You might not know his name yet, but if you’re a soccer fan, you certainly know his work.
Griffin Claes ’19 is the senior designer at Adidas Football, where he and his team of designers create kits, or uniforms, for major football clubs like Real Madrid, Arsenal, Club America, Juventus, and Inter Miami, to name a few. Claes works with football clubs to establish creative direction each season, using apparel to tell stories and connect with fans.
“These days, there’s so much online content, and so many things pop up on our feeds. You really want to cut through, and I think the best way to do that is through storytelling,” Claes says. “We want to make sure we’re telling stories that are authentic to each community on a local level, but at the same time telling stories that work globally.”
Claes says his goal is to create jerseys that bring people together and represent each team’s community and spirit.
“There’s a sense of pride. When you are walking down the street in Nuremberg, Germany, and there’s a first grader wearing a Messi jersey, that’s pretty cool, to be a part of that. It’s really special and really fun,” he says. “You see people wearing stuff that you did, and they have no idea who you are, and they have no idea that you had a hand in it. You just say, ‘Nice shirt.’ ”
For Claes, designing is combination of creativity, hard work, and curiosity, and when it comes to taking on big projects, he knows how to push boundaries and get things done.
Here are five ways you can kick it like Claes and find inspiration like an Adidas designer.
Venture somewhere new.
“I get such a such a thrill out of travel. Other cultures are really such a big source of inspiration. When it’s a whole other culture, a whole other world that you are then exposed to, you can’t help but be inspired. There’s a different language, a different typeset, and the way that they approach design is so different,” Claes says. “If you go from Mexico to the Netherlands to Thailand, football looks a lot different in those places, and that’s like the beauty of the World Cup. These cultures are vastly different, and you can’t help but kind of get a jolt of energy.”
Spend the day at the museum.
“I try as much as I can to get to as many art museums as humanly possible. As a designer, I think if you’re able to bring some kind of art, artistic reference, or cultural reference into a design, you are somehow giving that to people and making that art a bit more attainable,” he says.
Find your people.
“I go to festivals like Art Basel in Miami or Fashion Week, and it’s like a lightning bolt. You get struck by it, and you just can’t help but have all these ideas just come rushing to,” Claes says. “When you soak up that kind of energy, where there’s all of these creative entities around this one place, you can’t help but get sucked in by it. It just makes you want to do more creative projects, trying something new, or trying something bigger.”
Focus on your “why.”
“For football, all you need is a ball, and you can be a part of it. That inspiration and that sense of community is just so important. Whether people play a five-a-side once a week with friends, or they occasionally watch the games, or are absolute fanatics for a certain club, they’re all a part of it,” he says. “When I think about the jerseys, I mostly just want people to be a part of it and to feel like they’re part of this community.”
Make things happen.
“I’ve been thinking a lot these days about that kind of energy that you have when you’re just starting out. And I am telling you if, if there’s a way to bottle that, I’m buying it. You’re so confident, and you’re so hungry, and you have so much determination,” Claes says. “If you have the drive and if you’ve got the work ethic, you can make things happen. It’s a lot of luck and preparation, but if you’ve got the preparation, if you’ve got the goods, you can do a lot of things.”
