Tailored Sports

Monday, January 25, 2010 at 9:38 AM

2010 is the World Cup year!

For their kits England have been inspired by Heritage and traditional English tailoring. Instead of evolving old designs and mixing with new breakthroughs in garment technology they started with a "blank canvas". Umbro bought in Aitor Throup - who thinks very technically about his garments and how clothing behaves and functions on the body, and Charlie Allen - a London tailor.
Not only are the kits designed from scratch they are also made bespoke for each player to optimise performance - "Instead of the body moving inside of a shirt...the kit is moving with the body."
"...grab some heritage and catapult it forward with some really technical innovation and style and performance and bring the two together to create this brand new form."
"Think about how it feels when you wear a well fitting suit - the pride, the feeling, just the psychological boost you get is very different from wearing normal garments."

I think this is an incredibly interesting process with the consideration of function and style through creative pattern cutting and tailoring.

Here is Aitor Throup's MA collection from when he was in The Royal College of Art