Cult Kits, the cult-favourite model identified for curating one of many world’s most in depth collections of classic soccer shirts, has stepped into the promoting enviornment for the very first time.
Teaming up with VCCP Blue and content material studio Woman&Bear, the model has unveiled The Shirt Issues, a brand new model platform and artistic marketing campaign that challenges how we take into consideration the standard soccer jersey.
For Cult Kits, it is a clear assertion of intent. Launched globally throughout YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, the marketing campaign targets adults who love soccer, in addition to those that see the game as inseparable from the broader inventive tradition, encompassing music, vogue, and movie. It is a recognition that soccer shirts aren’t simply merchandise; they’re cultural artefacts deeply rooted in nostalgia, private identification and collective reminiscence.
On the centre of the marketing campaign is a brief movie, Wiseguys, conceived by VCCP inventive Paul Kocur, who additionally directed the piece. Produced by Woman&Bear Studios, with post-production dealt with in-house at Woman&Bear Publish, the movie is a playful homage to basic gangster showdowns. As a substitute of combating over cash, energy or territory, these smart guys discover themselves locked in a tension-filled standoff over one thing way more treasured: a soccer shirt.
By putting a soccer shirt on the coronary heart of a dramatic, tongue-in-cheek narrative, Wiseguys units the tone for your entire platform. It invitations viewers to contemplate how a shirt can function a badge of belonging, a time capsule, or an emblem of affection for a membership or an period. It is a dialog starter, not simply an merchandise of clothes.
Paul Kocur, affiliate inventive director at VCCP, was excited to convey this imaginative and prescient to life. “As a inventive, I’ve at all times needed to direct,” he says. “This was the right probability to collaborate with a model I like, inform a wise story, and do all of it on a shoestring.
“We needed to create one thing that may stand out, entertain, and make individuals assume in another way a couple of soccer shirt. Cult Kits is not simply promoting jerseys – they’re curating tradition. And we needed the work to mirror that.”
For Cult Kits founders David Jones and Robert Kocur, The Shirt Issues places a stake within the floor about what makes their model completely different. “We have at all times seen Cult Kits as greater than only a place to purchase soccer shirts,” they clarify. “We’re about tales, model, and cultural crossover. This marketing campaign reveals how a lot a shirt can actually imply — and does it in a approach that is good, humorous, and distinctly us.”
The collaboration was a dream match for Woman&Bear, too, in accordance with Olly Calverley, head of movie and content material and govt producer Ed Rosie. “That is a kind of sensible initiatives that comes alongside now and again, and we simply could not resist getting concerned,” they are saying.
“It is an amazing model with a killer script, and with a lot expertise throughout Woman&Bear, we had every little thing we would have liked to make it occur — so we received caught in and had a good time doing it.”
In some ways, the launch of The Shirt Issues appears like a pure development for Cult Kits. Through the years, the model has constructed a loyal following of followers drawn not simply to the shirts themselves however to the tales behind them. From tales of underdog triumphs and unforgettable tournaments to cult gamers and eras that outlined soccer’s golden moments, this marketing campaign takes that storytelling to a wider, extra mainstream viewers.
The work additionally faucets right into a broader inventive pattern: reframing objects of fandom by the lens of design, narrative and emotional worth. In an age of classic drops, archival vogue and cultural nostalgia, Cult Kits’ perspective feels extra related than ever.
Because the marketing campaign rolls out throughout social and digital channels, Cult Kits hopes it can spark dialog and invite individuals to rethink what soccer vogue actually means. Whether or not you are a lifelong collector or somebody who simply likes to put on the odd basic package to the pub, The Shirt Issues makes a compelling case for the continued energy of those clothes to attach individuals to put, to time, and one another.
With its witty tackle gangster tropes, cinematic model and an simple ardour for soccer tradition, Wiseguys units a assured tone for what Cult Kits would possibly do subsequent in its model storytelling journey.
