Umbro’s kitbash collection

This film, for Umbro, starts with torn-up photographs, layered over each other to create new images, new narratives. 

In For the Love of Shirts, pitches, balls, fans, flags, all chopped up, but perfectly aligned on the screen. We go into a clothing shop, full of football kits of many different teams. Heralds and badges are chopped up and pushed back together, showing all the ways that allegiance can be worn in multiple ways. 

This intro is a perfect lead-in as we watch a man cut up beloved shirts to make new patterns and new heralds. Blood In Blood Out is a boutique shop that creates new shirts out of old ones, transforming a single kind of football fan into a multilayered, individual piece. The narrator describes shirts like armor, and as he pieces together the different kinds of work, giving the film a distinct texture; an aesthetic. It’s fully embracing multiculturalism in a moment of division, and while it’s objectively not a political ad, the messaging feels very pertinent. 

For the Love of Shirts is short documentary, directed and filmed by Robbert Doelwijt Jr. It’s a fascinating look at a sustainable, bespoke fashion outlet that proves a kit is more than the sum of its parts. The craft of the shirts, perfectly aligned, perfectly cut, is an exemplary example of an ad that completely reflects the product.