'The Liverpool Boys....The Birth of Terrace Culture' Book. D Hewitson.

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Forty years ago there were only three TV channels, no DVDs or CDs,
no Big Macs and no mobile phones or home computers. A time when flares
were the prevailing fashion and trainers were sold in sports shops alongside cricket bats and tennis racquets.

A time when Liverpool were the dominant force in European football. For young working-class Liverpool fans, the European experience now became a rite of passage. Once across the Channel, a whole new world opened up and this annual exodus began to express itself in the fashions they picked up (not always legally) in France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. Suddenly, Fila, adidas, Lacoste and Armani became de rigeur for the travelling fans.

Back in Liverpool, the new style began to spread. Wade Smith opened the first retail outlet in Europe dedicated to just selling designer sportswear in Slater Street and soon had to move to bigger premises to cope with the demand. Within a few years, the phenomenon had become mainstream with designer sportswear being sold in every high street fashion shop across Britain. Dave Hewitson was there at the start and his account of the fashion revolution makes fascinating reading.

What started with cheap jeans and trainers became a multi-million pound industry. Terrace culture had been born.