As we all know by now, nobody likes the new U.S. men’s national team World Cup kits that recently leaked.
That got people thinking over at Official League, a company that specializes in limited-edition caps. They approached me with the idea of running a design contest to create an unofficial Team USA cap that they can put into production in time for the World Cup.
The contest announcement is here. The basic rules are as follows:
- You can download a cap template here.
- Your design may not include more than nine colors and may not include any copyrighted graphics (you can’t use the U.S. Soccer logo, e.g.). Aside from those two restrictions, anything goes.
- You should email your completed design to Official League by Sept. 28. That’s two weeks from today.
- Official League will choose three finalists (Uni Watch will have no say in the choices) and will then conduct two days of online voting to select the winning design.
- The winning design will be produced in a numbered edition of 100 caps, which will be available for sale starting on Nov. 1.
- The winning designer will receive (1) $100; (2) a one-year subscription to Official League’s monthly Collector’s Club program; and (3) one hat from the numbered edition of their winning design, with the designer getting to choose the number.
I like the idea of this contest. I mean, whatever you folks come up with, it’s gotta be better than the Nike slop, right? I’m also curious to see how Uni Watch readers approach the issues of flag imagery, rah-rah-ism, and so on. And the prize seems fair.
Big thanks to Official League for partnering with Uni Watch on this one. As for all you designers out there, get crackin’!
Our latest raffle winner is David Fiora, who’s won himself a one-year subscription to my Bulletin articles. Congrats to him, and thanks again to Sam Selker for sponsoring the raffles I’ve run over the past two days.
Today’s Ticker is available here. — Paul
A first today for the Mariners. They’re wearing the Cream/Royal/Yellow uni’s for a Wednesday day game. Up until now, this had been only a Sunday uniform.
And upon further review, the Mariners chose the Cream uniform as the template for their Hispanic Heritage Uniforms (Los Marineros).
Long time reader, no time contest submitter: Paul, this time you’ve out-done yourself. Great idea and terrific partnership. You summed it all up with your confidence in the uni-verse submitters.
Having no skills in any design area, I’m always intrigued by the quality of entries. Can’t wait to see what you geniuses come up with this time.
I may even buy a cap! Should be a nice addition to the Uni collection