SMOKEY POINT, WA— The 2019 Western Washington Premier League Champion Snohomish County FC Steelheads were not afraid to stand out on the pitch in their debut season in league play. Be it the deliberate mayhem of the 3-5-2 formation and a killer defense, or the look of the kits the Fish wore in competition. There’s a method to the madness of bright colors and bold shapes. Here’s the story behind the uniforms and what might be coming next.
Orange you Original
As the Steelheads ‘brand’ was coming together back in 2017 the club knew right away that they wanted to make bold, unique choices. The Steelheads’ crest designer Mark Patrick Lavis was instructed to “include orange” in his mock-ups. Why orange? The initial reason was to stand out from other adult men’s clubs competing in regional play in Washington state. Orange is a traditional soccer / football color, but is not being used much around these parts. Want to be original? Pick a color that is bold and don’t go back.
Check it: The Meanings of the Color Orange
No wonder then that the first custom kits the Steelheads would purchase had an all-orange strip. Icarus FC designed the look in collaboration with Fish General Manager David Falk.
The Shape of things
Lavis designed an unusual fish logo which used hexagons to construct the steelhead. He had given the club a secondary image to play with, a shape that could be incorporated into the very building blocks of SnoCo FC.
Icarus FC submitted a bold design using the hexagon ‘scales’ in a black, grey, silver pattern. They were pleasantly surprised when the Fish jumped at the choice.
Undefeated in The Hex
The general public didn’t know this, but behind the scenes at Steelheads HQ a battle of wills was beginning to take shape. Orange is the signature color of SnoCo FC and GM Falk is happy to use the color as much as possible. On the pitch the Steelheads players were beginning to see things a different way.
Check it: The Meaning of the Hexagon shape
Turns out that the guys love the Hex Grey kits. And to make their argument even more compelling, they perform beautifully when wearing them. It’s not that the Orange strip is any sort of hindrance, but the Steelheads’ record when wearing the combo in 2019 was 3 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss.
The Hex? The club was a perfect 5-0-0 and outscored opponents by a whopping 25-1.
GM Falk makes the weekly call on kit choices based on conversations with the opponent and the strip they will feature. There are a whole bunch of combos and mash-ups the Fish have yet to test.
The whole look of the Steelheads revolves around orange and the hex. Has one of those superseded the other? Is Hex Grey the new primary, the go-to first choice of the Fish?
Stay tuned.
Magenta Dreams
Steelheads players Andrew Escalante and Dorian Lair have an eye towards football fashion and they are making a pitch for a third kit. They contacted Icarus FC who delivered a set of designs with Magenta as the striking featured color. See the ideas below.
Will we see these on the pitch one day? Only time will tell. But the bold choices continue.
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