Walking through the thrift store, Chelsea fan James Reynolds isn’t looking for anything in particular, but his attention snags on something blue.
“I saw something on a rail that I thought was an Italy ‘94 jacket. I took it off and it turned out to be a denim jacket, but it was the perfect blue.”
An idea sparks in his head.
Bringing the jacket back to his LA home, he carefully paints on individual white stars, perfectly replicating the 1994 USA World Cup shirt, finalising it with Alexi Lalas’ name and number on the back.
“It doesn’t get much more American than a denim jacket!” he laughs.
James, a British graphic designer now living in America and self-described “boot and shirt geek”, had just found his new canvas.
And he didn’t stop there. James’ creativity has led him to customise even more jackets under his business “Unlicensed FC”, even delivering some of his creations to legends such as Kaka, Ronaldinho and Patrice Evra.
“I started off with the USA one with the stars, and then Argentina and Italy, and it just kind of got picked up a bit. I got into dyeing them and with the Arsenal one I got into sewing the sleeves on, so I’ve got into a bit of a wormhole of different kits.”
His process is a long one, either starting with an idea in mind and sourcing the perfect coloured jacket, or finding inspiration when he least expects it.
“Sometimes you find the perfect colour, but I’ve also got a list in my notes of designs I’d love to do. I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect yellow colour or red colour, but now if it’s not blue, I’ll invariably get a white one and then dye it. And there’s been a lot of trial and error getting the right colour or doing the stripes.”
James often has a few designs he is working on at one time, dying the jackets before painting on the details.
“I’ll have one on the go, well, I’ll have two on the go when one’s drying do the other one. So it’s a bit of a production line and there’s been times where they’ve been five or six jackets drying over the sofa and that sort of thing, so it’s a bit of a mess,” he laughs, “but you do get into a kind of rhythm and I think the more you do, the more you get into it.”
With one or two jackets being made a week, James now has an eye for materials and textiles that other people might not think twice about.
“I’ve kind of become an accidental expert on the right kind of weave and how fit thick the thread is and how easy that is going to be to paint.”
Once he’s perfected the colour, James gets to work on the details. He carefully paints on names, sponsors, designs and importantly, the crests. Admittedly, some are more difficult than others.
“The old Arsenal one is tricky but the more recent one is a bit easier. Liverpool is a tricky one, although the newer one is when it’s just white and LFC, that’s perfect.”
But as a hardcore perfectionist and football fan, James doesn’t like to miss any details.
“There are moments you think, oh, I could leave that off. But being a fan and knowing how fans are, you can get called out, because they’re a lot more savvy than you think, like, ‘that’s not the right colour blue’ or ‘you missed off the stripes on that bit’. In some instances you think, oh, no one’s going to see that or that level of detail on the crest, but it is for a personal pride and then I think, no, let’s just do it properly.”
Every single piece to date has been an original design and he hasn’t repeated any yet, as he hopes to create a wide range of jackets and work on more commissions, eventually working with more brands and footballers and solidifying the idea as his own.
However, James’ creative drive to blend football and fashion didn’t start with denim jackets. It actually started with clogs.
Working in Amsterdam, James spent some time in the souvenir shops and noticed in some places they were selling plain, wooden clogs.
“I just thought it was quite funny that they’re so impractical, especially when boots are getting lighter and faster and thinner. I thought they’d look kind of cool with the Ronaldo Mercurial Blue and Silvers. And then again you get into a worm of, oh, let’s do the predators or the ones that Maradona wore. So it just became a bit of a passion project.”
Now, alongside his career in advertising, James focuses mainly on the jackets. He says his proudest moment happened when he saw his USA 94 designs on models outside the Rose Bowl in California celebrating 30 years since the 1994 USA FIFA World Cup.
“I think when the photos came out of them in front of the stadium and posing, you just think, oh, this is a real thing. Before I was just photographing them on the floor and it always looked a little bit amateur, but when you get it on models, I think it becomes more of a thing.”
He’s made jackets for Patrice Evra, Ronaldinho, and even Ed Sheeran, but he dreams of taking his designs further.
“I’d love to get on as many footballers as possible and just be able to do it on a commission basis, like if Cole Palmer asked for a jacket I could do that, and being able to be the go-to guy that a club or player goes to.”
And when we asked James what player he dreams of designing a jacket for?
“Ronaldo. It’s got to be R9.”
And if anyone is going to do it, it’s got to be the guy who turned clogs into Preds.
Some of James’s jackets can be found here at The Football Boutique
