While only a few jersey designs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) have impressed fans over the years, most of the others have received negative reviews. Ahead of every new season, subtle changes to an IPL team’s jersey are seen. However, some teams have also made wholesale changes to their jerseys. For example, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had black and gold as their colours in the first two seasons before switching to purple and gold.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), on the other hand, are one of the few teams that have made only subtle changes to their jerseys over the years. However, not many jerseys have received positive feedback from fans.
Aaquib Wani, who designed India’s current jersey, explained why the threads of IPL teams have fallen short of fans’ expectations. Firstly, he said that designers have to leave space for a long list of sponsor logos, take into account a team’s fixed colours, and broadcast requirements. He gave the example of Formula 1 teams, mentioning that their jerseys also have several sponsors but they still look attractive.
“Truth is, designing an IPL jersey is one of the most restrictive briefs. No central design system, a long list of sponsor logos, fixed team colours, broadcast requirements, and manufacturing limits, all have to fit on one jersey,” Wani wrote on ‘X’.
“Sponsors are the biggest challenges. Every brand wants its logo in original colours,which makes it hard to keep the jersey visually clean. Ideally there should be a unified system. Look at F1 teams, similar no of logos, but often in one colour so the overall look stays premium,” he added.
Wani also mentioned that the quality of products in India is not always given great importance, especially in the IPL. He added that he had designed NBA jerseys, which came out with the same quality in India. Therefore, he mentioned that producing quality products is not a problem in India.
“Production is another limitation. Pattern making options are limited, fabric choices are limited, and the quality many factories produce for league kits is not always premium. It’s not that India can’t make world-class product it’s just not always treated as necessary,” Wani wrote.
“I’ve designed forNBA with production done in India, and the product came out exactly as designed,fresh silhouettes, international quality. So the capability exists.The difference is how much freedom and importance design gets in the process. There’s very lil experimentation,” he added.
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125Look at The Hundred: Wani
In the end, Wani opined that The Hundred in England has bold and attractive jerseys and eye-catching graphics, whereas he called IPL’s approach “conservative.” Lastly, he said that the use of the golden colour in the IPL jersey should not be allowed. A lot of teams have adopted the golden colour, either in their jersey design or in the names and numbers printed on them.
“Look at The Hundred in England, fresh colours, bold identities, even the scorecards and graphics feel new. In IPL the system has been more conservative, so most teams stay within a safe, familiar template. Personal take, the shiny gold in IPL jerseys should be banned – its tacky!” Wani concluded.
