A guest article by Fabrizia Monteleone, responsible for Product & Merchandising at Venezia FC.
In the last seasons, Venezia Football Club has positioned itself in the global football culture redefining the relationship between sports and culture in general, affirming itself with a disruptive identity thanks to a high standard aesthetic, a distinctive identity and the narration of its city.
In this context, the club promotion to Serie A in the 2020/21 season helped increasing the popularity of the project, starting from the release of the kits, designed by the American creative agency Fly Nowhere and, for the following season, by the Munich-based design studio Bureau Borsche.
In the light of the success of the shirts, the club started to design and develop internally mini limited edition capsule collections that were independent from the technical sponsor.
In April 2022, the Venezia FC released their first independent collection, the Rain Collection: a four-piece drop that included an umbrella, a raincoat, a fisherman’s hat and a scarf, and continued exploring with other collections marked by ever-new and different concepts.
The creative process takes place internally through accurate research and testing of different designs, inspired by the club’s archives, fashion trends and elements from the city. Once the design has been defined with the support of our suppliers, the collection goes into production.
The high-quality standards and the special attention to details, with exclusively Made in Italy manufacturing, make Venezia’s merchandise offer something that differs from the average football products.
Besides independent collections, the club has been involved in collaborations with other brands in line with the club’s brand identity.
Last summer, Venezia FC and the Venetian swimwear brand Lido presented an exclusive mini capsule, comprising a bikini and a one-piece swimsuit for women and a swim trunk for men, available in terracotta orange, black, and jade green — Lido’s take on Venezia’s arancioneroverde colors.
The club’s merchandise offer also met the approval and the curiosity of what we call non-football fans, approaching a new audience such as artists, fashion and business magazines, designers and writers, that for the first time took an interest in the football world, with the success of Venezia’s collections becoming increasingly unrelated to sports results.
Apart from focusing on fashion, the club is committed to leveraging football’s unique cultural power to serve as a vehicle for social progress, advocating for inclusion and harmony within our community and promoting education through, for example, cultural partnerships with the local Universities. Venezia, however, doesn’t want to be regarded as a fashion brand, but rather as a football club with a fashion attitude.
Photos: Venezia FC
