Swedish luxury fashion house Acne Studios have released a shoe that bears more than a passing resemblance to Nike's 2002 Air Zoom Total 90 boot.
Acne Studios Copy Total 90
Paris Fashion Week is underway which means the biggest names in the industry are showing off their collections for spring/summer 2023. Among them is Swedish fashion house Acne Studios, who bring us the latest case of a fashion brand borrowing heavily from the football aesthetic.
The similarities to the 2002 edition of the Total 90 are clear. The off-centre lacing within a curved strip of colour, the positioning of the stitching and the fold over tongue look to have been lifted directly from the boots worn by the likes of Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and Francesco Totti over twenty years ago.
It is normal for fashion and art to take inspiration from different sources, which should mean using an idea to create something different from the original. Football influences in particular have been increasingly visible in fashion in recent years and Nike designer Drake Ramberg has highlighted several instances of what seems more like direct copying and not merely taking inspiration from football kits and clothing.
Of course the Acne Studios shoes are not 100% identical to the Total 90s, but the elements that they did take from the Nike football boot have not been modified in any meaningful way. They've been used in the same fashion as on the Nike boots, which earmarks this case as copying rather than taking inspiration.
What do you think of Acne Studios latest shoes? Do you consider this to be copying or simply being influenced by the work of other brands?