Channelling the sartorial glory days of 90s football, R.Sport is the sportswear label that has found itself in high demand, crafting bespoke soccer kits for some of Melbourne's biggest venues.
With a CV that now includes the likes of Nico's Sandwich Deli, Poodle Bar & Bistro, La Porchetta (designed with Adrian Giannarelli) and plenty more, the small clothing brand led by Anthony Puliatti and Jasper Pittard has developed a cult following for its intricately designed and era-specific custom soccer jerseys, tracksuits and shorts.
R.Sport began and remains a general sportswear brand, the collaboration side of the business which initially began with Anthony's regular visits and chats to the Nico's team over coffee was what first burgeoned the idea for the custom kits.
"I just got talking with the owner Leo and he just jumped on the idea—I just gave it everything I could, presenting like five to six different designs and we finally landed on one," Anthony explains.
The Nico's jerseys are now an iconic component of the sandwich destination and since their inception, the R.Sport team has been inundated with requests for more custom kits, servicing Melbourne spots like Cono Gelateria, Grouch Hair, Sky Lab Radio, Johnston Street Run Club and even Sydney rock band, Polish Club.
"It was never intended to be such a football-centric brand, we wanted to be a sportswear brand but we've fallen into this niche which is great, and I think we do a pretty good job now," laughs Anthony.
Both Anthony and Jasper have followed football from a young age, drawing heavily from the past in their designs, "we refer so much to the 90s, those oversized fits, those details that definitely aren't player performance enhanced like super thick collars and embroidery all over the jersey," says Anthony.
Collaborations not only with businesses but with friends and fellow artists have always been front and centre with R.Sport.
"I look back so fondly to our first collaboration in early 2020 with one of my best friends, Jack Devereux (Sketches and Skengs), the kit was named ‘Recreational Skengs’, and we did a football kit inspired for the French international team of the 90s."
The most recent of collabs is R.Sport's pairing with Jasper's own project, WOAT (Worst Of All Time) a playful take on the popular sporting accolade, he developed the custom collared red jersey reminiscent of A.C Milan's yesteryear fits.
(Design by Jasper Pittard, WOAT)
With R.Sport there's a strong sense of community, not only through the collaborative designs but also internally.
The team has their own podcast, R.Conversations which is hosted by close friend Kit Harvey, each episode delves into the story of different personalities from across Melbourne and Australia with business owners, designers, professional athletes, creators, and more.
There's also the R.Sport FC team, which you can bet always has the best kit on the field, "we play seven-a-side soccer out in Darebin, which is really fun, it's a few friends, previous customers and we've formed this mini community," says Anthony.
Looking to the future there's plenty more in the pipeline for R.Sport, Anthony predicts that it'll be a big year with the FIFA Women's World Cup coming into town, however, the duo are eager to work on more of their general R.Sport releases, so expect a stack of new things to drop this year.
Have a look at R.Sport's full collection over here.
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Image credit: Adrian Giannarelli, WOAT, Tazmyn William Slicer, Sam Hughes, Charlie Hawks, Nick Orloff, Calum Sim (supplied)