One Direction Fans Didn’t Expect Louis Tomlinson The Fashion Designer

It seems that there is no end to Louis Tomlinson’s talent. One Direction star Louis is widely touted to play Leicester City star Jamie Vardy in a forthcoming movie and Tomlinson has also been tipped as the man who can breathe life into the X-Factor. Louis would be well suited to playing a role as a soccer star, as it has been widely reported that Tomlinson went to acting school as a kid. As reported in the Inquisitr recently, Tomlinson has turned out in numerous charity soccer matches and even played for his home-town club, Doncaster Rovers, on their reserve team.

Of course, One Direction fans believe that Tomlinson is so talented that he could turn his hand to anything and make a success of it. We are willing to bet that not even Louis’ millions of devoted fans anticipated the 24-year-old turning his hand to fashion design. Before Tomlinson fans get over-excited, though, Louis is not about to do a Kanye West by launching his own clothing brand. Louis design ambitions are much more limited, but no less impressive for that.

According to Doncaster Press, Doncaster Rovers will be turning out in next season’s away matches in a kit designed by Tomlinson. Of course, Louis is widely known to be a lifelong fan of Rovers, and it seems that the club and their fans love Tomlinson right back.

An announcement on the club’s official website revealed that a vote by fans had selected a design submitted by Louis as the winner in a competition to design the team’s away kit for next season.

“Rovers fans from all walks of life and of all ages were encouraged to design and submit their shirt designs before shortlisting took place. The final five designs then went to the public vote.

“The winning design received 33.7% of the votes and the winning designer is no other than Rovers’ fan and local lad Louis Tomlinson!”

Tomlinson was thrilled that his design, featuring black and grey stripes accented with a red trim over the shoulders, was selected as the official away kit.

“I designed the kit with my granddad when I was home a few weeks ago. We used to go to Belle Vue together so it has always been a family affair with us and to now have a hand in next season’s away shirt is brilliant. I can’t wait to see my team wearing it.”

The club is clearly keen to play up their links with Tomlinson, and have announced that everyone who buys one of the new shirts will be entered into a draw, and 20 lucky winners will receive a shirt signed by Louis.

Supporter Shaun Smith designed our home shirt… Here's who designed our away shirt https://t.co/hR2uwKm44c #DRFC pic.twitter.com/DhXBzaguVJ

— Doncaster Rovers FC (@drfc_official) April 4, 2016

Louis may currently be spending the majority of his time in L.A., but it is clear that a large part of Tomlinson’s heart is back home in South Yorkshire, especially when it comes to soccer. Long time Tomlinson fans will be aware that back in 2014, Louis even tried to buy the club with businessman John Ryan. Sadly for Louis, the deal fell through, and the Guardian reported at the time that Tomlinson was gutted and felt that he had been misled about the terms of his potential purchase.

It is clear that Tomlinson maintains a strong affinity with Doncaster Rovers and with his love of the club and the game — few would bet against Louis investing in the club at some time in the future. The problem for Tomlinson and any other potential investor in a soccer club in the lower reaches of English Football is that few clubs are on a stable financial footing, and any investment is a huge gamble.

Tomlinson may be a wealthy young man, but he is no Russian oligarch. Tomlinson is wealthy by most standards, but even his fortune would be quickly swallowed up by the costs of running a soccer club. Louis would be much safer keeping his cash in his pocket and who knows, designing his beloved club’s soccer kit could lead Tomlinson to a career in the rag trade at some time in the future.

[Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP]