In October 2021, we launched our Adventures with Art Tate Capsule Collection. Bringing some of our favourite art works from the Tate archives to life in the form of a collection of cycling jerseys and accessories. Tate’s mission is to increase the public’s enjoyment and understanding of art. They stand for a place to play, a space to create and a chance to invent. And that’s exactly what creating this collection gave us the chance to do. To play with design, to create something different and to “reinvent” some of our favourite pieces by transforming them into cycling kit.
But with so many incredible pieces of art to choose from, you might be wondering how we whittled it down to just 7 designs. Or what went into the process of turning artwork into cycling kit. We caught up with our designer, Trevor, and our product developer, Mark to get their insights into the making of the Stolen Goat Adventures with Art Tate Capsule Collection.
CHOOSING THE ARTWORK
Choosing the art that we would base our collection around didn’t just come down to the pieces that we loved. We also had to consider how they would work as cycling jerseys and what they would look like out and about on the bike.
Trevor: “The Tate archive is enormous… we downloaded a stack of art at the very beginning to sift through, and then chose the ones that we thought would work well and would appeal to The Herd.”
Mark: “As Trevor said, there were such a lot to choose from. Getting it down to the 7 designs we ran with wasn’t easy. Trevor came up with so many great options, as he does for every project! The Burra, Dancing Skeletons, was a late entry (originally we were only going to have 6 designs). I’m happy we ended up including it, as this is my favourite print out of the collection.”
Trevor: “There were quite a few factors to take into consideration when it came to choosing the art we would bring to life. Dimensions, and quality of the digital materials from the archives proved troublesome on a couple of them – but we got there in the end!”
PLAYING WITH DESIGN
Once we’d refined our choices down, it was over to Trevor to play with the designs – and he came up with some stunning design options. For the El Lissitzky, for example, Trevor experimented with different coloured backgrounds and even a gradient fade, before we settled on the block hot pink that you’ll see in the collection now.
Likewise, the Mondrian was offered up in a few different incarnations before the final version was chosen. Trevor played with placing the bold, geometric lines of the artwork as a wide band across the chest of the jersey, with a simple black background. It looked brilliant, but ultimately his other idea of taking the art piece and extending it across the whole of the jersey created a really striking effect.
Trevor: “It was a challenge, graphically, for me – even though I really loved the project at every stage. The Spencer is made up of 3 different artworks which were pieced together to create the final result. I wasn’t sure if Tate would let me do that, but when they saw it they loved it. We were all really keen to include the Spencer as she is the only female artist included in the collection.”
GETTING IT JUST RIGHT
Selecting the final 7 art pieces we were going to use for the collection was a challenge. But even more so was making sure that the kit and accessories we created were as close a match as possible to the original art works. Trevor and Mark had to work closely with our kit manufacturer, Bioracer (who you may recognise as the recently announced kit supplier for Team Ineos!) to ensure that the colours were the perfect match.
Trevor: “We had to colour match up to the original paintings as much as possible. It was a challenge for me, but it was a bigger challenge for Bioracer to test their machinery out. They brought in their Head Print Specialist, Uwe, from Germany to ensure the colours were the best match possible to get signed off by Tate. The Kandinsky in particular was a real tough nut!”
Mark: “For all the designs, it took about three rounds of strike-offs (a sample of the printed fabric) and sending over high-resolution prints to Bioracer in Belgium to get the colours right. Doing all of this through lockdown wasn’t easy, but we got there.”
Above: colour matching for the Spencer jersey.
Mark: “The above is just an example of all the colour matching. Pictured is the Spencer jersey. It might look like it would have been one of the more straight-forward designs to match, but it still wasn’t easy!”
“The Turner was also a big challenge, and at one stage we thought we were going to have to drop it. That’s where we brought the Burra Dancing Skeletons in. We ended up being able to crack the Turner, but we kept the Burra too which I’m happy about! It’s a bit of fun, mixing the macabre with great colours – which translates into a great jersey.”
Trevor: “It was an honour to work with Tate. It was such an enjoyable experience, and all we ever got from them was encouragement and positivity.”
Challenges aside, this has been such an exciting collection to create. Since the launch, we’ve loved seeing The Herd heading out for their very own Adventures with Art wearing pieces from the collection!
THE ADVENTURES WITH ART TATE CAPSULE COLLECTION
The Stolen Goat Adventures with Art Tate capsule collection brings to life the works of seven artists: Bomberg, Burra, Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, Mondrian, Spencer and Turner. The collection consists of cycling jerseys, caps, neck warmers and socks. Art is an experience and now you can take that experience into a new dimension, transporting your favourite art works from the gallery out onto the roads!
Check out the Adventures with Art Tate Capsule Collection HERE >>