Despite only being around for 10 years, Labrum has already accomplished some big things. In 2022, it opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Picadilly. In 2023, it won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. And earlier this summer, it was nominated for the BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund – and this was all thanks to the vision and values of its founder, Foday Dumbuya.
Born in Sierra Leone, he spent his formative years in Cyprus and later moved to London when he was about 12. This laid the groundwork for his menswear label, which is all about shining a light on those who have immigrated to the UK and those who make it the glorious cultural melting pot that it is. That's what inspired the brand's de facto slogan: ‘Designed by an Immigrant.’
When Adidas was working on its 2024/25 away kit for Arsenal, Dumbuya was the first designer it called up. “Arsenal has always had a strong connection to its African fanbase, and they wanted to celebrate this,” he says over a video call from his studio. “The club knows I tell stories about West Africa and about London through my collections, so the idea of Africa meets London was what sparked off this collaboration. I'm African, and I'm also an Arsenal fan. I feel like this is the best moment, and it's like a dream come true.”
The shirt comes in black, with green and red striping around the collar and along the shoulders. The German sportswear company's logo appears on the right chest, while the Gunners’ cannon motif makes a cameo on the left. “It's always been a thing that we create colourful patterns, but we incorporate these into darker shades. If you look at it, it's mostly black. But the zig-zag pattern within it ignites energy. The pan-African colours and the Nomoli icon are other aspects that make it what it is.” This is a symbol that's found throughout many of Labrum's collections. It's a mark of protection and prosperity, and it stems from the Mende and Kissi tribes of Sierra Leone.
Redesigning a pro football team's gear comes with a lot of pressure. So where do you even begin with a collaboration of this scale? “The best perspective to start from is the performance perspective,” says Inigo Turner, design director for Adidas football apparel. “We always have a design philosophy for the season, and for '24, it's about being visibly bolder and about being different.”
“When we got briefed about the kit, we thought about taking it back to when African countries started gaining independence,” says Dumbuya. “And that's when our parents began travelling across borders in search of greener pastures. So, we wanted to take people back to that point in history and help them understand what Africans were travelling with. And one of the main things that we looked at was the cowrie shell.
“This was an early form of currency in many parts of Africa. It has this zig-zag pattern and small black specks. And also, if you think about it, Adidas has been telling stories about Black culture and about hip-hop for over 40 years. So for us, this wasn't just a one-off project – it's a continuation of what they've been doing for the past few decades. It's like moving from hip-hop to African culture, and that's what we're celebrating here,” says Dumbuya.
Thanks to groups like the Run-DMC, Adidas has always been a brand that's been sub-culturally adopted. “When I was a teenager, I remember musicians wearing it, and it always transcended sport," says Turner. “And I think for us, we can only do those things when people work with us to be able to do them right. This was about bridging gaps between sport, between communities, between melting pots of creativity and culture. And being able to push the boundaries by doing collabs like this is the only way we can do it with authenticity. I think that's a really big part of it.”
