Bring the beauty back in football

Our goal at nss sports has always been to find and tell you about the freshest, most original and - most of all - most beautiful projects and ideas. And around the very concept of beauty is built the project of Spensley, a brand that wants to bring the football jersey back under the spotlights, depriving it of all the patches, the sponsors, and the names, leaving space to its history, its icons and symbols that made it the cult item for every Football enthusiast. Spensley is largely inspired by the football culture of Great Britain, a land from where the homonymous doctor (and sailor, and sportsman, and much more) arrived in Italy in 1893, founding Genoa Cricket and Football Club, creating the Beautiful Game in the Peninsula.

So, we reached out with Lorenzo Bertorello and Davide Fiz, to ask them about who and what is behind the idea of Spensley, which is its “mission” and their dreams for the brand.

Hi guys, as many other people (we imagine), we found you through social networks, almost casually. So we’d like to know: what’s Spensley?

This question reminds me of our first, adventurous, dreamy and home-made brochure, in which we tried to explain what Spensley is with a poem. Spensley is: 

“The myth of travel and foundation/The stopovers in the Levant and the Eastern lights: every new beginning/The weaves of the fabric and those of the singing/Word, narration, enchantment: meeting with extraordinary men/The colors of peace and memory/Bravely drawn signs/Straight lines caresses the matter/shaping into uninterrupted curves by the hand of Style/A journey to be started over/Every boundless star.”

It’s quite obvious that the aesthetic of the football jersey is some kind of guideline in your work. Is it true? How did it inspire you in beginning your project?

Our project is based on beauty. With all the humility of the world, we’re trying to bring the beauty back in football, that seems to have entirely lost it. The shirt is the essential symbol of affiliation to a sports community: it seemed right to start from there. To clean the jersey from all the writings, discover the perfect tone of the colors in which the enthusiasts identify themselves, make all the crests and embroiders shine, it means most of the times to find again a beauty that already exists, just waiting to be unveiled.

James Richardson Spensley is that man that actually brought football in Italy by founding Genoa CFC in 1893. You bring his name to homage the Rossoblù team or more as a tribute to the English doctor?

Both and more. Spensley was also a theosophist and then a great spiritual researcher. He represents the myth of the foundation, that we care very much. In the beginning of everything, there’s some kind of magic which is unique, creative emotions that gave meaning to the existence. To call ourselves Spensley it’s also a way to homage this beautiful vital energy, trying to live it every day.

In your portfolio, there are Genoa shirts, but also Swansea, Hellas, Empoli, Pescara, and Catania’s ones. Where do you take your inspirations for the jerseys? Is there a bond that connects all your creations?

When we work with a club, our favorite moment is when we try to find the shirts that we think are the most beautiful ever made, crossing them with the history of the footballers that wore them. Then we try to design them, giving them something special, a style, that could make them not only an homage to the past but also something beautiful, authentic, to be worn in the present. I would say that the research for a certain style is what connects all our shirts in the first place. Among all our memories, I will never forget the emotion in hearing the thanks of Memo Prenna’s son during the Catania Calcio historic collection presentation press conference.

The oldest club in Italy, boiling supporters, and one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world. Is it right to say that Genoa, its history, its shirt and the way it’s lived by its supporters inspired by your works?

Of course, it is! Genoa and its history taught us the love of symbols and beauty. That actually belongs to all the clubs in Italy and the world, it just has to be unveiled again. In some ways, it’s legit to say that Spensley is the father of all the Italian clubs and that his kind and proud stare embraces (almost!) every club.

Which are your dreams for the future of Spensley?

We have plenty of dreams. We want to explore and tell the multiple and interesting connections between Football and art. If we’re looking for beauty, it’s natural to meet art, and it’s a very welcomed meeting. For example, we’re working on the creation of flags and banners that look more like some sort of tapestries or paintings that traditional stadiums flags: small works of art to be hung up on the wall of your house, a club or a public local. We’re exploring the potentialities of the comic book as a narrative tool for the history of a club and the legends of the past.

Would you like to say to our readers how/where they can find one of your beautiful shirts?

Soon, there will be a “shop” section in our spensley.it website. You can also try to write us or give us a call, maybe there will be some surprise for you!