Branding it like Beckham: how Jude Bellingham is future-proofing his fame

From Calvin Klein to British Vogue, the Real Madrid man is leading the way when it comes to football’s foray into fashion. But is he playing it safe?

This Sunday, Jude Bellingham will line up with his England teammates for a match against Spain. But the footballer has been hitting the headlines way beyond the pitch recently – thanks to fronting a Calvin Klein underwear ad released this month, and becoming the first footballer to appear solo on the cover of British Vogue.

It’s a savvy move for the 23-year-old, future-proofing himself as a power player both on and off the pitch. This is a roadmap carved out by David Beckham, who since retiring in 2013 has become a brand and personality that transcends sport. Beckham – together with his wife, Victoria – became a billionaire this year.

The Calvin Klein ads, which feature Bellingham in underwear, sometimes in his signature Christ the Redeemer pose, have caused a stir since appearing in London and New York, with passersby stopping to take selfies. The popularity of a billboard in Soho, New York also cements his celebrity status in the US after this summer’s World Cup.

Of course Bellingham is a bona fide star on the pitch. Mark Borkowski, a public relations consultant, says this factor is pivotal to the footballer’s crossover appeal. “Bellingham is an exceptional sporting talent, and his brand value is understandably enormous,” he says. “But fashion doesn’t create that value, football does. Fashion merely provides another means of exploiting it.”

This buzz is working out well for Calvin Klein. The fashion data firm Launchmetrics said in 48 hours the Calvin Klein campaign generated $35.8m (£27m) in media impact value, the metric that works out the monetary value of social media posts. The fashion platform Lyst reports that searches for Calvin Klein underwear have risen by 25% since the campaign was released.

Bellingham has a savvy team around him, with his mother, Denise, a former HR executive, working as his personal manager. Some are wondering if his 21-year-old brother, Jobe – in the England squad for the first time this month – might do similar campaigns, increasing the rise of the Bellingham brand.

So far Bellingham – and his management team – have been strategic with his brand choices. As well as Calvin Klein, Bellingham works with Adidas, Kim Kardashian’s underwear brand Skims and Louis Vuitton.

Daniel-Yaw Miller, in his influential SportsVerse newsletter, compared him to Beckham. “It’s very intentional,” he says. “What [Bellingham is] doing is aimed at the higher tier of the market but at the same time, a big part of his personality is very relatable.”

Bellingham is also a heart-throb, with looks that, in another life, could belong to a boyband. Vogue have amped up this factor: the magazine comes with a pull-out poster. “It helps that he’s incredibly good-looking,” says Miller.

Bellingham is not the only male footballer to work with the fashion industry. Bukayo Saka and Son Heung-min were in Burberry’s autumn campaign, Kylian Mbappé worked with Christian Dior, and Declan Rice is on the cover of GQ this month. “The earnings that they can get during their football career are obviously huge,” says Miller. “But what sets them up for life beyond that is being brands and businesses in their own right. It’s not only just a money thing. It’s about cementing a legacy and securing their profile in the game long term, commercially and culturally.”

Not everyone is impressed by Bellingham’s foray into fashion. Felicia Pennant, the editor of the football and fashion magazine Season, says if he is following Beckham’s business model, the older footballer pushed the boundaries more, appearing in edgy photoshoots covered in (fake) blood for The Face magazine in 2001, and in artwork by Sam Taylor-Johnson. “Beckham was the subject of art and he was the art rather than selling the art,” she says. “I think what Jude’s doing feels quite transactional … there’s nothing that directional about anything he’s done so far.”

Borkowski sounds a note of caution going forward. “Fame surrounds exceptional young athletes with people whose livelihoods depend on telling them how wonderful they are. That can become a very dangerous echo chamber,” he says. “The football makes the myth. The business can preserve it. But hubris can destroy both.”