Cruyff

There has only ever been one Johan Cruyff —excelling at everything, as a boy, as a player and as a coach. No matter what, no matter where: whatever Cruyff he did, he always became the point of focus. All eyes were on him.As a player from the early days of professional football, Cruyff simply could not get used to certain things. Being told what to do or wear was one of them. This daily discomfort inspired him to start his own sophisticated sports brand in Barcelona, 1979. He wanted to eliminate frumpy sportswear for good.

In 1982 Cruyff started collaborating with Emidio Lazzarini, the Italian designer who first introduced functionality and elegance to the world of sportswear.

During the eighties Cruyff was a well-liked brand on the sports-fields, and halfway through the decade we conquered a large share of the Dutch sports market. The brand started to diversify and branched out with tennis, hockey and even casual wear. Cruyff was winning territory and underlined this by endorsing the Dutch Olympic team in the Summer Games in Seoul in 1988.

As for football, stars like Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Gerald Vanenburg, Stefan Petterson, Aaron Winter and John(ny) Bosman played their best matches on C-flashed kicks, signed by the maestro himself.