On a recent lunchtime wander, I experienced a bizarre brand-based flashback to my school days, which I will share with you now.

Hanging in the window of a small-but-reputable men’s outfitter, I spotted a brace of leather Head sports bags (or were they really vinyl?), the like of which I’ve not seen since I last had one slung over my shoulder while running for the school bus, soggy polyester sports kit stuffed within.

At my school, owning a Head sports bag was ‘literally’ (not in the correct meaning, but the now accepted meaning) vital to your survival at school, both socially and physically: if you didn’t have one you were saaaaaaad, man! I can speak from experience as my Scottish/Yorkshire dad tried to fob me off with a shiny green-with-gold-piping Jaguar holdall that he got free using Esso vouchers. Luckily my mum realised that for an 11 year old, saying, “I don’t care what you lot think, I’m not a sheep and hey, it’s only to hold your sports kit... how important can it be?” wasn’t an option. So I became part of the Head crowd with a green, black, red and gold (classy) Head sports bag, complete with zip-off end compartment (for muddy boots, wet trunks, etc.) and optional shoulder carry strap – back of the net!

I’m 29 now and I don’t think there’s any danger of being de-kegged, scragged, nuggied or bogwashed by my colleagues, so I think I’ll resist this particular retro brand revival.

In the very same shop I also noticed Ellesse making a comeback. At the aforementioned school, any kind of shoe other than your standard-issue Clarks black Oxford was categorically forbidden, but my brother circa 1993 was so smitten with his black Ellesse boots that he attempted to push the boundaries.

The shoes in question were completely black save for the trademark Ellesse logo, comprising two segments of red with an orange centre. When castigated by a particularly officious, Klix-coffee-breathing science teacher, who exclaimed, “What are those on your feet Murdoch?!”, my brother’s nimble response was, “Indicators sir, so people know which way I’m walking”.

The teacher was genuinely bemused.

–

More enlightenment and opinion from Madhouse, Manchester’s leading integrated marketing communications agency