USMNT Soccer kits
How I capitalized on Nike's misstep and went viral
In the months leading up to the 2022 World Cup, leaks began to appear online of the jerseys the USMNT would wear. Many people were left underwhelmed by the designs and many hoped the leaks were inaccurate. Sure enough, on September 15th, US Soccer officially announced the kit designs that were exactly what the leaks showed.
Timeline
I sat down to design and completed my first draft of the famous Declaration kit before I finished my first cup of coffee. It just came naturally.
Background
Despite having an incredibly strong brand identity, US Soccer has routinely failed to deliver designs that support that brand identity. Kits are often redesigned every year in order to gain new sales and pump more money into the system. However, I find this often means that Nike will stray too far from what the fans love and identify with. Simply put, the American iconography that binds.
So I set out to design something uniquely American while also bringing back fan favorite styles.
The reception for my designs was beyond anything I could have imagined. Within minutes, they’d been picked up by notable USMNT analysts Alexi Lalas and Hercules Gomez as well as famous fans like Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and screenwriting legend Franklin Leonard. The popularity of the designs led to a profile with the New York Times.
The tweet of my designs ultimately reached over 3 million people, with engagement from hundreds of thousands of fans.
Design & Prototyping
Collaborating with independent retailer Olive & York, I was able to take my mockups from photoshop and convert them into an authentic, wearable design accounting for material cuts, printing, and sewing.
Sold Out in Minutes
When we were able to finally list the kits for sale, they sold out within minutes. Demand for the jerseys was so high we LITERALLY could not print them fast enough. Over a thousand jerseys were sold in the first drop, leading to three more releases ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Unique Branding
In order to print and sell the jerseys, I needed to create a unique brand identity since the US shield was copyright material owned by the USSF. I decided to create an homage to the original US soccer crest with a modern spin on the shield.
The viral sensation was bigger than anything I could have ever hoped. Fans and families gravitated to the designs so strongly, they pushed to have it produced fast enough to wear to the World Cup in Qatar. And we delivered.
5m
social media impressions
130k
shares and retweets
4000
custom jerseys sold
4
sell out releases
"The usual O&Y production quality applied to this keen vision of a third shirt worthy of our American women & men soccer heroes. All-around excellence in design and execution."
one of thousands of satisfied customers
Olive & York Review - 5 Star Rating
