Mash-up kits – sexy or sickly?
This Milan/juventus/inter mash-up kit can’t put a smile on the face of Edgar Davids, but at least Ronnie is happy
Decluttering is all the rage nowadays, but veteran footballers must find it tough. If only they could bin all their old tops without losing the memories. Well, step forward, Floor Wesseling, the king of the mash-up kits.
Some huge stars have been pictured wearing Floor’s Franken-strips. “It’s great meeting these guys,” he says, from his Amsterdam studio. “They’re people, like us. It’s a nice moment when they look at the shirts and go, ‘Wow! Super cool!’”
Floor’s Blood In Blood Out project – named after a cult US gang-crime film – showcases a player’s career highs by stitching sections of classic replica shirts into a unique whole. Grateful recipients include old Barcelona buddies Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho, as well as Jari Litmanen in Ajax, Barça and Liverpool colours (“He called us when he saw old team-mates wearing them”) and an elaborately-topped Ruud van Nistelrooy.
“We used all his clubs – his progress to the top,” says Floor. “Wesley Sneijder has the caps record for the Netherlands, so we included all nine of the Oranje’s designs he wore. Connoisseurs can see the difference between them. He did!”
Initially, Floor combined rivals’ shirts, but some supporters were unimpressed. His Manchester United/leeds mash-up was removed from an early exhibition at Leeds Metropolitan University. “They worried about fights,” he explains. “And with Ajax/feyenoord I got these horrible threats like: ‘We know where you live’.”
His focus shifted to personal designs, beginning with a request for a combo of Portugal and Greece. “The guy said, ‘It’s my parents, my true blood – that shirt is my identity’. I finally realised what the purpose of the experiment was.”
It’s quite a process: the bits of kits are all cut from proper shirts, then stitched professionally. Next on the hit list is an ex-rangers, Arsenal and Barça player – guess! – though not every icon is keen. “We met Cafu and he wasn’t bothered at all,” smiles Floor. “But it happens.”
If you’d like to snare a unique jersey, Floor is selling some exhibition classics ranging from Cold War (Russia vs USA) to the even edgier North London Deluxe (Arsenal/spurs). “My studio is getting too full with shirts,” he laughs. “They’re piling up.” More Floor space required.