Task 2 — Understanding the client & context

Values, product purpose and audience

Classic Football Shirts is built on authenticity in two senses the physical authenticity of its stock and every item verified by an in-house authentication team and the emotional authenticity of what it represents. Shirts range in price from as little as £10 to as much as £10,000 catering to everyone from a highestquality collector to someone who just wants a cheap shirt for something so little like five-a-side.

The audience has expanded significantly beyond the traditional football fan. Fashion centric individuals outside of the game are increasingly choosing to wear classic football kits. Seeing figures like Drake or Kylie Jenner wearing football shirts on Instagram has become commonplace. Classic Football Shirts sits at the intersection of sport nostalgia and contemporary streetwear culture and that dual audience of diehard collectors and fashion newcomers is both an opportunity and a creative challenge.

Visual language and brand positioning

Classic Football Shirts visual identity is functional rather than designed. The website and social channels have over 2 million Instagram followers lean on the product itself as the primary visual. The shirts do the talking. Photography is straightforward flat lays, plain backgrounds. There is intentionality in this and the brand but it also represents an area where stronger art direction could elevate the experience significantly that’s what my team decided to mainly focus on the social presence of the client as we believed their possibility with an outreach like this can’t be missed on.

The tagline “The World’s Biggest Collection of Football Shirts” although it show scale of the business but not emotion. Contrast this with what CFS actually produces exhibitions at institutions like the National Football Museum pop-ups at at places like Rockefeller Plaza in New York they even have a video series with David Beckham reviewing his career through his shirts and you see a brand with genuine cultural depth that its visual communication does not yet fully reflect this.Compare this to how ‘Adidas’ approaches heritage their retro FOOTBALL IS THE MUSE SS26 – FIREBIRD campaigns use rich archival photography editorial-quality art direction and cultural storytelling to frame vintage product as aspirational products. Our team aimed to create this idea through a strong social media campaign that will encourage to were retro shirts. (‘who’s got the kit’ our campaign more detailes in laading posts).

Cultural, social and market context

Classic Football Shirts has helped reframe football apparel for a generation less focused on matchday tradition and more attuned to identity fashion and individual expression.This is a significant cultural shift and Classic Football Shirts is one of its primary drivers. In 2024 the company secured a $38.5 million investment from The Chernin Group the same ferm that backed ‘GOAT’ and ‘ThredUp’ signalling serious confidence in the vintage sportswear resale market. Expansion plans include new stores new geographies and growing the company fourfold. Information gathered from Fashionunited – https://fashionunited.com/executive/report/classic-football-shirts-secures-35-8-million-dollar-investment-to-support-expansion/2024051759917 Accessed [28/04/26]

Competition and opportunity

Classic Football Shirts main competitors apparently is eBay but its model is distinct it buys shirts outright and resells at a markup rather than taking commission giving it full control over curation and presentation. Specialist rivals like Cult Kits, Vintage Football Shirts compete for the same collector market with some directly positioning on price against Classic Football Shirts.

What it needs is a visual identity and communication strategy that matches the emotional weight of what it holds. Stronger art direction editorial campaigns archival inspired typography storytelling first stronger social content could close the gap between what Classic Football Shirts is and how it currently presents itself.