What is the ideal relationship between fashion and sports? Naoki Yamamoto from SAYHELLO, the designer of J2 soccer club Blaublitz Akita's goods, answers.

The sports business, and soccer in particular, has seen a development unparalleled in history, even if it has temporarily stagnated due to the Corona disaster. In this context, progressive soccer clubs are striving to strengthen their brand power. For example, Italy's Juventus renewed its logo a few years ago and is focusing on marketing strategies. This trend is also evident in the appointment of Yosuke Aizawa, designer of , as creative director of "Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo".

The Blau Blitz Akita, a soccer club based in Akita Prefecture, famous for its namahage and kiritanpo, is attempting to follow the global trend at a more grassroots level. The team is now in J2, which opens on Saturday, February 27 this year. The team is the former team of Teruyoshi Ito, who played for the Japanese national team when he was a member of the Shimizu S-Pulse, a familiar name to soccer fans. To commemorate the team's promotion to J2 and appearance in the Emperor's Cup, supporters' goods will be released, and the designer of these goods is Naoki Yamamoto. The designer of these goods is Naoki Yamamoto, who is also the creator of the graphic label "SAYHELLO.

Seihalo is a cutting-edge Tokyo brand that incorporates a lot of youth culture such as skating. This project, in which we asked Mr. Yamamoto, the creator of this worldview, to design goods for mass sports, is an expression of the aggressive style orientation of the "Blaublitz," which means "blue lightning" in German. We spoke with Mr. Yamamoto about the background of the project, his thoughts leading up to the design, and the possibilities of sports and fashion.

Naoki Yamamoto
A graphic designer, he started the graphic label "Seihalo" with web director Ryohei Morita around 2010, and in 2002 opened the gallery and store "SEE YOU SOON" (Tomigaya, Shibuya) near his office. He is also known for his deep knowledge of street culture.

Mellow design considering who will wear it.

One of the issues that the club team had identified was how to attract a younger demographic. The club team decided to create T-shirts and other apparel goods to attract young people, and Naoki Yamamoto, who has designed more than 1,000 T-shirts to date, was chosen to do the job.

I honestly thought, "After hearing your story, I thought it would be better if Akita did it at first. I honestly thought it would be better for Akita to do it. I'm not an avid soccer fan myself, so I felt bad. However, the club wanted to try something different since they had been doing it for about 10 years, and I also thought that liking the sport and designing for it were two different things, so I decided to accept the project. Besides, I had plenty of time to do research on the Corona Disaster, so I thought I would try something I don't normally do.

Given Mr. Yamamoto's track record to date, he could have created the garments quickly and easily using his usual hand habits. However, even when creating graphics, Mr. Yamamoto thought about the essential aspects of how the clothes would be worn.

I tried not to make it too edgy. This is because, rather than setting this as the first thing to wear in a fashion sense, I thought it would be better to land on something that, for example, if a grandfather wore something that belonged to his grandchildren to the nearby supermarket, people would say, "That's nice. When you see a grandfather wearing clothes with an edgy design for young people, you can tell that they are hand-me-downs from his grandchildren. So the balance is such that it can be worn by an unspecified number of people, but not so much that it could be worn by a grandfather. I designed it thinking that making it fashionable was not the only purpose of this project. I think that is the most important function of supporter goods."

The standard soccer merchandise is for soccer fans to wear to the stadium. However, the club wanted to reach out to a different audience than the fans up until now, and so the fashion aspect was incorporated to a degree that did not go too far. Mr. Yamamoto, who has been engaged solely in the field of graphic design, is the only person who knows how to find the right balance between the two. By the way, what do you think of the recent trends in graphics?

I feel that all graphics in fashion today are very similar. Unlike in the past, the way we collect material is similar, so pioneers create new styles, and the time it takes for them to become a movement is very fast. So, as a result, they all end up looking alike. I think that rather than adopting a movement and influencing the style, I think that continuing to express what I am good at is the best way for people who see my work to know whose designs they are looking at. There are certain fashion trends that sell, but I try not to confuse fashion and graphic trends.

The ideal relationship between sports and fashion.

The J-League in 2020 was forced to suspend or have no spectators due to Corona. Likewise, because of Corona, Mr. Yamamoto himself has not been able to visit Akita even once. What would he like to do if he could go to Akita after Corona is over? It would be to see the faces of the fans and to experience the stadium with my whole body.

It would be nice to have a workshop with fans after the game. It would be nice if we could have a workshop after the game, where the fans could paint on the goods they bought. I think that would change the degree of attachment. I also want people to experience the fun of painting. It would be nice if, when they went to a soccer game, they got to draw a picture as a free gift and loved it too. Physical education and arts and crafts are popular among children. If they can enjoy both, it would be a very lucky experience.

To enjoy sports and art. This simple concept has something in common with fashion and pure enjoyment. And fashion should be a gateway to love soccer.

When I looked up the design of Yamato Transport's uniforms a while ago, I thought it was a good design, and when I learned that Mr. Aizawa of White Mountaineering designed them, I was impressed. I thought that good design functions beyond its original purpose. In my life, I don't think I would have expected to search for "Yamato Transport" uniforms. In this case, I may become interested in, like, and root for a team because of their cool soccer merchandise. I think one ideal relationship between sports and fashion is like that. I liked the design of the "Yankees" caps, and I thought it would be imaginable for someone who wasn't really interested in baseball to come to New York and watch a game. I think that could happen with a local team.

It's just graphics, but it's still graphics. The more tricks we can use to make soccer more interesting, the better. How to bring people who are less than fans to the field? This is where a soccer club called "Blaublitz Akita" has a sense of urgency and actually takes aggressive action. It is not too early to enjoy the growth story of this club, which has just moved up to J2 and is now aiming for J1.

BLAUBLITZ AKITA OFFICIAL GOODS / Designed by Naoki Yamamoto from SAYHELLO

A scajan commemorating the J3 championship. With an embroidered Namahage graphic on the back, this jacket can be worn not only to watch soccer games, but also for other occasions.¥35,000 in TAX

The hoodie celebrates the promotion to J2 with graphics reminiscent of college sweatshirts.¥8,000 in TAX

As the phrase "We are CHAMPIONS" suggests, this hoodie was created to commemorate the J3 championship.¥8,000 in TAX

The graphic on the chest features an image of a player celebrating his promotion to J2. The pop design is different from the previously introduced hoodie.¥8,000 in TAX

Commemorating the J3 championship, this long T-shirt features a humorous design with a graphic on the back depicting a manahage in the shape of Akita Prefecture.5,000 yen in TAX

T-shirt with cute Nanamahage characters on the front and back.¥4,000 in TAX

In addition to clothing, a variety of goods are also available. Clockwise from right: scarf (¥2,500 in TAX), stickers (Set of 3, ¥1,000 in TAX), ribbon-shaped magnets (¥1,800 in TAX), keychain (¥1,000 in TAX), Pennant (¥3,500 in TAX(See Section 2.1.2.).

Photo_Masahiro Arimoto (Portrait), Hiroyuki Takashima (Still Life)
Text_Shinri Kobayashi