The San Diego Piranhas flag football team has been in existence since 1993. The team has won multiple championships in local, regional and national tournaments. They are well known around southern California for their competitive teams, their baby blues and their founders, John and Ern Caguioa (“The Twins”). With their 20th anniversary coming up they decided to go for one last run at the Flag Mag.com Nationals in Las Vegas (a title they won in 2007). The Twins also wanted to create some new gear for this last hurrah. Not wanting the look of event-designed gear (i.e. 20th Anniversary this and that), I decided to design pieces with more of a traditional, timeless and authentic feel to communicate the heritage of this club. The goal was to create something that wouldn’t look out dated after a few years but rather designs that would endure. Hopefully.

An ex-teammate myself (yes, designers can play sports– well, kinda), I designed the Piranhas logo a while back. I wanted to create a simple team logo cap. I chose a snapback cap… straight old school style. After some research I thought of using chenille material to help drive the “traditional and authentic” look. My final solution was a patch that used a mixture of embroidery, felt and chenille. Below is the artwork for the patch, the first sample and the initial mock up of the two-color snapback.

The hoodie was also followed the same direction. To avoid the “20th Anniversary” wording, I went with “Est. 1993” instead. I thought it communicated the same thing without becoming a commemorative event piece. Finally, to help with the budget, the patches designed for the caps could also be used for some cool detailing on the hoodie’s sleeve. Below is the mock up of the final design along with the final print.

The last piece was the game jersey. With (very) limited funds we went with a two color tee. No frills. I gave it a similar look to a previously custom designed jersey. It was one of the most liked jerseys we had so I thought we couldn’t go wrong there. Well, the Nationals are coming this weekend, January 19-20. To all my fellow Piranhas, enjoy Vegas and your last run at the ‘Ship. P-House… You know!