Speaking the language of lacrosse: custom team apparel for The Fly 2025
With the Sixes lacrosse tournament, The Fly (see our previous work), now firmly establishing itself as a highlight in the sporting calendar, we've once again partnered with England Lacrosse to evolve the brand. This time, our focus was on developing apparel designs for each of the four teams that make up this fast-paced tournament.
The brief was deceptively straightforward yet characteristically challenging: create t-shirt designs that team supporters would proudly purchase and wear. These designs needed to be eye-catching, align with the existing brand identities for each team and – perhaps most crucially – appeal to lacrosse players themselves.
As with all the most interesting projects, the answer was hiding in plain sight within the brief. Like most sports, lacrosse has developed its own language over time. Terms, definitions and phrases that become shorthand slang for specific shots, plays or player positions. If you know lacrosse, you’ll immediately understand what ‘checking’, ‘top shelf’ and ‘fast break’ mean, but we needed to find a way of weaving these specialist terms into t-shirt designs that felt authentic rather than forced.
Each team already has its own distinct identity, personality and tone of voice, so our approach was to select the right phrase to amplify what made each team unique. The optimistic and bright ‘Rise’ team fitted perfectly with a ‘fast break’ message, whilst the anarchic ‘Forge’ team’s tee needed a lacrosse-themed twist to the phrase ‘rock and roll’.
We’re looking forward to seeing the designs make their debut at The Fly 2025, seeing t-shirts worn with pride by true fans of the sport.
