Adidas X Novembre Studio: an adaptive & self-expressing bespoke font for this season’s must-own VRCT jacket
Fabio Novembre aka the man responsible for AC Milan's mind-blowing “Casa Milan” headquarters is the creative force behind a heavy-type classic reinvented aka Adidas' hot-selling new VRCT jacket and its customizable “self-expressing” patches.
Collegiate jackets trace their origins to more than 150 years ago to letter sweaters which were first introduced by the Harvard University baseball team in 1865.
Originally worn by the student teams of many American universities, the jackets and their respective slogans used to represent “school and team pride, as well as display students’ personal awards earned in athletics, academics or activities.”
Inspired by tradition and updated with a fresh perspective, the new VRCT jacket is a college bomber jacket made for the modern landscape launched by the renowned global sportswear giant.
To bring the item to the present Adidas jackets come with a customizable badge, a canvas of self-expression and individuality, as seen on the best athletes in the world all designed by Novembre Studio, with the collaboration of Leftloft.
“As well as the custom-fitted patches, Novembre studied a graphic font able to adapt to the rounded shape of the patches,” says the studio.
The adaptive font’s twelve different widths correspond to different weights. “The larger the letter is, the bigger is its weight” adds Novembre of this bespoke typographic system.
“The font gives consistency and balance to the lettering, having always different heights and measures,” says the creator of Adidas jacket.
To launch the VRCT jacket line Adidas chose six sports icons to inspire. The Houston Rockets basketball player James Harden, the para-cyclist Denise Schindler, the American dancer Mette Towley, Juventus football player Paulo Dybala, Chinese swimmer Ning Zetao and Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas are the company's promoters with each one choosing a representative word for each patch “emphasizing the great message of how staying true to themselves and be proud of their individuality has played an important role in their success.”
Breakout tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas chose to represent the word BELIEVER.
Customers can personalize their patches via the Adidas website with five standard options, reading “author,” “brave,” “family,” “I'm perfect,” and “sacrifice,” to choose from.
“Every man, every athlete, is a carrier and acts as a force, carrying a message with a wide audience. The idea was to recreate in the patch a sort of storytelling looking back at the victories in university traditions in the battles that take place in the present. Everyone must be able to choose their message to pin on their chest and wear it with pride, showing off a story” stated Novembre.
“The modern versatility of the iconic jacket is proposed in the creation of the font, dynamically fitting into the patch’s circular shape and to every size of each message, giving a strong expressiveness and freshness” concludes Novembre Studio.
Italian architect and designer Fabio Novembre was appointed scientific director of the Domus Academy school of design in Milan in 2018.
Tags/ fashion, typeface, font, fabio novembre, jacket, sports, patches, stefanos tsitsipas
