Fashion from a no-frills footballer

By Ben Jeffrey
BBC News Online

Each item comes with a card signed by the football legend

His reputation is that of the no-nonsense footballer who took the bus to the training pitch.

Adored by the Wolverhampton Wanderers faithful for his down-to-earth qualities, former England striker Steve Bull MBE might have been expected to follow one of the more traditional paths for former players when he hung up his boots in 1999.

But after a brief flirtation with coaching, the former England international has shunned pursuits such as TV punditry and plumped instead for a career in the fashion industry.

He is currently overseeing the development of his 306 clothing range - so called because it is the same number of goals he scored for the Midlands club.

Limited editions

And even Bull, 39, admits that his eye for fashion design does not necessarily square with his no-frills reputation.

He said: "In a way it doesn't fit in with my image, I'm not that type, if you know what I mean."

The clothes are for all the family

Only 306 of each of the items in the range are ever sold and every piece is accompanied by a card signed by Bull.

"I signed 3,000 the other day in the pub - it took about an hour and three-quarters," he said.

"I've signed so many autographs I can do it with my eyes closed."

The clothes are produced by Hat Trick Sports, a company run by lifelong Wolves fan Andy Herbert who had the idea for the 306 enterprise.

He told BBC News Online the range was a "labour of love" and was not yet hugely profitable, but he added that Bull's association with his firm was very good for other areas of the business.

'Very heterosexual'

The latest additions to the 306 line feature children's clothes and a Bully Girl line.

More predictably, golf wear is also available including the Bully Golf Lambswool Sweater, which augment a selection of polo shirts, jackets and fleeces.

His range also boasts a no-nonsense palette - greys and black are the order of the day rather than pastel shades.

Style writer Gemma Champ said the range was "very heterosexual", adding: "Those special 'bloke' colours - sludge, mush, grit, ash - not only signal red-blooded masculinity, but also take as much mud, spilled beer and cigarette smoke as you can throw at them.

Steve Bull's clothes have a celebrity following

"But I do like the new hoodies - the logo looks much funkier, and the colours are really fresh."

But the clothes were not designed with an eye to high fashion, nor to appeal to the fans of Wolves' arch enemies.

Chris Saunders, from the unofficial West Bromwich Albion website, Boing, joked: "The only plus point is that each item is limited to a run of 306."

Mr Herbert added: "I know it sounds a bit anoraky, but some people have bought one of each product without even taking them out of the wrappings."

And scores of Bull's fans wear the clothes as a badge of honour, including Mark Rhodes, the runner-up in the Pop Idol competition, who donned a Bully top on the ITV1 show.

Bull, who lives in Shropshire with his third wife Kirsty, certainly has no regrets about his fledgling career in the fashion business: "The only thing I wish is that I'd done it a lot sooner."