Cycling clothing brand Santini Cycling Wear set their sights on a unique kit for this year’s UCI Cycling World Championships.
They wanted to capture the real essence of Scotland in a range of jerseys, so they approached a collection of local creatives (Fourtwentyseven, O Street, Patrick Hughes and Stuco) to develop three designs.
The creative team devised an unified concept that linked all three Santini jerseys. This was based around the saltire motif, celebrating the myth of a white cross of clouds which appeared in the blue sky above a vastly outnumbered army of Picts before a famous victory in AD 832.
Ever since, the saltire has reflected qualities often associated with our nation: inventiveness, tenacity and determination.
We tried to capture this with the bold, interlinking use of white colour across all three jerseys. In addition, each top takes on a personality of its own based on the designers’ vision and the specific cycle events they relate to: Mountain, City and Road (Cloudscape).
Blue-sky thinking is at the heart of modern Scotland. We are a small country rich in heritage, lore and geography but our nation is not solely defined by these obvious or typical attributes.
The Cloudscape Jersey celebrates both individual thinkers and our soaring Scottish skylines. It creates visual interest by reflecting these classic vistas on the waters of our lochs and estuaries—scenery that for generations has been an inspiration to so many.
The UCI Cycling World Championships took place across Glasgow and other key locations in Scotland from the 3rd-13th of August 2023. An exhibition of the jerseys alongside photography by Georg Mew Jensen was held in South Block, Glasgow.
All three Santini jerseys and accompanying kits are available to purchase here.
“The collaborative creative team were able to handle the project superbly in every sense. Considering the tight time frame for delivery that was required the level of creativity and responsiveness to our particular requests was second to none. As a result of their involvement the project gained a genuinely authentic creative tone that ultimately led to a boost in sales and nothing but positive feedback on all fronts.”
—Santini Cycling Wear