Aaquib Wani, the man behind the Indian Cricket team’s new Jersey’s design, runs a Delhi based studio and he says that he couldn’t be more “proud” about the opportunity. Detailing the big moment, the self-taught designer, who runs a Delhi-based design studio, tells us, “We were designing a festival in Goa back in 2022. And I got a call from a sports brand (Adidas) saying that we have an interesting project for you and you can come down to meet and discuss, adding that there was a mental stress till the scheduled meeting date, “Till that meeting, those two weeks were so difficult to pass as I kept thinking what is going to happen because I sensed it’s something different and huge this time.”
Also Read: Designer Aaquib Wani: Didn’t go to college but my designs are at the Asian Games
“I had to sign an NDA before the meeting and it was as real as it could get. I felt the room and thought that it could be related to cricket. And when I got to know that it’s for the Indian cricket team’s jerseys, I was on top of the world. In this country, it’s either cricket or Bollywood. I had done jerseys for Real Kashmir Football Club and Rajasthan Royals earlier,” the 30-year-old shares, mentioning how he got goosebumps when he learnt about the opportunity.
Furthermore, Wani tells us that there were other designers as well and they would eventually choose one after looking at the designs. “There were other designers as well and we had a week to submit, then they would choose one. We came back with the presentation, they were really happy but we didn’t know that we were chosen. Even going was such a big opportunity, I had tears in my eyes. I have grown up watching and playing cricket. For me, it was like doing something for the country!” he expresses, in an elated tone.
The designer also tells us about the designing process that went behind the scenes. “While designing jerseys, the main thought is obviously the comfortability of the players, they have to be out there on the field for so many hours. We created prototypes on the computer, using software and doing 3D designs. Once that was okay, we also chose the kind of fabric that we wanted to use. Then the process went into what colours we wanted – what kind of blue should go,” he says, adding that they also wanted to add a layer of “print” on the jersey.
“We thought that there would be nothing better than using the Indian Cricket Team’s jersey as a canvas to tell a story. We didn’t want to put random graphics or shapes. We wanted to narrate the crafts and culture of India. We looked at a bunch of different crafts and felt that Ikat was a textile technique (a method for coloring fabric in patterns by resist dyeing) could be the perfect match because it looked very cool, sporty, and geometric as well. We needed another layer of narrative, hence we added how fierce the tiger is when it’s out there as it’s the national animal, so we brought the stripes of tiger, again using Ikat, that’s what you saw in the world cup last year,” he further adds.
Talking about the test jerseys, he reveals, “They have always been white, hence I wanted to add colours to it. There are lots of guidelines and rules that one has to keep in mind, you can’t just do whatever you want. How many buttons, the size of the buttons, the collar’s different colours, there is so much that one has to take care of while designing the jerseys.”
Moving on to this year’s T-20 world cup jersey, Wani tells us, “After we lost the world cup last year unfortunately, we then got a call saying that ‘We are now gearing up for the Twenty Twenty World Cup next year. We luckily had some things in mind and quickly put together another PPT. By the end of it, everyone was clapping for us, it was a great feeling. This time, we wanted to play with solid block colours. Our focus was the jersey colour and tricolours, we weren’t focusing on the prints this time.”
In fact, the whole cricket team was happy with the design. “When it was shown to the management and players, they all loved it. I was surprised that there were no changes and their reaction was amazing, it was such a fulfilling feeling that the heroes liked it. That was the winning moment. We were on top of the moon when we won! Everyone was calling us a lucky charm,” he happily shares.
The designer has also designed the official Indian jersey for the Olympics Games Paris 2024. “It’s an unexplainable feeling. They (authority) could have gone with any other household designer, but there must be something that they chose us. We prepared multiple designs for the different styles and sports. It was a longer and in-depth process. It was a lot of fun doing this. 2024 has been a blissful year!” Wani ends.