The runway has always drawn from football, but the latest TikTok fashion trend sees users wearing actual cleats off the field. Just search for “Boots Only Summer” and you’ll find throngs of cases for the soccer shoe as an outfit centerpiece.

What began with men modeling their cleats on TikTok and Instagram, whether before or after practice or as a stunt style statement, has grown into a full trend both on and off social media platforms. In May, the music artist Rosalía was photographed arriving at The Mark Hotel ahead of her appearance at the Met Gala red carpet, while wearing a pair of neon yellow sole cleats stamped with a hot pink New Balance logo — the brand’s 442 v2 Pro FG shoe — with a drop waist ball gown and a t-shirt emblazoned with Jenny Holzer’s “Protect Me From What I Want” quote from her Survival Series. While she didn’t explain what prompted her footwear choice, it was right on-trend.

Even before #BootsOnlySummer took off on TikTok, football and fashion have been long intertwined. For Miu Miu’s spring 2021 collection, Prada Miuccia took inspiration from the sport. The run of cleat-like kitten heels even included a mule take on the lace-up shoe.

The runway has also brought forth more literal takes on soccer, with Cormio’s fall 2023 show featuring models lugging soccer ball shaped purses — the brand’s debut accessory. “I was imagining what the world would be like upside-down, and an Italy obsessed with women’s soccer,” designer Jezabelle Cormio told WWD at the time of the collection, which was paired with a variety of soccer cleats and also featured an array of layered knits with a warmup-feel.

Meanwhile for spring 2025, not only did pro football players take a front row seat for fashion — see: Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard at Burberry — designers also took the collections to the football field. Labrum London made a runway of Emirates Stadium in London — and had Arsenal players Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori in the front row — while models paraded out in thematic apparel like a patchwork look consisting of soccer jerseys and Adidas Superstar trainers with tube socks bearing the fashion brand’s name.

It makes sense that the runway’s affair with football is trickling down to social media. On TikTok, pairing outfits with cleats has become the style challenge du jour for users posting their surprising takes. In one entry, Nike cleats complete a look consisting of a bright pink strapless ruched floral maxi dress with a high slit. Another TikTok user pairs cleats like they’re any other sneaker with wide-leg jeans, a black belt, and a white crop top before showing off her own skills with a soccer ball. Perhaps the most surprising display of where #BootsOnlySummer posters are wearing cleats to, though, comes in the form of a fit check where the TikTok user pairs two different cleats — a la Carrie Bradshaw — with a pair of of cargo pants and a black sleeveless top while standing atop sand on the beach.