OUR FIRST EVER — THE FCFC 23/24 AWAY JERSEY

THE RETRO FOOTBALL KIT THAT KICKED IT OFF.

As I mused my next steps after the sudden loss of my 9-5, I chanced upon the blokecore movement on my socials; a trend that intrigues me deeply as I am a huge football fan — and an even bigger sucker for them timeless retro soccer jerseys.

I went down that rabbit hole and figured well, if I’m gonna do this (clothes or streetwear fashion) it’s gotta be heavily inspired by football and cats.

And there was no better merchandise to start with than my very own self-designed retro football jersey, made complete with a cat in my crest.

Poring through design upon design of football kits from the late 80s, 90s and early noughties, it dawned on me that there’s been a lack of choice teal/turqoise soccer jerseys in the market.

This ultimately became THE gaping hole that I was more than eager to fill.

DESIGN PROCESS

There were several recent football jerseys in teal or teal-adjacent that caught my eye and they became sort of my guide as I was designing Fortune Centre FC’s first ever kit.

After my earlier research on retro kits, coupled with my own general knowledge from watching football for over 30 years, I know for an absolute fact that I would need a hardy, able-to-stand-on-its-own kinda collar to truly evoke that nostalgic 90s vibe. And it would be great to get that same material, in the same colour for the cuffs.

To further amplify the 90s vibe I was gunning for, I decided to go with an all-over geometric print featuring our secondary logomark — that of the triangle with the cat eyes.

For added depth, I played with 2 shades of teal to give more visual excitement to the all-over print as my initial plan of having custom embroidered polyester fabric was not gonna happen at this point of the project.

(Side note: I’ve had numerous discussions with various manufacturers and even fabric producers(!) but the quantity required to make such fabric was not gonna be sustainable at this juncture for me; so... scrapped (for now).)

SAMPLING PROCESS

Once I knocked off the all-over print design and my requirements for the collars, cuffs and custom boxy cut sizing, I routed my tech pack to my manufacturer and awaited with bated breath.

Alas, when the first sample came, it was frustratingly underwhelming.

The collar was not exactly what I wanted in that it was cut from the same fabric as the main body; just like those jerseys you might have seen or gotten locally. I wanted a departure from that; and this time I didn’t get it. Further, the choice of polyester type and my all-over print design did not seem to gel and personally, it looked more dated than retro…

I cant sell that!

With more determination than dollars in the bank, I dusted off the disappointment of version 1, and started work on version 2. This time, I went for a more striking look that I was confident would work on any polyester type.

I designed the secondary logomark to be in smaller dimensions, clustered and hued in a teal gradient. Combining these into an all-over print gave rise to an effect somewhat akin to Holland’s ubiquitous 1988 number. Gold — or should i say, GOALLLLLL!

With the requirements for collars and cuffs bolded, underlined and in ALL CAPS; and every aspect of the kit detailed conscientiously in the version 2 tech pack, I gotta say — my manufacturer delivered.

I was blown away by sample version 2. Exactly how I imagined, designed and envisioned.

This was IT.

RESULTS

I might have spent a pretty penny going through samples and requesting for details a budding brand typically don’t; but that burden melts away when I laid eyes on the final product.

A work of art — a kit worthy of being our first ever; a kit worth putting on the market for you aficionados to peruse, purchase and enjoy.

 

 

 

So for a fair, affordable sum, you get our Away Kit draped in tantalising teal and made from 100% buttery soft polyester to meet your lifestyle needs.

A vintage jersey sublimated with an all-over print of our iconic triangle logomark in a gradient of teal for that nostalgic geometric vibe.

Unleash your inner Cantona with our custom jacquard collar and cuffs that is as hardy as it is outstanding.

Last and certainly not the least, the brand logo and crest prominently features as embroidered patches with the sponsor type and mini secondary logomark at the back in heat press; whilst not forgetting our OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE woven label at the front bottom left hand side of this vintage masterpiece.

If you haven't already, get your FCFC 23/24 Away kit here!