In a first-of-its-kind partnership between a museum and a football club, Walthamstow FC and The William Morris Gallery launched a ground-breaking kit collaboration, at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Created in collaboration with local collective Wood Street Walls, the collection features the striking patterns of iconic designer William Morris and blends East London creativity with grassroots football culture.
William Morris, a key figure in the 19th-century Arts and Crafts Movement, created iconic designs that influenced decorative arts and were popularised by the likes of Liberty.
This is far from your ordinary football collaboration, Victorian patterns repurposed for the modern game.
Speaking to The Kit Room Collective, Wood Street Walls co-founder Mark Clack breaks down the creative process behind the collection and the deep local ties that give it special meaning.
“The idea was about three years in the making. Our arts organisation usually focuses on murals and creative projects, but we’ve seen how sport, art, and fashion are increasingly intersecting,” Clack says.
“We approached the William Morris Gallery early on after talking to Morris & Co, who felt football wasn’t right for their brand, but the gallery was excited to collaborate.”
The Admiral-made kit has drawn attention across the football and fashion worlds, yet its story remains deeply grassroots, a non-league project powered by community and creativity.
“We funded everything ourselves, licensing, production, raising tens of thousands to bring this to life.
“But seeing the kit featured in places like Soccer Bible made it all worth it. For us, it’s more than just a kit; it’s a creative project that produces products we can reinvest back into the community.”
The process of selecting a pattern involved careful input from the William Morris Gallery to make sure the design fit the club’s story.
“We worked with the curator at the gallery, and asked them to provide a shortlist of patterns we could choose from.
“I originally wanted something that tied in with the year the club was founded, 1886, but there wasn’t a specific design from then.
“We ended up choosing a pattern by John Henry Dearle, because we also wanted to show that William Morris was more than just Morris, he had protégés too. We trusted the curator’s judgement and Admiral did a great job redrawing it all as a vector and turning it into something usable for the kit.”
Morris was born and raised in Walthamstow, where his gallery now stands, and it’s this local significance that Clack believes makes these kits truly unique.
“Loads of big football clubs are jumping on the bandwagon, dropping custom or collab kits, but a lot of the time there’s not much local meaning behind them, it’s more about revenue than real connection, they often lack substance.
“I think that’s what makes our collection stand out, it’s cultural context, hyper-local, but with global appeal.”
The collection isn’t just about Morris, with almost everyone involved coming from Walthamstow or the surrounding area, it’s completely grounded in E17.
“I think pretty much everybody was local, either to the borough or from Walthamstow.
“I lived in Walthamstow for 10 years and now live down the road in Leytonstone, the female model is Shornell, the chairman’s daughter, and Jake, the photographer, is based in Leytonstone.
“We used local locations for the photoshoot, it was shot at the ground, the pie and mash shop in Walthamstow, and the William Morris Gallery. We didn’t bring in anyone we didn’t know, everyone genuinely bought into the project.”
Despite its deeply local roots and cultural significance, the collection has resonated far beyond Walthamstow and non-league, attracting a global audience and shipping products worldwide, as Clack explains.
“The appeal of Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement is huge globally, especially in places like Asia. We’ve shipped thousands of products worldwide, to nearly every US state, Asia, and Australia.
“We’re still small scale, but the art has a global reach. There’s a real niche for exploring local history through this kind of project, where a gallery visitor might also discover their local football club.”
The impact of the kit has even been documented in a YouTube short film, deeply exploring the story behind the collaboration and its remarkable impact.
It’s fair to say Clack didn’t fully expect the level of success the project would achieve, but he was hopeful from the start.
“I think it was just a feeling that it could work. At the start, we were really nervous because it was a huge financial risk. I knew we had a shot, but I didn’t expect it to take the shape it did.
“Still, we hoped for impact, and to see sales coming from all over really showed people bought into the project and its story.
“We took a risk believing in this project, but it’s shown how powerful local stories can be projected onto a global stage.”
The kits are available to be purchased here: Wood Street Walls Online Store – Wood Street Walls Store