Edward van Gils’ signature moves are inspiring Nike’s street football collection.
As one of the first internationally known street footballers in the world, Edward van Gils obtained a legendary status. Edward aka ‘Edje’ can be seen as the founder of street football all over the world. A pioneer. As a member of the glorious generation of Dutch street footballers he won almost every worldwide tournament. Moreover, he is the co-founder and owner of Streetkings where he has inspired a new generation of (street) football lovers. Streetkings’ website describes Street football as more than just a sport and van Gils represents the culture associated with the sport! It’s not surprising therefore that he was asked by Nike to be part of the team to design its newest Street Football collection.
“An honour”, he told us.
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The moves and football skills of this street football pioneer are famous and didn’t go unnoticed by multinationals like Coca-Cola, MTV, Fifa Street (EA Sports) and Nike. This has resulted in several collaborations and interesting projects for the street footballer during the years. For Fifa Street for example, they used van Gil’s moves for the motion capture. While producing Fifa Street II and III, he even got his own character in the game. Something that is only possible when you’re a truly big name in global sport!
Ever since the beginning of his career, Nike was there to support him. During his career he not only played a huge role in numerous Nike campaigns, he also took part in commercials with famous (field) football stars for the brand. Think of Ronaldinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy. We guess everyone will remember the cool Nike Panna Knock Out commercials (Panna K.O.) in which van Gils appeared as well.
At the time of writing it has come to our attention that the Godfather of street football has been part of designing the newest street football wear for the brand’s summer releases.
“A great honour”, said the street football icon. The design of this innovative collection consists of van Gils’ moves. “With my feet full of paint I did street football moves on a large white sail. Some of my signature moves were captured and now they form the design of this collection”.
After hearing a passionate van Gils talking about this collection, it made us even more curious about the result of this collaboration. We bet you will be just as curious as we are now – so here are the sketches:
This exclusive black and white sneek peak shows the look and feel of Nike’s street wear summer collection. According to Edward, “street football wear needs to be cool. Street football players really want to look good. It’s important to design sportswear that combines fashion, performance and functionality.” It seems like all this is captured in the upcoming street football collection.
Although Edward is planning on hangin’ up his boots and retiring from actively playing street football, we know for sure that he will continue being great in the culture of street football. This collaboration is probably the start of his own “Life After Football”. Edward is also still on the pleintjes in May/June. Take a look at Edward’s skills below: