Dyenamik is a startup business, dedicated to crafting exceptional jerseys that foster a sense of community among passionate gamers. Designed to celebrate the games players love, with garments that blend the style of streetwear with the substance of sportswear.
Street Fighter is a hugely popular game franchise with incredible longevity, iconic characters, and a rich art history, making it a dream partner. The franchise has multi-generational appeal, with game releases spanning four decades. When designing the jerseys Dyenamik have balanced the nostalgic designs of retro games with modern innovations that, over time, will become iconic in their own right.
We caught up with Dyenamik's Director, Mike Cope to hear more about the collection and the companies plans for the future.
Cult Kits: First things first, who do you support?
Mike Cope: I'm a Manchester United fan.
CK: Oh well, no ones perfect. Tell us a bit more about your interest in football shirts...
MC: I've been obsessed with football since a young age and first got into football kits when playing FIFA ultimate team. I would hate that moment where you and the opponent had the same kit, so I'd always be looking for wavey kits that mainstream players wouldn't have. I love the colours and self expression that football shirts provide and it's great to see they've become part of mainstream fashion/ streetwear culture.
CK: What can you tell us about the project?
MC: When we started our business selling gaming merchandise, we always knew we wanted to have a flagship product. As the rise of football shirt fandom came, we had the idea that we could make football shirts for games, Gamers love their games as much as football fans love their football teams right?
The main reason we chose jerseys is we knew it would create community among gamers. Much like when you walk into a new environment where you don't know anyone, spotting someone wearing your teams jersey is that instant connection that puts your mind at rest and lets the conversation start flowing. We also knew that we could make epic looking jerseys using the art direction from the iconic Games we were working on.
CK: How did it all start?
MC: We were in the process of launching our ‘team jerseys’ product with two other IPs when the opportunity arose to explore a collaboration with Capcom and Street Fighter. The SF team really bought into what we were trying to achieve with the product and felt it would be a refreshing addition to the merchandise and apparel they had been used to. We are both fighting game fans and always knew we wanted to create jerseys for games like Street Fighter.
"We had the idea that we could make football shirts for games, Gamers love their games as much as football fans love their football teams."
Through our internal creative process, we took this project in a slightly different direction and focused on the characters, whereas we had previously been developing jerseys to represent the games as our teams. Early design explorations for a select few characters were enough to get the Street Fighter teams hooked and almost a year of product development and content creation for the campaign followed.
CK: Why gaming and specifically Street Fighter?
MC: We believe the passion and dedication fans have for a particular game, franchise or character is on par with the devotion seen towards our favourite sports teams. Jerseys have moved beyond their traditional role as sportswear, now blurring the lines between sport, streetwear, festival fashion, and competitive gaming, especially with the massive rise of esports.
These jerseys provide the perfect canvas for creating standalone works of art that pay tribute to the games and characters they represent. Street Fighter is an iconic franchise with an amazing art direction, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make jerseys for this franchise and further solidify a community of passionate street fighter fans.
CK: What has the reaction been to the launch of the collection and their designs?
MC: The overall response from fans has been great. We hit our funding target in the first 5 days of launching and the interest has continued to grow with other media outlets like Soccer Bible and Sport bible also featuring the project.
"Street Fighter is an iconic franchise with an amazing art direction, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make jerseys for this franchise and further solidify a community of passionate street fighter fans."
CK: Have any other brands/creatives influenced your designs?
MC: We took inspiration for all of our designs from iconic football shirts over the years. My business partner and I have owned over 100 football shirts over the years and we paired this experience with the iconic Street Fighter brand guidelines.
CK: What other releases have caught your attention/or admire?
MC: There is a Japanese brand called Soph that have released a football collection in partnership with Playstation. We loved this collection and they really nailed the cross over between football, gaming and street wear.
CK: Where can people support/find and buy from the collection?
MC: The project is only live for 2 more weeks on Kickstarter, link here. Kickstarter is a funding platform that helps small businesses like us bring projects to life. In return for your support you can get exclusive collector's edition rewards at up to 65% off retail when we officially launch the collection next year. Don't miss out!
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You can pledge your support for the Street Fighter collection by Dyenamik here.
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