The shop just received a Juventus Graphic Tee that is, shall we say, one of the edgiest tees we’ve ever had. I don’t want to give it all away, but there are some elements that will cause the shirt to be either a smashing success or a dismal failure. One such element is the pervasive pink color of the shirt, which keeps in line with the Juventus away jersey. For the sake of imagery, and because it’s a Serie A club, I’m going to invoke the use of the Rocky films. You’ll fully understand shortly.
Right, so the shirt is pretty much 98% pink with .5% black and 1.5% sparkle. You may be thinking to yourself, “What exactly does sparkle mean?” Enter the Rocky reference. The front of the shirt boasts an Italian Stallion made out of, wait for it, columns of black and sparkly stars. The back of the shirt displays “Juventus” written out in shimmering stars. I understand why the pink is the most prevalent as that is the color of the away jersey, but I can’t help but think the shirt would be more effective had it been black with pink stars. Maybe I’m just out of touch with what people want out of their soccer tees these days, but the shimmering stars just conjure the kind of images of commercials for those infomercial craft toys for 12 year olds. In any case, I’m sure there’s a level of “shock” appeal to it as well as some amount of fandom points in acquiring this shirt. You know, a kind of bragging rights for having the guts to wear the shirt. Heck, I’m sure there will be people who just plain like the look of the shirt. As I said, I’m not a fashion expert, so I can only give a personal opinion on the look. What objective information I can offer, though, is the comfort and fit of the shirt.
The shirt is made with 100% cotton, organically grown. It’s amazingly soft to the touch, and it fits like a glove. The shoulders don’t hang too low and aren’t cut too close to the armpit, and the torso isn’t baggy. You’ll have to look out for the shirt shrinking after washing it, so you may want to check out a size larger than normal just in case. If nothing else, this will be one of the most comfortable shirts in your tee wardrobe.
I definitely think this shirt will appeal to a specific audience and won’t be one of those impulse buys. With that said, the $30 price tag is a fair price for the quality of construction and comfort, with the added bonus of unique style for those who find it aligned with their tastes.
Written by: Kris Dyer, co-editor, soccerprose.com
