Inter Milan have unveiled their first shirt with the new club crest, and the Serie A giant has really put everything into the design to capture attention to its brand change.
The so-called “Special T-Shirt” is part of the IM Collection, a limited edition clothing capsule from Nike that the 18-time Italian champions are waiting for to help them establish their new identity.
Inspired by Italian futurist artist Giorgio Muggiani, one of the founding fathers of Inter who designed the original club crest, the shirt combines patterns and geometric shapes. The famous stripes nerazzurri they are included, but only in a small rectangular patch on the chest. The rest of the t-shirt is sprinkled with a random selection of hoops, bars, prints and blocks.
Muggiani hand-painted Inter’s first coat of arms when the club was founded in 1908 – the well-known blue, black and gold circular shield with the letters “FCIM” (Football Club Internazionale Milano) that the Milan team wore during most of its 113 years of existence.
However, he will be formally replaced at the start of the 2021-22 season. Inter’s new shield represents a simplified variation of Muggiani’s original – the letters “FC” disappear from the round design to make the “IM” stand out more.
The Special T-Shirt is unlikely to be worn on the track by Romelu Lukaku and company, as it is officially referred to as a “fourth limited edition t-shirt” in the launch material.
The Special T-Shirt was created by graphic designers Dee Mo and Moab Villain. In charge of reinventing the classic look of Inter, the duo was inspired by Muggiani’s design when creating his original art.
👕 | JERSEY
The first t-shirt with our new logo shapes our story. Get inspired by our city.
Are you ready? #IMInter ⚫️🔵 pic.twitter.com/S3RxmHyp8v
– Inter (@Inter_en) April 7, 2021
“Neither of us was born in Milan, but we both represent, each in his own way, the current creative ferment of this city,” they said on the club’s official website. “The realization of this project has led to an unprecedented intergenerational conversation, in which we verify the existence of many visual references in common – reviewing and reinventing some of the pillars of the history of Milanese design.”
In a purely stylistic sense, the special t-shirt does not look much like Muggiani’s work of art, with most of his portfolio consisting of elegant commercial and advertising pieces produced by Italian brands and companies during the decades of 1920 and 1930. however, we believe that producing a shrill t-shirt that “evokes a vocation for inclusion” to reflect Milan’s reputation as the “most international Italian city” is something that is similar enough.
The IM Collection also includes another t-shirt, more sober (in comparison), as well as a matching jacket and pants.
Inter have been very protective of their identity in recent years, even ending up in a dispute over a brand with David Beckham’s franchise in MLS, Inter Miami.
In 2014, the Italian club filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the commercial use of the word “Inter” and problems arose when MLS made the same to register the name of Inter Miami in 2018.
Until last month, the two clubs were still in the middle of negotiations to reach an agreement in search of a speedy resolution by both parties.
But the truth is that if the Italian club had its players running in uniforms so bold, then we do not think there is much chance that they can be confused with their American namesakes.