hard-sold by their influencers (club sponsor marketing efforts and what the pro’s are paid to wear) but not all football fans have that copy-cat mindset.
Stylo Matchmakers appeal to wiser, educated fans who are smart enough to see right through how brands bribing players works against them.
Supporters can see this is just just another way of brands and clubs over-charging and profiting from fans.
We’ve grown the Stylo Matchmakers brand based on direct and transparent values and as an independent label, worn by some of the best ever players, we don’t need any verification from clubs or todays first team players.
It’s only a sports professional’s agenda to capitalise on fans, by making them pay for what we would call nonessential marketing.
What Happened When We Sponsored Players
We were the first sports brand to roll out sponsorship packages for footballers and this lead to sponsoring full football squads – some of the most iconic teams in their club history. (Leeds United, Celtic, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday etc)
These teams had some of the greatest footballer’s of all time.
Whilst the creation of sponsorship deals for clubs and players added a lot of value to the Stylo Matchmakers brand story, today more than 50 years later, we believe this practice is outdated, immoral and is not in the best interest of Stylo Matchmakers consumers.
Times have changed. So has the beautiful game. Financially motivated owners also play a part.
Club Ownership
Many football fans across Merseyside will support their clubs through thick and thin, but at the same time can often disagree with a lot of decisions made by club owners (usually acting in their own financial interests and not what’s best for the club)
Our voice calls for more clubs to follow supporter-ownership models. We are appalled to see greedy owners have such an inability to be able to acknowledge the value of local fans. Most of the big club owners are more obsessed with globalization before they’ve even got it right in their own back yard. The reality is that they don’t care about existing consumers, they just want to exploit wider markets.
In our eyes, it’s the fans and the local community which makes a football club so successful, not how much representation it has around the world.
Prioritise Fan Culture Before Money
Club owners should always give fans the benefit of any doubt and respect all messages and signs of protest. We’ve built a new Stylo Matchmakers culture based on what’s in the best interests of the fans. This should be at the heart of every football club.
Clubs Losing Money and Closing Down
In the worst cases, some huge clubs around Merseyside have already suffered as of “Modern Football” to the extent of where they have to close the gates for the last time, even after over 125 years of existence.
As an independent, relevant and topical fashion line, it’s not our job to build all the burning bridges between every football club and their supporters.
Instead, it’s our objective to focus on the fans needs when it comes to alternative supporter sportswear, style and fashion. If you’re a fan with gripes about your club but you still support the corporations who are fuelling the problems then it’s time to take action.
Super League
Our Against Modern football campaign leads us to despise the concept of a Super League. Football today has already lost all of its purity without bringing a Super League into play. Top English clubs have faced a backlash from fans already regarding the Super League and rightly so, we couldn’t agree more that this isn’t in the best interest of any real club supporters. Therefore we also support the “Reclaim Our Game” campaign created by the Mayor, aimed at preventing owners in the future forming a breakaway league.
Stylo Matchmakers on the Anfield Tour
Today you can visit Anfield and on the tour find a pair of Kevin Keegan’s original, signed Stylo Matchmakers.
Liverpool Stylo Matchmakers Support
Since relaunching we have been proud to see the brand supported by Liverpool FC defender, Kolo Toure in an exhibition match. Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper David James was spotted wearing a pair of Stylo Matchmakers Heirship 74 football boots on the Hong Kong 7’s tour. On the same tour Everton legend Peter Reid was also sporting a pair of Stylo Matchmakers trainers.
