Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset
Director⭐⭐
Have received a reply from World Retro, who said the sky blue stripes were deliberate, based on their one picture.
Frankly, was not best pleased when they insisted the stripes were blue! Blimey! I actually picked up the real thing on a Roots Hall open day!
I think what happened was a merge of colour with constant washing of the old cotton fabric used 58 years ago.
Maybe, in the future, anyone on the Zone who saw the originals can offer advice when sought?
Paul, getting these things 100% right with no pantone numbers and sometimes as here just one colour pic which was a bit fuzzy can be difficult. We (me, acting on behalf of Shrimpers Trust) did ask around at the time of designing the shirt and we did the best we could based on the input we had and the info we had. The shirt for buying with the colours was then clearly shown on the World Retro site and many also saw that shirt modelled by a fan at MTBD (which we subsequently modified by narrowing the stripes). What you say re the impact of washing and a colour run is of course a possibility but in the absence of any other info that is something even more tricky to take in to account.
Your idea re putting the shirt proposed (before finalising design) up on SZ is a good point. I have in the past done this re shirts but in future I will ensure I do so for each new shirt with some explicit questions which then hopefully if folk read them will give any input they can offer. Of course had we known you had picked up the real thing then we would have been badgering you for input at the design stage as we really do try to gather as much info as possible.
I did recently take a bit of a flyer on the 1910/11 shirt (after seeking views from a couple of others) without posting the design on SZ first, I'm not sure anyone would have had first hand experience on that one!
Posting re new designs will need to be done in the Retro Shirts thread on the site as the MODS do not want me clogging up Chit Chat with retro shirt posts (which I understand) - that does have the disadvantage that this part of the Zone has no where near the same viewing traffic but nevertheless hopefully those interested will spot it and help.
We are also in the process of implementing a new procedure whereby World Retro are giving us a colour swatch (a bit like the paint choice cards you see in B&Q etc) which is printed on the actual shirt material so we can see what it looks like for real rather than just staring at huge pantone charts on the laptop which quite frankly can send you bonkers.
Further, I am getting three of these swatches printed up and have agreed with two other kind souls that they will have one of these (between us we have well over 150 years of SUFC watching experience) so we will then reach a consensus view on the colour (and design) after gathering any input we are lucky enough to get from other sources including SZ
Please be assured that whilst we may not get it right to everyones satisfaction all of the time, as fans doing this on a voluntary basis using up far too much of our spare time we do our best. The range we are building with World Retro has so far been well received overall, over 250 sales to date at a time when the general supporter mood has as we all know not been great until very recently, so we hope in the future (and with more shirts to gradually be added) it will become better and bigger as well as raising money for the Trust (to help the club) and The Jeff Astle Foundation.
Happy to chat through any of this when I am next at Roots.
Cheers, Andy