Retro kit is a design problem before it is a production problem. The Akilex Retro Catalogue collects the vintage-leaning silhouettes we already hold patterns for: collared jerseys, panel and stripe layouts, contrast cuffs, and the looser body shapes period-correct kit needs and a modern athletic block does not.
Working from existing patterns removes a development round. Two points are worth settling before artwork is finalized:
- Sublimation reproduces period graphics well. Faded crests, halftone textures, pinstripes and multi-color hoops all print in a single pass, with no screens to separate and no stitched applique to align.
- There is no white ink. Light artwork cannot be printed over a dark ground, so a cream or pale retro shade has to come from the base cloth itself. Layouts get planned around that from the first mock-up.
Dye also sits inside the fiber rather than on it, which is why crests and numbers on a reissue behave as this note on sublimated numbers describes. Send reference images of the era you are recreating through our design submission page.