Trends In Athletic T-Shirts

[jake22]

I recently convinced my old high school football coach to let me design the team's t shirts this season. As you can imagine, in the past they were limited to what little creativity a football coach has, which isn't much. I told him that I would design shirts that were graphically superior to anything that the program ever had in the past. I already have many ideas, some of which include something based off the classic RUM DMC logo, another based on Baylor's tourney uniforms (One Team, One God, One Goal), etc...

So my question for the many wise minds of the CCSLC is, can we compile a photographic list of trends in athketic t-shirts? This includes all annual "sideline" and other "official" gear, and anything else that pro or college teams have sold or worn in the past 7-10 years. I'm also looking for larger non-athletic t-shirt trends. Examples include nike's BIG WORDS that fill up the entire shirt, many small words making up a larger image, etc...

Basically I'm looking for anything popular, something that I could use as a guideline for creating shirts that cocky football players who think that they're the kings of the world would want to wear.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks everyone,

Jake

[Brass]

"Vintage" shirts seem to be very popular and are aesthetically pleasing without being in your face about it. Stuff that '47 produces are perfect examples of what I mean.

[shaydre1019]

I know Nike has been using a lot of "explosion/broken glass" themes lately, like the whole "BOOM" thing

[KCScout76]

the "distressed" font look is very popular. Not my favorite, but they sell well in the stores.

[Chawls]

Think about the aspects of the school like a brand. School colors. Team name (mascot). School slogan. Unique school traditions. Common aspects that students from THAT school can immediately relate to.

If you're taking the Nikesque slogan route, limit the number of words to 4 or less. Also, make sure that each word has as few syllables as possible. The less words you use, the more direct the message/rallying cry becomes.

IMHO

[guest23]

are these workout shirts or for casual wear?

if they are primarily to be worn during team activities I'd keep it simple...going back to my old days, I don't think you can get better than the old school distressed heather gray tee with block letter text...make the text big and bold and just put the school name/mascot/team slogan on it...make it something only the team can identify with.

It sounds like you really want to add some artistic element but I honestly think that high school kids that are really into football will want the old school no BS look...that style has been associated with the sport for more than 50 years...it's a simple and timeless look.

[bwalker1974]

I wish you luck with that. It seems that no matter how creative you try to get with designs 75-80% of people just want the basic traditional or go so overboard with distressed/stitch/tattoo look. I swear to god if I have to create another crossed bat look...

[jake22]

Thanks everyone, let me clarify a bit though. This, let's call it a dream job, consists of designing 4 t shirts for casual wear (Theme TBD, Lifting award, Academic award, and a mini camp shirt) these all get awarded every year, and most players won't get all 4, in fact when I was playing I only got one. Basically my only constraints are to make them in 4 different colors (red, black, grey, and white). I also have the opportunity to design the lift wear and sweats but I think I have those under control.

So basically my idea is to keep it classy and traditional while at the same time bringing something to the table that they have never seen before. That could be anything between and school script in a new font all the way to a complicated graphic masterpiece that i spend weeks designing. The whole reason for asking about recent trends here was because I thought it might make the players feel special to be wearing what looks like brand name apparel that also represents their football team. I may not do this for all the shirts, I may very well go with the classic varsity grunge look that has worked for 50+ years, I just want to stand out among the other years, I want to create a product that is like nothing they have every seen before.

Thanks again for your help guys, it's greatly appreciated.

FYI the school's name is the Fairview Knights, i could post some more graphic info (uniforms, helmet, logos, previous t shirts, etc...) later on if that would be helpful. But I'm not really looking for concepts, I want this to be my original work, but just to be clear I'm only looking for trends and ideas, not for other people to do this for me and then not be credited for their work, I am fully capable of designing these on my own.

Jake

[Billy B]

I know you want to design the shirt yourself so this may not be too helpful, but if you're looking to have a shirt that makes them feel special like it's a brand name you might be able to get shirts from Nike with your school name/logo on it. My sophomore year, we got shirts from Nike that were the same as the college shirts they were making this year with our logo and name on them. Of my four years, that was easily the favorite shirt I got and the only one I still wear that's not solely for working out.

[jake22]

Been there done that. Two years ago, it's my job to one up those ones, which coincidentally were also my favorites.