Football Shirt Culture.com

To celebrate the world’s greatest football tournament, this summer Umbro has released the World Champions Collection.  This truly inspired football range has been designed in collaboration with some of the hottest international artists, each hailing from one of the seven nations that have ever won the tournament.  The twist in the brief to them was to base their design on the tailored silhouette of the Umbro England home shirt.

When Umbro launched the England home shirt in March 2009 they redefined replica and this kit will arguably make England the best-dressed team this summer. Based on the heralded canvas of the home shirt, this latest collection honours the football cultures of the seven champion nations – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay.

Umbro has teamed up with artists from a diverse set of creative backgrounds to create a limited edition version of the England home shirt plus a T-shirt based on the resulting design. Using their nationality’s football culture as inspiration this is expressed through the unique crest design on each shirt.

In Argentina, Umbro connected with Buenos Aires based record label, ZZK Records. Credited with re-invigorating the Buenos Aires party scene, the label combines a love of eclectic music with a recognisable design identity.  ZZK’s crest design depicts the sun, Argentina’s national emblem, shouting “goal”, two indigenous birds holding up one finger for each of the country’s wins and kids playing football in the street, a pastime seen throughout the country.

Brazil’s remarkable achievement of winning five times, is celebrated through Umbro’s collaboration with Fernando Chamarelli, an illustrator, visual artist and tattoo designer from Sao Paolo. Chamarelli’s unique art, which connects symbols and legends of Brazilian culture, is apparent in his crest design.  Chamarelli said “I was inspired by several elements of Brazilian culture - Capoeira, berimbau, music, birds, samba, carnival masks, the beauty of a tropical country, waves, and football of course. When I began to create the crest, I was thinking about some moves, dribbling, goals. I tried to put the movement in the crest over my art.”  His design refers back to when the Brazil kit was first yellow and green in the 1950s, and the team became known as Canarinho, little Canaries.

The England shirt collaboration has been designed with Ben Eine, one of England’s most prominent street artists and graffiti pioneers. ““I wanted to do something very traditional, something regal from the days of shining knights and Tudor roses. I wanted to show England as a strong, solid and brave team,” said Ben. This is translated into a bold, beautifully detailed red crest printed onto the classic, white England home shirt.

In France, Umbro chose to work with graffiti artist, now turned international fashion authority and club owner, Andre. The French shirt, a modern interpretation of the one worn in the early 80’s, is a classic Gallic blue and Andre has designed a crest that is a clean, fresh take on the most famous of French landmarks, the Eiffel Tower.

Thomas Marecki (Marok) is a designer, artist and publisher from Berlin, set up Lodown Magazine in 1995, which is now one of the most influential graphic design and pop culture magazines in the world. Umbro were thrilled to collaborate with him on the German shirt and crest design. ““The crest is a delicate part of the uniform, and the uniform enhances team spirit. I was looking for something that could reflect my country in a positive way. The dredger is a symbol for the imminent will to construct and destruct. The stars refer to the German championships, and the sausage needs no further explanation,” said Marok.

Umbro contacted Italian comics author, illustrator and artist Tanino Liberatore to design the Italian collections shirt. “My crest design celebrates Italy’s long history of gladiatorial athletes and their spiritual home. It is an analogy of our team going in to battle to defend the World Cup they won in 2006.”

In Uruguay Umbro teamed up with Martin Albronoz, a mixed media artist from Montevideo. Working across photography, painting and graphics Martin created a crest commemorating Uruguay’s legendary 1950 World Cup victory over Brazil; such a culturally remarkable moment, Uruguay refers to it as ‘El Maracanazo’, which refers to the way the team fought against the odds to victory. Four stars feature on the crest, two from their wins in 1930 and 1950, plus the two representing the team’s gold medals from the Olympics in 1924 and 1928, before the formation of the modern tournament as we know it. 

Trevor Cairns, Chief Marketing Officer from Umbro said, “Umbro has been a football tailoring brand for over 85 years and our shirts have been worn by champions throughout this time.  Today, tailoring is pivotal to everything we do and we wanted to see how the strong  aesthetic of this crafted piece of kit could inspire these artists.  The clash of football and culture has created crests that tell insightful,  deep and rich stories about that country’s pride in football and their broader culture.”

The Umbro World Champions Collection of football shirts and T-shirts is available from Selfridges.  RRP £70 for the Limited Edition box (including poster of all the crests signed by the artists, the shirt, story booklet about the inspiration behind each design and a crest pin badge), £50 for shirt, £25 for T-shirt.