Back in February Fila, the Italian sportswear company, commissioned Wallpaper* to design part of its new Global Limited Edition collection. The brief was to reinterpret the classic ‘Settanta’ polo shirt and jacket – the combination favoured by Björn Borg – in a way that paid tribute to Fila’s sporting past, especially the 1970s, while remaining au courant.
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After discussions with Fila and a thorough trawl through their archives, a Wallpaper* team, headed by Bespoke art director Andrew Wren, came up with more than 20 designs, which were eventually narrowed down to two.
The first, ‘Grandslam’, pays homage to Borg: the front of the ‘Settanta’ polo knit sports gold pinstripes and a solid block of glyphs, which, on closer inspection, reveal themselves to be the scores of each of Borg’s championship matches. On the reverse are his runner-up results. For the jacket, the right sleeve was wrapped with the winning scores in gold, and the left sleeve with the silver runner-up scores.
For the second design, ‘Richie Tenenbaum’ polo shirts, Wallpaper* was inspired by Luke Wilson’s character – a former tennis great in the film The Royal Tenenbaums – to create an understated cut. The blue and white striped design is given a serve of humour with a graphic pair of sunglasses printed on the chest pocket.
Fila launched the full Global Limited Edition (500 mens' and 250 ladies’ pieces) collection in June at selected global outlets. We don’t know if it will improve our serve, but it’s a set to love.
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