Women’s community football club, Hackney Laces have unveiled their new kit and accompanying campaign in collaboration with lead sponsor and global branding agency, Nomad.

Founded in 2011, Hackney Laces endeavours to offer girls more opportunity to play football, while empowering them in the other areas of their lives through sport and community. The club works with over 200 girls and women in East London, both on and off the pitch, and has sister clubs in Limehouse and South London. And now they’re set to dress in kits worthy of the footballers that they aspire to be, thanks to help from the club’s official kit sponsor, global branding agency Nomad. 

Katee Hui, founder, Hackney Laces says: “A football kit has the power to unify people; for many it’s a huge part of their identity. The fact that Nomad has generously helped give us a kit that means we can all match and be uniform, which makes us look and feel amazing. It means greater sense of belonging for everyone involved. We hope that when others see us they think we're a club for them.

Terry Stephens, Partner, Creative Director, Nomad says: “We feel really honoured to design and sponsor the Hackney Laces’ first official kit. It’s been very rewarding to work with such a fantastic community organization, and we’re proud to have created an iconic kit that players are proud to wear.

The Laces and Nomad first connected in 2018, while Nomad was conducting research as part of a branding project for Women’s Football with The FA. The Nomad team went to train with the Hackney Laces, and discussed the role football and the club plays in the members’ lives.

To capture that attitude of the Laces, and to create a truly iconic look for the kit, Nomad worked with illustrator Tobias Hall to create the ’Slime’ NMD badge as the main graphic for the front of the shirt. “It’s a nod towards the surf and skate graphics from the 80/90s that has seen a resurgence in modern street culture recently,” explained Stephens. The concept was selected with the help of members of all three Laces clubs; it’s bright, bold, and far cry from the club’s first homemade kit sourced from Primark.

The Hackney Laces shirts are now available via the club's website.