As you know, we at The Gentleman Ultra are fascinated by football shirts, especially Italian football shirts.
Some of the latest and greatest to originate out of Italy have been created from Zeus Sport.
Zeus Sport, born in 1999 near Naples, primarily as a football supplier for academies and amateurs, has now branched into providing and supplying teamwear for volleyball, handball and basketball across Europe and the world.
For our Top Five Calcio shirt series we spoke to Zeus Sport’s Head Designer for Sport Performance and Apparel, Amilcare Elvo, to not only pick his five favourite calcio kits but discuss his history, the design process and working with Italian football clubs.
Amilcare has been responsible for some of the most unique and original kits that have graced Serie A, Serie B and Lega PRO fields over the past few years including Frosinone, Salernitana, FC Crotone and Bari.
TGU: How did you get into shirt design and why?
I fell in love this job as child, at the age of 10, watching and drawing all the Serie A kits in my sketchbook. This was the 90’s so there were champions like George Weah, Roberto Baggio and Paolo Maldini all still playing in the Serie A.
At the age of 19 I started to work with a local company where I live and there are many small teamwear companies so it all started as fun for me, but now it seems after some years it has become my full time job.
TGU: What was the first kit you designed?
The kit I first designed was working for the Legea brand, based in Pompei, and it was for Frosinone Calcio. Years later I’m designing their kit again for Zeus, perhaps this was fate.
It was a moment of great learning and personal improvement for me. Legea had several clubs so this gave me a chance to compare my work with bigger clubs and brands.
From that moment I was involved in designing Livorno, the Bosnian national team, the North Korea national team, Palermo and Udinese.
TGU: Is there a designer or football shirt that first inspired you?
The first designer that inspired me was Drake Ramberg, a famous Nike designer of the 1990s. Ramberg created timeless icons like the famous 1996-97 Borussia Dortmund kit and was responsible for designing the PSG, Arsenal and PSV kits of the late 90s.
When computer design was still just an idea these kits were all hand-designed and inspired the world of 90’s football kits, for me the greatest era of football kits so far.
One of the most iconic and powerful of this era for me was the 1995-96 Arsenal away kit, with the zig-zag pattern.
The creativity and imaginative art that embodied these kits of the early 90s is something that still is in the mind of fans today.
Drake’s design are still all hearts of football lovers and always will be.
TGU: How do you see the change in football kit design over the past 3-5 years?
Over the past three/five years I’ve seen changes in terms of the storytelling of the football kit. Football kits are going more in the direction of fashion by collaborations with important designers, stylists and brands.
When you see a football shirt in a fashion show you can clearly understand that our simple and beloved football kit is going from the stadium to the streets, giving more and more importance to collections that many years ago were just performance products.
PSG with the Jordan brand are the pioneers however my favourite collaboration is Napoli with Kappa and Marcelo Burlon.
TGU: Do you find it’s easier to work with Zeus as opposed to the big brands? Do you have more freedom to create and innovate etc?
Working with smaller brands does give you more freedom to create, more space for your creativity at 100% and you can express yourself better, you can feel free to tell the world the story that you want in your kit design.
Of course, the battle with the big brands (Nike, Adidas, Puma etc) is unequal where they give you the chance to work with the best clubs in the world.
For good or bad in both cases designing kits for football clubs across europe and the world is the most beautiful job and I feel the same passion regardless from the lower league clubs to Serie A.
TGU: How does the design process work from start to finish with a Serie A
club and who’s involved from the club? Is there multiple designs, feedback, help from the club at the start for example.
It all starts with the contract where all the details are worked out related to the project and what the club wants from their kits.
After a meeting with the clubs commercial and marketing departments I start to design several variations of the club’s kit ensuring the clubs specific requests are met and then we go back and forth to propose initial designs trying to fulfill all their specific requests.
After presenting a full portfolio to club and some feedback we start to reach the final product, which in some cases, can be completely different from the one that you have designed at first.
It’s such a pleasure when a designer finds someone from the club presidents and a commercial and marketing department that shares the same passion for football kits.
When this happens, the best kits are born!
TGU: What’s your favourite kit you’ve designed?
My favourite kit i have designed is Frosinone home kit 2018-19. It came after an unhappy personal moment but gave me the most powerful boost that only a game against Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo can give.
The colors of Frosinone (yellow and royal blue) are not my favourite together, but with the right mixing percentage a great kit was born. The silicon badges, sponsor logos, and bi-elastic fabrics were the main features of that kit which was an elegant result for a so small club.
TGU: What’s your favourite Italy kit of all-time?
My favourite Italy kit was the 1994 World Cup home shirt made by Diadora and worn by my all-time favourite player, Roberto Baggio.
The jacquard details, that shaded font for numbers were absolutely an icon and I fell in love with football kits even more because of this kit.
TGU: Thanks for your time Amilcare, now the fun part. Can you name your 5 favourite Serie A kits or all-time and why?
My favourite Serie A kits must start from Napoli in 1986-87. This was a timeless icon of course worn by Maradona. I am a Napoli fan but for me the best shirts are a mix between clubs’ success and what it meant for that time and the Serie A in those years was the best football in the world with lots of the greatest kits to come from that era.
Another legendary kit and favourite of mine is for sure the Sampdoria home kit of 1990-92 with the timeless tandem of Vialli-Mancini. The Sampdoria kit for me is one of the most fascinating concepts and combinations of colours in world football.
The AS Roma kit of 2000-01 made by Kappa, the first Serie A Kombat kit, this kit was an absolute milestone of football apparel. Aside from the mid-90s, this kit was very influential, introducing the skin-fit and many brands have since followed.
The Inter Milan third kit of 1997-98. The black and grey hoops, with the yellow accent and of course worn by Ronaldo, the original Ronaldo. And of course, Inter wore this kit to glory winning the 1997-98 UEFA Cup.
Who can forget Ronaldo’s tricks on that run to the final, that shirt was a great masterpiece made by Umbro for its last season with Inter before they switched to Nike.
A timeless kit that still looks amazing!
One of the most fascinating, and my favourite Serie A kit ever, was the Parma home kit of 1998/99.
Made by Lotto and worn by champions like Hernan Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon the Gialloblu kit was originally introduced due to the club’s association with Parmalat however after the dairy giant’s financial collapse, which led to the clubs folding and reforming.
Parma have reverted to their monochrome design lately however the yellow and royal blue hoops are legendary for Italy, the Serie A and 1990s football, this kit is an icon for Italian football.
