Idris Elba has created a pair of Nike Air Force Ones in an attempt to combat rising knife crime.
The 50-year-old actor heads up the not-for-profit clothing brand Don’t Stab Your Future and collaborated with NFL to create a pair of trainers for the footwear brand as part of the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative after learning that a teenage girl had been stabbed to death in London.
He said: "Don’t Stab Your Future is a purpose-fashion brand. We create cool capsule collections (T-shirts and hoodies) and the money raised is given to organisations and foundations that are working against knife crime in local communities.
“‘Don’t Stab Your Future’ came from a rant I had on Instagram after a 15-year-old girl in London was stabbed to death and knife crime was rising, and I was trying to tell young people that the future is good for you.
“That it isn’t just the victim and the victim’s family whose lives are tragically impacted, but your own future that you are stabbing.
“And that became the brand language. No one likes to hear a message like ‘stab’. I’m not here to sell clothes, I’m here to sell a message and use my voice and platform to try to get people to understand that we need to keep talking about youth-on-youth violence.
"Youth violence is on the rise. Over the last three years, the UK and the world has had a really stressful time. And these kids are stressed.
“There is fear. There is mistrust. Protecting yourself is probably a natural thing to want to do. That is a problem encouraging people to end up in violent situations.
“It’s one thing to have a fisticuff of a fight, but it is another thing to pull a knife out and alter your life and someone else’s. The year 2021 marked the worst year for teenage homicides in London. We can and must do better."
The MCU star – who has joined Dallas Cowboys coach Aden Durdefor the campaign – added that he went to a National Football League game earlier this year and believes sport can help provide young people with a “safe community” which can keep them away from gangs.
He said: “At the heart of ‘Don’t Stab Your Future’ is collaboration, and we want to partner with other like-minded organisations to inspire change. Sport is naturally an incubator for bringing like-minded people together. Why? Because sports appeals to the youth, whether you are watching it, or are part of a team, or you are playing it and you have a coach.
“It’s a natural incubator for learning, respect and personal growth. Everyone needs to be part of a family, a community, so they feel safe. Kids feel safe. And sport can help provide that. When kids start being fractioned off here and there, they see gangs as a way of being included in something.
“I went to an NFL game in London earlier this year and met the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell. He was incredibly warm and receptive and completely focused on hearing about what I was doing with ‘Don’t Stab Your Future’.
“As the commissioner of one of the world’s biggest sporting organisations, he knows that the intersection between youth and sport and the NFL is a precious space and one that can bring about change, and how using their platform can help kids to understand there is an alternative to violence.
“He was keen for me to explore a collaboration with the My Cause My Cleats initiative."