Hybrid

In 2010, South Africa became the first African country to host the World Soccer Championships, popularly known as the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. For 54 Kingdoms, this meant utilizing the opportunity to highlight our creative talent by designing our first soccer fan gears, the Hybrid collection.

The Hybrid collection, launched in May 2010, featured country-driven fan gears designed to honor and celebrate the six African countries representing the continent at the tournament: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and South Africa. Originally six pieces, only three hybrids (Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa) were released due to executive constraints.

Universally illustrated throughout the Hybrid collection encompassed several features: a crest, as well as a labeled clear plastic tube packaging, detailing the description and significance of the design elements for each country. Located on the left chest area of each fan gear, the crest design is a silhouette of the African map with a soccer ball placed on its horn. Inside the map is the number ‘1’, symbolizing the first-ever World Soccer Championships hosted on the African continent. Finally, we emphasized South Africa as the premier venue for the games at the bottom of the map.

Since the Hybrid collection focused heavily on the qualified African nations other than the continent as a whole, it failed to make a loud proclamation on unity, accord, and harmony. Following that experience, we made a creative decision to design fan gears that celebrate the entire African continent through its country representatives at every World Cup tournament.