With David Blanch leading the design of the new England kit for Umbro, one of the first people that they brought onboard was innovative young designer Aitor Throup, whose work is critically acclaimed in the fashion industry for his non-comformist conceptual design processes and unconventional methods of exhibiting his work not only as design, but also as art. Here David tells journalist Chris Hunt just how the design process started.

Chris: How did you identify Aitor Throup as the designer you needed to work on the new England kit?

David: “I’d come across him while he was doing his MA at the Royal College of Art. I do some part-time lecturing there and Umbro fund an annual design competition for the students of the college. I was one of the judges and Aitor was the winner of the prize.”

Chris: What was so interesting about him?

David: “We recognised Aitor as a unique talent early on, one that had the ability to just move away from cyclical fashion and stay true. He was rooted in movement and the body, so when this project came up and we were looking to create a really small team, we brought him in straightaway. His belief in crafting garments that articulate with the body and constructing solutions that are specific to a specific body – in this case the footballer’s body and its individual movements – is tailoring. Aitor, in effect tailors his stuff.”

Chris: How did the process begin?

David: “Aitor, myself and Devon Burt from Nike spent a week working together in Aitor’s studio in London and we spent a lot of time looking at the construction of a football kit and how we could build it to fit the body. We created the garment in quite an innovative way – we didn’t design the garment, we decided to build it from the inside out. We actually started from the base layer.”

Chris: What made you start with the undergarment?

David: “Today many players are wearing base layers with the football kit over the top, but currently a base layer and a football kit aren’t designed together, so for the first time we’ve set out to design them to work together, to move with the body. That way you can actually create a very innovative football kit where the connection between the inner and outer layer is vital.”

Chris: While working with an innovative designer like Aitor Throup, you also sought the expertise of bespoke tailor Charlie Allen. Why was that?

David: “Charlie Allen came in and he gave us his opinions on collars and kit design. He was able to look at what we were doing from a very traditionalist perspective, and we mixed that tradition with technology and blended it to create a really special form. The huge difference is when you look at the garment it has a strong, clean identity, and the reason for the clean identity is because we wanted to instill this confidence – and the best way to instill confidence is to get rid of the clutter. You don’t need a little bit here and a little bit there, you just need to be very honest about what you’re doing.”

Tomorrow Chris Hunt talks to the man of the hour, Aitor Throup about the early stages of the design of the new England kit.