Equipt Studios and the Rise of Indie Kit Creation
A talk with owner, Austin Chen, about the creation of Equipt Studios and the state of design in the soccer world
By Tyler Trent
Larger kit suppliers like Nike, Adidas, and Puma often put out designs that are disappointing to fans, which has led to growth of indie kit manufactures and designers. Companies like Equipt Studios have taken initiative and revived that excitement of jersey reveals for the soccer community. I had the pleasure to speak with Austin Chen, owner of Equipt Studios, about the company, their values, and their future goals.
Equipt Studios began in 2020 when Chen was laid off from his job and began using his free time to flex his creative muscles with graphic design work – primarily logos at the time. Chen got into jersey design after a logo client had asked if he was able to create jersey concepts. After designing the concept, the client was enamored and wanted to take the next step to produce an actual jersey.
In 2022, Equipt Studios has continued to grow and build a larger footprint in the kit community. While Chen works a full-time day job, he doesn’t want to downplay Equipt Studios importance. “I don’t want to call it a side business, because that kind of downplays the importance of it.”
Chen mentioned he would love to make Equipt studios his full-time job someday. While the journey began as a one-man show in 2020, it has now grown to include the assistance of members of the online Reddit Kitswap community.
The Maharlika Manila Project
One of those Kitswap community members, Jason Lacsamana, has taken on a larger role on the business side. Lacsamana has been named to the position of Director of Strategic Partnerships for Equipt studios. A recent collaboration with Philippines Football League club Maharlika Manila FC has continued to propel Equipt Studios forward. Lacsamana found the opportunity to enter a design contest for Maharlika Manila FC’s newest kit.
Chen’s design featured a brilliant use of the club’s colors down the front of the shirt, along with a map of Manila inlayed in the background. His design made the finals of the competition in January 2022, which was selected internally by the club. The top three designs were voted on by supporters of the club, which resulted in the Equipt Studios design as the winner. Equipt Studios also had the opportunity to design the club’s away and training kits.
While collaborating with a professional club was huge, designing and providing jerseys for the everyday player is still their bread and butter. Equipt Studios provides rec league and eSports teams with accessible access to bespoke jersey design and production. Chen has managed to work out a way to provide quality design and jerseys for small orders. While eSports provided a lot of business to Chen upfront, he has been getting more work in soccer as time has gone on. “It’s just something that I’m a little more in-tune with and is a little bit more meaningful to me.”
However, Chen does hope to continue working with professional and pre-professional teams moving forward. “We’ll always want to be accessible. There’s a culture there and for people who are really into it, I want them to be able to shine into something bigger than just showing up once a week to play. That’s still our core customer base, but we would love to expand into more leagues in the United States, we have a lot of great semi-professional leagues.”
The Rise of Design in Football Kits
Design and Branding has really come to the forefront in the lower professional and semi-professional leagues with teams like Forward Madison, Vermont Green, One Knoxville, and many more putting such a large focus on branding. However, Chen and I discussed that on a larger scale many clubs are starting without any focus on branding or identity at all off the pitch.
“There are so many clubs popping up on a seemingly daily basis. It’s great we have these opportunities, but quite frankly, not a lot of those teams prioritize branding or identity. Maybe they copy Barcelona's logo when they're like SC Barcelona of Georgia. And it's like, okay, that's, that's great. But like, what are you bringing to the table other than, you can play great on the pitch and that's fine, but what are you bringing to the community?”
Chen shared that it was difficult in the beginning. He would cold call 20-30 of these newer teams daily, and nobody was interested in investing in their branding, primarily logos. Nobody seemed to see the value that branding could offer them to really elevate their team and set them apart.
Despite the difficulties he faced while trying to sell his branding designs to teams, Chen ended up shifting his focus on finding teams that saw the value in jersey design. That was where he found most of his success.
“People are much more willing to pay for a jersey design that their players can wear. It's very easy to see ‘If we sell jerseys, we can make X amount of profit per jersey, and that can help fund extra players on the roster.’”
Chen shared, “It really surprises me, especially now, because I feel like so many teams that have started up in the last five plus years have a main focus, right out of the gate, of having a really nice design and branding.” He continued to add “It's always surprising when you have clubs that are pretty big, that just refuse to get to that point. It’s part of our pitch. ‘Hey look at Forward Madison, look at Providence City FC, look at how they've managed to sell more merch than they sell tickets.”
Merchandise sales from these teams play a huge role in keeping them afloat. Chen said, “It’s a legitimate business model, especially with these semi-pro teams. We can't just keep forming new clubs every day or two. How many clubs per day are folding because they don't have any sort of revenue? I'm not saying that merchandise and jerseys are the cure for that, but at least have some foresight into how you can maintain a club.”
The Future of Equipt Studios
The goals of Equipt Studios include making a larger footprint in the US market and moving into Europe. Chen mentioned that they have spoken with a fourth-tier club in England about a potential collaboration, but didn’t want to share too many details about a deal so early on.
Chen spoke on one of the most important parts of Equipt Studios for him. “Every time Maharlika Manila team steps on the field, wearing their kit, it's still surreal to me. They posted highlights of the team walking out of the tunnel, and it's just like, oh my gosh, this is for real. It's pretty special seeing those photos, seeing the players wearing the kits, and seeing them compete at a high level.”
He went on to say, “Hopefully seeing the design inspires confidence when they step on the field.”
Equipt Studios has designed and produced jerseys for over 50 teams so far, but each time Chen finishes one, he’s brainstorming ideas or beginning the next design. He mentioned if he didn’t have a business, he would still do this for fun in his free time.
A Place in The Market
While there are several other brands that specialize in designing kits for smaller teams or recreation teams, Equipt Studios has tried to position itself in a unique spot in the market.
“I want people to look at our jersey designs and think that these are clean. They're meaningful. Everything is done with the purpose. Quite frankly, there are kit designers out there that are a lot more talented than us, and props to them, but that's not going to be the perfect fit for any given team, right?”
If a team wants to hone in on their identity and build something special, that's what Equipt wants to be known for. Attention grabbing and flashy jerseys aren’t going to be Equipt’s go-to, unless it fits the culture of the team and matches the Equipt style. Chen hopes that as they continue to build their body of work, it’ll be evident that they are different and they will have clear factors that set them apart from their competitors.
Design is a field I’ve always been interested in, but never pursued. The ability to create art and in Chen’s case, a physical product, that brings so much joy a team and all their supporters is amazing. Companies like Equipt Studios offer so much for kit and supporter culture to teams that likely never assumed they would have a jersey designed just with them in mind.
“If this whole project were to end tomorrow, I would be happy with what's been done so far.”
Interested in purchasing a jersey or working with Equipt Studios on a design?
Are you interested in purchasing one of the breathtaking Maharlika Manila jerseys or one of the other designs from Equipt Studios? Use discount code QUEENSOATH at https://equiptstudios.com/shop/ to receive 15% off your order!
You can reach out to Equipt Studios for design work here as well https://www.equiptstudios.com/contact.
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