SB Interview | Stuart McArthur : Designers : Soccer Bible

We sat down with Nike Football Apparel Senior Design Director, Stuart McArthur at Nike's Innovation Showcase in Rome to talk about the brand's latest European club kits.

Key factors when designing a football shirt are the combination of innovation and club history and it's Stuart McArthur's role to apply these features. McArthur, whose team are responsible for creating replica for Europe's elite explained the new vibrant Third Shirts to us, "Colour can actually add a psychological advantage for players. The theory is to create a vibrancy on pitch that's never been seen before but ultimately provides a competitive advantage."



The initial insights came from the athletes themselves, after telling Stuart and his team that bright colours made them feel like they were moving faster, and McArthur explains how they ran with that, "We wanted to create this tonal shift from front to back and we used this simple framing line that comes from head to toe. When you look at it stationary it's a solid line but when you look at it in motion it really amps up the speed that the players are moving at."

Additional reading:
Nike Innovation Showcase Rome | Day 1
Nike Innovation Showcase Rome | Day 2
Nike Reveal 14/15 Cup Shirts