Through the years, English football and popular culture have become inseparable. From Lowry’s 1953 painting, Going to the Match, to the enduring Football Casual fashion aesthetic and Nick Hornby’s best-seller, Fever Pitch, football has infiltrated and shaped all areas of English cultural identity.

Acknowledging this bond, Umbro has partnered with contemporary youth magazine, Vice, to identify England’s “Tailored Heroes” – eleven rising stars of English culture who are influencing, shaping, and being shaped by, Capello’s new era of England.

Umbro’s “Tailored Heroes” have been taken through the same tailoring process that the England team received, to ensure that they receive kits absolutely specific to their personal size and style, enabling them to represent the country as proudly as their 1st team counterparts.

Over the next week 10 days, we will be introducing you to this rising cultural stars…

1) CHRIS PREDDIE

On top of his obvious creative talent, slam poet Preddie is also a dedicated activist who, spurred on by the death of his brother in Brixton, takes a strong line on knife and gun crime. As if being a poet, producer and activist wasn’t quite enough, he is also a youth worker and holder of the first Crimestoppers Community Champion title. Having grown up surrounded by crime and violence, and having pulled himself back from the brink of self-destruction, he spends his time teaching kids how to follow his example.

Check out his myspace and this article fromCrime Stoppers.

Tomorrow, we introduce you to 16 year old photographer, Lewis Chaplin…