FOOTBALL STRIP CONCEPT DESIGNS

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FOOTBALL STRIP CONCEPT DESIGNS

BY ANGELO TROFA

This collection of designs is a combination of my biggest passions, design, typography and football. Designed between 2012 and 2013, these are my favourites from many design concepts I have created over the past year or so. Inspired by what I would love to see on the football field, this is a fusion of designs from the past, and also a look at futuristic concepts.

This is the third illustrated publication I have created since 2010 which documents my personal exploration into foot-ball kit design, and shows an alternative take on football strips compared to what we are seeing on the field of play today. (And of course to play out my childhood dream of seeing one of my designs realised at the highest level of football.)

In this issue I have mainly focused on international teams, which seems fitting as we approach the World Cup. I have always been fascinated by the way brands use the national strips to reflect the respective nations’

history and culture, which in itself is a great task for any designer as the wealth of research and interpretations is endless. To then condense this and capture all of this into what is essentially three items of clothing makes the task all the more interesting.

Despite working primarily as a graphic designer and illustrator, I have always found myself concepting football kits, and have always drawn inspiration from various places outside of the football field: from superhero costumes, urban street gangs and also the military, de-signs which make strong statements and show a belonging as well as uniforms which are tailored to, and perform to, their surroundings.

Just to clarify, I am in no way affiliated to nor represent any of the clubs, brands, names or sponsors which appear in this publication, they are all used for illustrative purposes.

Angelo Trofa, 2014.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PG 6-7

HOME KIT

PG 8-9

AWAY KIT

PG 10-11

NAME / NUMBERING

PG 16-17

HOME KIT

PG 18-19

AWAY KIT

PG 20-21

NAME / NUMBERING

PG 26-29

ANTHEM JACKETS

PG 12-13

HOME KIT

PG 14-15

AWAY KIT

PG 22

CREST DESIGN

PG 23

KIT OVERVIEW

PG 24-25

HOME & AWAY

PG 30-31

MONACO × MARLBORO KIT

GREECE JAPAN

SPAIN ENGLAND

ANTHEM JACKET AS MONACO

The Greece design is something that I have had in mind for many years. It is inspired by Ancient Greek history and depictions of Greek soliders in films and mythology. The Greek key pattern is known throughout the world and is used to decorate furniture, clothing, pottery and has also been adopted by fashion house, Versace.

The idea is to give Greece an iconic kit which takes the Greek figures from the mythological battlefields and films and puts them onto the football field. The construction of the kit features lines and stitching to

mimic the armour worn by the all-conquering Ancient Greeks, and also has strategically placed stitching to accentuate the muscular physique that was revered in the ancient times.

Within the concept of this kit I have constantly tried to add subtle references to the Greek flag, the branding stripes are a great way to play on this as the national flag is built up of stripes. The calf of the socks and also the shorts’ side panels were ideal in adding the subtle details I was looking for in order to give the kit that extra Greek feel.

GREECE HOME

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1 – Sock DetailThe stripes on the back of the socks come together to create the distinctive cross on the Greek flag.

2 – NumberingThe idea that spawned the entire kit was the concept of using ‘sigma’ in reverse to create the number three.

3 – Long SleevesInspired by the Greek ‘cuffs’ the long sleeved varient would see the ornate pattern placed further down the arm.

4 – Greek KeyThe pattern synonymous with Greece, this becomes the main focus of decoration for the design.

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Until Greece triumphed in white at Euro 2004 they had switched between blue and white many times as their home colour. In fact most are surprised when finding out that white is officially Greece’s home colour.

For this concept I originally wanted to revert Greece back to a blue home strip, but after the designs were finished I decided that the white strip looked that little bit more Greek than an all blue design. One of the features of a blue Greek kit that has always come across as odd is the

disappearing crest. With the Greek crest’s shield blue it always seems to get lost on the blue strip. This is the main reason I decided to invert the colours for it with the design, allowing it to stand out more. What I like about this is that despite this its unique cross and stripe design still make it instantly recognisable.

The stand out point for the design is the large square collar, the like of which hasn’t been seen on a football kit before, but this is a design synonymous with Greece, and something I had to include.

GREECE AWAY

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1 – Greek ArmourThe original concept for the kit comes from the Ancient Greek armour which consisted of a body plate and cuffs, these were decorated with ornate patterns.

2 – Progression To The FieldTaking strong cues from the armour, the football kit adopts the look and feel of its design, with a square collar and cuff, decorated with the ‘key’ pattern.

3 – ConstructionKeeping to the idea of the armour, this would correspond also with the way the jersey is constructed. The original Greek body armour was two pieces of cast iron held in place with leather straps. The idea is to mimic that concept, of course in lightweight sports fabrics.

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A kit that is based on Ancient Greece needs a name and number style that fits. Without wanting to go too obvious with the design I created this simple lettering which could be adapted to numerous styles. Bold, tall and with a simple spike in the corner to give it a dynamic sporting edge. It’s a type I also used for the Japan concept.

In order to tailor the lettering to the Greece kit, the two-tone colouring was used to add dimensionality and give the type a chiselled impression. The light blue stroke offsets the characters nicely and adds that subtle touch to help raise the characters from the jersey.

GREECE NAME STYLE

Japan home colours have switched between white and blue since the early 1990s, however it has stayed ‘samurai blue’. The design above takes the home colours back to white, with a design I’m surprised has never been done before. Using the national flag to design the football kit doesn’t happen often in international football, however, I feel that it works better with Japan than any other flag.

With this strip the number is allowed to sit comfortably in the centre red circle, creating a simple, but instantly recognisable international shirt.

The only drawback with this design is that in maintaining simplicity it means toning down all the other features of the kit. The sponsors badge and the national crest have all been designed in a muted white and grey, the idea is to keep all the focus on the centre of the shirt.

The main design features come in the tailoring of the kit. The collar for example is a subtle nod to the way the Japanese kimono hugs the neckline. The back of the shirt is built around a large mesh panel, making the shirt lighter but also more ‘breathable’.

JAPAN HOME

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1 – Back PanelThe large mesh panel on the reverse is held in place with a coverstitch.

2 – NumberingInspired by Japanese designer Kentaro Fujimoto’s Gasho font. The numbers also incorporate the three brand stripes.

3 – JFA CrestGiven a monotone makeover, using the same shades of white and grey used on the rest of the strip, adding a subtle pop.

4 – Long SleeveThe long sleeve equivalent features the same ribbon pattern as the short sleeves on the cuffs.

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While the home strip is a direct interpretation of the Japanese flag, or the ‘rising sun’ which is what it represents, the away kit goes back to ‘samurai blue’. In order to keep the link with the concept used in the home strip, this kit retains the disk in the centre of the shirt.

If the home strip represents the idea of the rising sun, I like to play with the idea that the away respresents the setting sun, creating a day and night concept. The main difference here of course being that all the extra elements, crests, stripes and badge, are given their colour back.

Another colour introduced in this kit is the darker blue, creating a two-tone kit. This is a design feature I wanted to add so that it allowed for an almost patch-like effect on the reverse of the shirt. Due to the multiple panels of fabric used to construct the shirt, I like the idea of making the bottom panel seem to join with the shorts.

I have always been a fan of home and away kits that correspond with one another, I like the idea of them being the same design, just in different colours, creating true home and away variations.

JAPAN AWAY

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Inspired by the classic Spain strip from the 1982 World Cup, the idea was to depict a Spanish kit with the black socks once again. That strip is up there with my favourites of all time, so this is essentially a re-imagining of what is a design classic.

What always captured me with the design is the way in which the stripes on the shorts create the colours of Spain, its a clever use of something which is placed on the kit to advertise the brand as it becomes a part of the decoration and a prominent part of the design.

What I also wanted to capture with the concept was the use of the Spanish flag, the back of the collar for example sees a simple yellow bar become the Spanish flag in a subtle yet decorative way.

The name and numbering was something that I intended to be very eye-catching to give the shirt an extra dimension. I wanted to create something that would stand out, in the way that the stripes do on the shorts. The result is something which respresents the Spanish flag (theme developing?) and also the sunrise on the horizon.

SPAIN HOME

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1 – Bull MotifA subtle graphic I created that represents the symbol and history of Spain, the bull, possibly the most powerful symbol associated with Spanish history and culture.

2 – Sleeve PatchHow the stripes would be ‘cut’ in order to accommodate event patches.

3 – Collar DesignThe original idea was to have a cut-out in the fabric to show through the yellow beneath and create the flag, however this wouldn’t work too well on the pitch, nor would it be particularly durable.

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The away kit takes what I like about the stripes in the Spainsh colours and makes that a big feature on the entire kit. In a hue of blue which Spain played with in the 1980s, I chose this instead of white in order to allow the Spanish flag colours to continue as a theme.

This is also a design which allows the name and numbering concept to stand out, and also means that the colours can stay the same as the home kit without the need to produce them in a secondary colour. The way they pop so strongly off the shirt is what I wanted to acheive.

Like the home strip before, I have illustrated the kit with the stripes running all the way down the sleeve, however due to the institutional patches and branding for each tournament, the stripes have caused problems in terms of placement. Since the the mid 2000s the stripes have been cut half way, allowing these patches to sit comfortably and visibly on the sleeve. I feel they work fine with the patches, however without them I always feel that they look disrupted, but for the purpose of showing how it would work I’ve also illustrated what the shirt would look like with the stripes cut half-way down the sleeve.

SPAIN AWAY

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1 – Collar DesignJust like the home design, however due to the blue collar, the flag design fills the entire reverse of the collar.

2 – Bull MotifAs well as featuring on the chest, the bull icon also features on the reverse of the shorts, where it is displayed in colour.

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Personally the name and numbering style is just as important as the overall football strip itself, essentially it has become a part of it. Therefore it is important to have styles which integrate seamlessely into the design, or even ehance it. Especially as it is this factor which takes a uniform design, and makes all 11 shirts different from one another.

The concept behind this styling is to create a set that interacts with one another, the basic idea is that when the name is placed above the number it completes a yellow bar centrally between the pair. When the two come together like this, what it forms is a giant Spanish flag, which also performs that task of numbering and naming the player.

SPAIN NAME & NO. STYLE

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With an anniversary often comes an anniversary kit, which then also means a crest in honour of the occasion. Twenty thirteen marked the 150th year of the founding of the English Football Association.

The design below is what I envisioned for the crest, a throwback to the original design which adorned the first ever England jerseys, from 1872 until the late 1940s. The shield and three lions have become trademarks for the England crest, however, the crown hasn’t been seen on an England shirt since 1949.

The starting point for the design was to revise the original concept, however with a contemporary face lift, the shape of the lions have been taken from the modern day badge, and the crown has been given a simpler silhouette.

It is around the crown that the decoration has been placed, a banner bearing the dates of the anniversary and of course the World Cup winning star in the centre. The deeper colours are also a nod to the colours on the original crest and kit.

THE FA 150 YEARS CREST

References

Anniversary football kits don’t come around too often, so they are always met with anticipation by football fans and collectors. It is therefore a chance for the kit suppliers and teams to go to town and create a one-off piece that doesn’t conform to trends of the moment and hopefully gets remembered in years to come.

It is with these principles in mind that the England anniversary kits were designed, something that is memorable, classic and represents the history of England. Sir Stanley Matthews’ England generation is what

provided the main inspiration for these kits. Shirts which were actual shirts. However in the modern day, with the emphasis ont the strip being lightweight and providing zero distractions, this would have to be a faux shirt. It would have to be a shirt that can adopt all the technologies of the modern kit also.

The colours would be the same shades as the crest and adopt the classic white-blue-blue combination worn until white socks were introduced in the 1960s.

ENGLAND HOME & AWAY

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The design of the shirt inherits all the classic elements of the tailored dress shirt, with a traditional looking fused collar, hem, yoke and also a similar side-seam stitch to what is found on the sides of the typical tailored shirt.

What I tried to capture with this design is the way in which Sir Stanley Matthews played with his top button undone and sleeves rolled up ready for action. Of course for this design there would be no buttons, however I envisage the collar to be left open and a slight parting on the bottom

of the shirt, thus giving the overall design that tailored shirt feel. All of these design characteristics are also handed to the away kit, which is effectively the same design in the away colours.

The idea isn’t to create a completely retro kit, the cut and fit would be much more modern, with a more tailored silhouette, shorter shorts and socks that hold a much more modern spin. This is opposed to the much more baggy cut worn by footballers in the 1950s. The fabrics would also utilise the sweat wicking technologies found in the kits of today.

ENGLAND HOME & AWAY

1 – Bottom Of The ShirtIn order to give the design the intended feel the split at the bottom of the shirt adds to the concept of a dress shirt.

2 – Long SleevesThe long sleeved equivalent to the shirts keep the one colour approach just like the short sleeve, with a thicker cuff to resemble that of a tailored shirt.

3 – Sock DesignA sock design that I would love to see happen. The original idea was to come up with a design to make the calves look bigger, the result was this striking graphic design which adds a different dimension to the kit, which otherwise would be quite simple.

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The Anthem Jacket for national teams has become just as iconic for the team as the playing strip. Here is my take on a design, one each for Japan, Spain and Greece. All have been given the same template, however each has been adapted for the nation.

The main point of inspiration for the design is the Japanese embroidered jackets, which have been adopted by youths, gangs and have become a sign of rebellion and belonging. The main feature of the jackets is a huge embroidered patch on the reverse, this is often used to showcase

the group or gang’s name, slogan or logo, in a similar way to the Hells Angels, T-Birds and the Wanderers. What I love about football is its tribal nature. This is what I want to tap into with this jacket, creating an almost ‘gang like’ feel, when the players line up.

Certain features I have added into the design are the longer elastic cuffs and the higher sitting hem, which I implemented to avoid the gathering of excess fabric at the bottom, which creates the illusion the players have a ‘gut’ when belting out the national anthem.

ANTHEM JACKET

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1 – IllustrationThe final concept in rough before illustrating the final design in vector.

2 – Subtle BrandingJust like the home shirt, the idea is to keep excess features subtle, to allow the main features to remain the focal points.

3 – PatchThe graphic on the back uses the red sun and also makes a big reference to Japanese popular culture with a manga-inspired half-tone graphic. The Japanese figures spell out the full name of the Japanese FA and also the national side’s nickname ‘Samurai Blue’.

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1 – Spain PatchThe Spainsh anthem jacket’s patch uses the bull logo featured on the shirt and also the font ‘Pablo’ by Kieran Stowers.

2 – Greece PatchFor Greece the reverse uses the same type used for the shirt naming, here they spell out ‘Hellas’ the country’s official name.

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Sometimes two brands share colours or similar design features, and despite being two completely different labels seem to unintentionally connect with each other. This is understandable given the amount of brands and advertising that we digest on a daily basis.

The above is a result of this, Marlboro and AS Monaco share the same colours, red and white with black details, and also share iconic branding. The reverse chevron packaging is instantly recognisable in tobacco stores, as is Monaco’s diagonal halved design in a near same

colour combination, on the football field. Although neither share any affiliation with one another they have a lot in common branding wise.

Tobacco sponsorship has been banned in almost every sport, however I have always imagined that if the law was to be overturned, the Marlboro and Monaco partnership would be a match made in heaven. The cross branding opportunities would be endless, AS Monaco cigarette packets and Marlboro football shirts! I’m sure it would be an instant classic, after all, it’s a design which designs itself.

AS MONACO × MARLBORO

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Copyright © Angelo Trofa, 2014

All Rights ReservedReproduction in whole or in part of this publication is strictly prohibited without prior permission from the designer including all logos, titles and graphic elements.

Special thanks to:

Azmie of switchimageproject.comSiân MorganKrishan GhediaChris CilibertiFrank Scarito& Zanzan Eyewear

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