LOUD KITS

With this theme being along the lines of "bath art" (or as it was described, the patterns bath bombs make when dropped in water), I decided to go with something a little bit more suitable club-wise, with my local club, the Colorado Rapids. Taking the literal rapids of a river as inspiration, I used a blue "drip" pattern and added some white splotches, which create the look of the white froth or foam typical of said rapids.

I had a few different ideas for this theme, but I eventually settled on this look. I used a hoodie from clothing brand Imouri as a base to work on, and eventually added some cool features, including a half-and-half look, Japan written in kanji under the Japanese national team's crest, and used a pattern from German club Greuther Furth to make a sort of camo design. I also included Japanese brand Uniqlo as the manufacturer, to help drive home the theme a bit more.

Upon seeing this theme, I immediately started going after something that was, in hindsight, very obvious. Seeing as Disney World is one of the most iconic theme parks globally, I used its centerpiece, Cinderella's castle, as inspiration for an Orlando City SC kit. On top of the signature cream, gold, and blue color scheme, I took a portion of the roof's design and translated it onto the chest of the shirt. This is definitely something that is undeniably Orlando.

Ikea was a theme that was definitely a bit different. After all, how do you design a soccer jersey for a Swedish furniture brand? I decided on something simple and very easy to replicate: the unique signature shirts of Ikea employees. Here, i included the bold yellow base, and reproduced the pinstripes of the shirt, which use a unique white, blue, and red sequence. I capped off the jersey with the Swedish national team badge and an Ikea sponsor, and it almost looks like something that said national team could trot out in!

With so many airlines around the world, and plenty of design inspiration, I looked a bit deeper into some unique looks for this shirt. I settled on something inspired by the "Hekla Aurora" plane used by Icelandair, which is completely Aurora Borealis themed, from the exterior wrap, to in interior lighting. I found a photo that resembled the livery and included some yellow accents to reflect the airline branding. Capped off with the Iceland national team's awesome crest, and this might be one of my favorite looks I've but together in a while!

Album covers are a hard idea to translate to a soccer jersey, so I decided to go more abstract. I decided to go with a Beatles themed kit, using two of their most famous album covers to do the trick. The white stripes are taken from Abbey Road, while the bold yellow, pink, blue, and orange stripe accents are taken from the jackets the band members wore in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. To finish the look off, I added a tonal pattern for the gray base, a Liverpool FC logo (seeing as the band was from the city), and a Beatles sponsor for good measure.

Given the popularity of surfing/skateboarding/snow sports brands in fashion, there was a lot to work with for this theme. I eventually decided to draw on the Olympics for this look. The shirt is directly inspired by the jackets worn by the USA Snowboarding team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Everything, from the similar pattern, design layout, Volcom logo, and color scheme is a copy of the jackets, of course made appropriate for a soccer jersey. Not the most conventional product, but a good way to get back into Loud Kits competition.