Recently, Converse and Liverpool FC unveiled their new limited-edition capsule collection – a celebration of the creative and diverse nature of the club’s beating heart – it’s supporters. The lifestyle collection also pays homage to the passion and history of Liverpool FC, whilst keeping a firm eye on its future.
The launch featured an all-star line-up of five Liverpool FC players including Andy Robertson, who played a central role in the campaign. The no-nonsense left back isn’t necessarily the type of player that you’d typically associate with a fashion-forward capsule, so we caught up with him to find out about the part he played, as well as finding out a little more about his sense of style.
In July 2017, Andy Robertson signed for Liverpool, and since then he has gone on to win every major competition that the club have been involved in, endearing himself to the fans. His straight-down-the-line approach (indicative of both his style of play and his all-round mentality) has seen him carve out a cult-like status at the club, although his impact certainly doesn’t just stop at club level. During his time at Liverpool FC he has also taken on the role of captain for the Scotland men’s national team, further cementing his influential role in the game – a role that in the modern day spans way beyond the border of the four white lines of the pitch, taking players onto all-new levels of influence in wider society.
Taking time out from his day-to-day schedule, we sat down for a chat with Robertson to get to know a little more about the person away from the player, checking in on his participation in the recent Converse x Liverpool FC partnership, the role fashion plays in his life and what inspires him the most; something that lends a special nuance to the marauding full back’s passionate performances over the years.
Take us back to what fashion trends were big at the start of your career?
I think fashion changes quite a lot. Probably at the start of my career when I was at Queens Park and Dundee United it was more skinny jeans and tight polo shirts. But it's moved on a bit from that and it's more cargos and baggy fits now. They kind of go round in roundabouts and things come back in trend that you don't expect, and it always moves.
I was a big Celtic fan growing up, and people like Henrik Larsson were my heroes. But you very rarely saw them in their own clothes. So, it’s hard to see what their trends were, what they thought of certain things, and you never really saw what kind of style they had to be able to take it on."
From there, how have things evolved as your career has developed?
Fashion is obviously a big part of anyone's life. You have to get yourself dressed every single day, for different occasions: nights out, dinners, casual. Fashion is a big part of life. Everyone can express themselves in different ways, and it can tell a bit about your personality. We have some people in changing room who are a wee bit louder in their fashion sense, and it kind of reflects their character and how comfortable they are. It's nice to see different trends and styles though, and sometimes you question whether you could pull it off or not. But every day when the lads come in things get spoken about in terms of what people are wearing, and I'm sure that's the same in a lot of workplaces.
When you were a youth player, which pro’s did you look up to off the pitch and who do you remember as having a good sense of style?
Obviously when I was growing up as a youth player social media was kind of just getting started, but it wasn't as big as it is now. You’d rarely see your footballing heroes out and about wearing their club track suits or football strips. If you were lucky to bump into them in a shop or something like that then that’d be the only chance you’d really get to see them away from the pitch. But I think social media plays a big part in life now.
As footballers, sometimes we post pictures of our days off, and it goes to millions of people, whereas I think when I was growing up that wasn’t the case. Obviously, I was a big Celtic fan growing up, and people like Henrik Larsson were my heroes. But you very rarely saw them in their own clothes. So, it’s hard to see what their trends were, what they thought of certain things, and you never really saw what kind of style they had to be able to take it on.
Do you see the next gen now looking up at you in the same way?
As a whole, in terms of fans and younger players they get a bit more insight into lifestyles now in terms of how they live their life, how they dress etc. You can get pictures a lot more when you're out now. There's a lot of players posting their own stuff. I probably avoid it a little bit, my Instagram and stuff Is pretty football-based. But, more lads, they post a bit more about fashion and are a bit more relaxed with it and younger players look up to that. We see young lads here now that are more comfortable posting themselves in their own clothes and things like that, it's a big part of it. People often want to dress like their heroes, or the people aspire to be.
Sometimes you can set a trend without even knowing it. That comes from social media platforms and being spotted out and about. You see that a lot. Footballers, or maybe more singers and things like that, are key to fashion. They’re the ones that keep evolving it, maybe bringing things back into fashion that maybe weren't anymore. It's evolved massively. Life’s evolved, and I think social media plays a big part in that.
What are the differences in terms of styles in the dressing room when you compare Dundee to Liverpool?
When I was at Dundee United it was a lot more relaxed in terms of the majority of the lads wore tracksuits and things like that. It was a lot more a case of “Let's be comfortable. Let's get to training in our tracksuits.”
Sometimes when you walk in the changing room here it looks like some of the lads are going on a night out. It touches on different cultures and things like that though. For instance, the Brazilians in our squad always dress well. Whether it's training or not. Don't get me wrong, sometimes they wear the track suit, but they're the ones more often than not that will come in in their jeans and T-shirts or chinos. It's good to see. I'm not one that gets overly dressed up for training. I kind of stick to track suits or cargos. A bit more casual, a bit more relaxed. But sometimes the kids in the squad have a good go, and that's fair.
Playing with foreign players gives that comparison. At Dundee United it was very Scottish-based, and I think everyone just fell into “I'm just going to wear track suits, I'm just going to be comfortable”, whereas here, on any different day, lads come in looking really good, really smart. It's just a different culture, which is obviously good to see, and you learn more about it.
Looking at the North / South divide – how does Scottish style compare to English?
The thing is, I've probably been away from Scotland for long enough to not really notice it. When we meet up with the Scotland national team these days, a lot of the Scotland players are now based in England, similar to me. I'd say it's pretty similar though. The UK as a whole have the same trends, same kind of fashion sense in a way. There’re obviously certain different things, different trends and different things like that, but on a whole it’s not too far apart, not too dissimilar. So, it's quite close together and when I go up to Scotland, people in the street in Scotland and England are quite similar.
You’re obviously part of a very international and therefore multi-cultural changing room – can you pick out where certain people are from based on what they wear? You say the Brazilians are quite stylish – is it difference quite noticeable?
It can be. In terms of the South Americans, as well as the Brazilians we've got Luis Diaz, who’s Colombian, Darwin, Uruguayan. It's very rarely that me or maybe Trent for instance will wear jeans into training unless we've got something on after training maybe. We rarely wear chinos or dress up, it's very rare that happens. But for the South Americans in particular, it’s quite common, and it probably happens maybe three times a week, if not every single day. Whether they're always busy and they've always got stuff on, I'm not sure. But yeah, you can probably tell the more you play with people, you can tell from the way they dress, roughly where they’re from.
"I think the relationship has been pretty strong. I admire them in terms of Anfield's always sold out. The away ends are always sold out. No matter how tough a moment we're in, they always support us; up and down the country, abroad, wherever. You can never take that for granted. That's why my admiration for them will always be high."
What’s it like being involved in campaigns away from the pitch?
It’s different, but it's something that you actually quite enjoy. For instance, the Converse x Liverpool FC partnership, I enjoyed doing the shoot for, enjoyed seeing what Converse and Liverpool were doing with it. And yeah, it takes time to get used to. When you're a kid you have these dreams of becoming a footballer, but you don't think “Right, I'm going to need to do photo shoots”, but the bigger clubs you go to it becomes part and parcel of it. It's part of your responsibility to the club, responsibility to everyone. And yeah, you just kind of grow to enjoy it, it’s part and parcel of your job,
You commit to it and you try to do your best, just like in football. You want it to look good on you as part of the campaign, and as footballers, we have that responsibility. I think the majority of us just take that as it doesn't happen often, so you just try and enjoy it when it happens. When its kit shoots or campaign shoots, you try and enjoy it and embrace what kind of message people behind it are trying to get across.
How would you describe yourself as an individual? You seem very confident both on and off the pitch, does that carry across all walks of life?
I wouldn't say in my dress sense, no! With that, I'm not the most confident. People that know me would agree with that, I think! I think I would take the safe option more often than not. In terms of the way I dress, people might like the way I dress, but it's not going to stand out. It's not going to be on the borderline where some people love it, some people hate it. It's going to be pretty safe. And that's the way I've always been. I think now that I'm 29, I'm not sure if it that's going to change, that's probably why when I do these shoots, I quite enjoy it because somebody else has dressed you, put you in something that you wouldn't normally wear, and you commit to it. That's probably why I enjoy it, because day-to-day life I'm Safety Sam – and a lot of people would agree with that in the changing room! But that's the way I am. That's the way I enjoy it. I always try and dress well, but it'll be pretty on the safe side.
How would you describe your relationship with Liverpool FC fans?
I think since I came to Liverpool FC, from the day I signed, the fans have taken to me, which I was very lucky about, even when I wasn't playing as often. The fans still wanted to give me a chance to see what I could do, and when my chance came to play in the team, that was one of the big driving factors; I wanted to prove myself at this level. But I also got love from the fans without giving them anything in return. At the start I wasn't playing, and I couldn't show them what I could do, but that was one of the motivations to do well. The fact they were quite patient with me, I wanted to reward them with that, to show them that this is what I can do. And obviously since then, I think the relationship has been pretty strong.
I admire them in terms of Anfield's always sold out. The away ends are always sold out. No matter how tough a moment we're in, they always support us; up and down the country, abroad, wherever. You can never take that for granted. That's why my admiration for them will always be high. I hope that’s always the same both ways. But I think my relationship with the Liverpool fans will hopefully always be a good one.
Do you feel the Converse x Liverpool FC partnership strengthens the connection between the fans and the club, for example offering more ways for them to express themselves and their support?
Yeah, one hundred percent. I think fans see pictures of us wearing the collection in the shoots and they want to dress like the people that they look up to. That gives the fans the opportunity to do that, but it also gives the fans the opportunity to express themselves.
I was safe throughout my whole life, but some people may dress safely because they're worried about what others will say or what they think about it. And sometimes these campaigns can give people the option to just go, “Do you know what, I'm going to dress the way I feel, and the way I want to dress and if people don't like it, they don't like it.”
I think certain partnerships, this one being one of them, that maybe gives people the encouragement to go out and do that, they can be a really good thing. Now in the world, you walk down the street, and you bump into 10 people and all those 10 people will be dressed differently. It's important that people dress the way that they want to dress and act the way they want to act. Partnerships like the Converse x Liverpool FC one definitely help. And hopefully it will help Liverpool supporters in particular to be themselves.
You’ve been in Liverpool for six years now. How has your love for the city and its creative culture developed over that time?
I think what I've always said since I moved down to Liverpool is that it's very similar to Glasgow for me. It feels like a home away from home in terms of the people, who are always friendly. That's one thing you associate with Liverpool and Glasgow. The people kind of make the city. And I think that goes for both of them. That's why it was so easy for me and my family to settle in down here.
My friends that come to games, my family come to games, they all love coming down to Liverpool and being in the mix. I think that's why, for me, it was a perfect fit because of how similar it is to home. Sometimes you can miss home. You can miss being in Scotland. That's where I was brought up and where all my friends and family are. But when you're in a city like Liverpool it makes it a little bit easier, because you feel comfortable, and I think that's the most important thing as players.
What are your personal music tastes? What’s on the match day playlist and does that vary for a day off?
I'm definitely not in charge of the music in the changing room! The lads won't allow it. I would say my music taste is obviously quite different to most of the footballers in our squad. I like. 90s music, stuff like that. 90s dance – a wee bit of the Old School stuff.
Certainly, when I sit with the physios and stuff like that, we have a lot more in common in terms of putting on a playlist and singing away. Then maybe a couple of the younger players. Some of the music that I listen to, the young players weren't even born. And I don't think when I'm in charge of the music they're very happy. But everyone is different. I'm not a huge music fan in terms of I'm not really into it, but I like listening to it. If I was going to listen to music, it would probably be more 80s and 90s than anything.
I know as a footballer you have a responsibility to different people. We have a lot bigger audience than most people in life. But the people that I want to inspire the most are my kids. I want to bring them up in the best possible way, I want to give them the best chance in life, and I want to teach them morals that are important to us. What I try to do in football is driven by my children."
Do you get much time to go to gigs or anything like that?
Not overly. I went to one a couple of weeks ago actually. We went to Chris Brown in Manchester. I don't mind a lot of Chris Brown’s older stuff. I didn't know a lot of the songs at this gig! Couple lads were pushing it and I said I'll come – it's a night out, that's no problem, and I'll enjoy it. But he put on a good show to be fair to him. Later on in the year I'll try and go to see Lewis Capaldi – obviously another Scotsman. I like his music. I don't go to massive concerts, but maybe I'll start because I did enjoy the Chris Brown one, so maybe I'll start going to a few more.
Did you see that Lewis Capaldi has a new documentary on Netflix?
Yeah, I saw that. I was going to watch that tonight. But the Masters is on, so I won't have time to watch that and the golf. But I am interested to watch it.
What other things do you enjoy away from football? What drives your creativity?
I love golf. I've always loved golf from an early age. Any day off I'll try and play golf. Obviously, having young kids that's not always possible. But yeah, what inspires me is my kids, really, that's it. They're obviously young, and you want to give them the best possible life, and you want to be a role model to them and things like that.
I know as a footballer you have a responsibility to different people. We have a lot bigger audience than most people in life. But the people that I want to inspire the most are my kids. I want to bring them up in the best possible way, I want to give them the best chance in life, and I want to teach them morals that are important to us. What I try to do in football is driven by my children.
Shop the Liverpool x Converse collection at prodirectsport.com/soccer and at converse.com
