As festival season approaches, the indie scene is taking more and more inspiration from the terraces. Icarus FC are leading the charge, designing bespoke football-inspired shirts for bands and artists looking for something different from typical merch.
Icarus FC is a custom kit company who focus on making kits for smaller clubs, but as football and music continue to overlap, they’re stitching together a niche designing kits for the music scene.
“Our bread and butter is Sunday league clubs,” says Ben Clarke, the head of marketing at Icarus FC.
“I think there’s a lot of overlap between football and music in the UK, and hence this has become an additional hobby for us.
“We’re conscious of the fact that artists are not making that much money thanks to cuts taken by venues and stuff like that. A big artist would be able to get a football shirt made in a factory, but the smaller ones wouldn’t have that opportunity.”
This trend is growing among major bands, with the Foo Fighters selling a line of football shirts on their latest tour, and Britpop legends Blur featuring a blue football shirt on their official website.
But it’s not just bands, some festivals are jumping on the trend, too.
Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival created both home and away kits for their 2024 event and have already announced plans to bring fresh designs back this year.
“I think it is a growing market,” says Ben.
“At least with what we’re doing. Being able to provide this service for smaller artists will make a big impact on the fan experience.
“With the cost of touring getting higher, bands will have to try and make more and more money off merch to survive, so providing these unique and high-quality items will allow for a higher margin.”
Leeds-based band Yard Act had a Leeds United–inspired kit designed for them by Icarus, which they wore during their homecoming headline show at Millennium Square in Leeds.
Icarus takes a very hands-on approach when it comes to making this merch.
“In almost every case we have gotten in touch with them first
“We’ve made a couple of designs for Vampire Weekend, I know Ezra Koenig (the lead singer) is a football fan, or at least a football shirt fan as far as I’ve seen. They would be a band we’d really like to work with. They have an interesting visual style.”
“We haven’t been able to get in touch with them yet.
Meanwhile, they’re focusing on creating shirts for an up-and-coming band called Geese, who are opening for Vampire Weekend at a show in America.
“We’re going to make some designs and use giving Geese their shirts as an opportunity to go backstage and sell our Vampire Weekend shirts.”
When discussing their strategy, Ben highlights America as a growing market with its own unique football culture.
“When we think of artists to reach out to, we don’t automatically think of American artists, just because the fans would probably be less receptive.
“I think if you are a soccer fan in the US, you are more likely to sell football shirts than a UK band, there’s an underdog mentality. If you’re a soccer fan over there it’s a choice, and you probably want to fly that flag.”
Working with bands aren’t just creative collaborations, they can be savvy marketing moves for Icarus.
“We don’t pay for advertising, this is one of the few spears that we have to reach out to.
“In football shirts, the hardest challenge is convincing people that your logo doesn’t look weird on them just because it’s not a Nike or Adidas logo.”
Icarus have enjoyed great success, collaborating with the likes of SOFY, GWCCI, and Motörhead. Ben credits much of that success to the novelty and quality of their designs.
“It shows that the band has put some thought into their merch. It’s a higher quality and much more durable item. It’s not a throwaway piece.
“Our personal experience of merch wasn’t very high quality.
“We would buy t-shirts so thin you could see your body through them, they didn’t hold up to many washes.”
Already established as T-shirt designers, Icarus were well placed to take action.
“Through having a team of designers in house, it put us in a position where we could offer merchandise that’s completely custom that you couldn’t get otherwise.”
With Glastonbury and Wireless fast approaching, Icarus is eagerly preparing to bring the terrace vibe to festival fields, and as Ben says, “You won’t see the full extent of their popularity until festival season.”