William Morris’s famous designs have long been popular in interior decor; the prints he first made fashionable in Victorian Britain have been reproduced on wallpapers, textiles and ceramics.
Now, more than a century after his death, one of his company’s designs has been chosen for a new football kit in a unique collaboration between a museum and a football club.
Walthamstow FC has released its new home and away kit after working in partnership with the William Morris Gallery, which was based in Walthamstow, the north-east London town where Morris, a key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement and an early socialist, was born and spent his childhood.
The kit features the pattern Yare, which was designed by John Henry Dearle sometime after 1892. Dearle, a textile and stained-glass designer trained by Morris, was responsible for many of the later wallpapers and textiles released by Morris & Co, and contributed background and foliage patterns to tapestry.
Some of the proceeds of sales of the kit will to go towards helping to establish a women’s football team for the borough, as well as supporting semi-professional Walthamstow FC, who are in the Isthmian League Division One North.
The original design was block printed on cotton at Merton Abbey and featured scrolling green leaves with flowers in shades of pale blue, red and yellow on a dark blue background.
For the kit, the pattern was digitally redrawn and colour matched to be sublimated on to the clothing. The home kit features a V-neck tonal dark blue and light blue jersey and matching shorts. The away kit displays a vibrant replica of the original design with an aqua-coloured round neck collar and trim.
Andy Perkins, the chairman of Walthamstow FC, said: “William Morris believed that people should be able to live in harmony with the world around them; today we are unveiling the result of three years’ collaboration between art, sport and manufacturing. I’m sure Morris would have approved and, if he was alive today would be happy to see his designs being worn by Walthamstow FC a club, which has provided sport in the borough for 155 years.”
Hadrian Garrard, director of the William Morris Gallery, said: “We’re proud to support our local Walthamstow FC through this unique collaboration. William Morris Gallery is part of a very special community here in north-east London and this is a great way for us to bring the work of Morris out of the gallery and into the streets and football pitches for next season.”
Mark Clack, of Wood Street Walls, the London-based art collective which devised the project, said the launch of the kit “marks a three-year journey to make what we believe is the first collaboration of its kind”.
“We hope that the collection will help raise the profile of the club and build the strong community links the club is building. In the words of Arsène Wenger: ‘Football is an art, like dancing is an art – but only when it’s well done does it become an art,’” he added.
