A sub-committee has been set up to look into the possibility of designing new Orwell club kit. The committee currently has the following members: Dave Tansey, Eddy Lynch, John Marron, Paraic Morrissey and Paul Tansey.

This design committee is open to any other member who also wants to get involved.

At this point we want to ask whether you would like to change the kit for the 2011 season or keep the current design.

A member poll has been placed in the sidebar under the login form. Members must log in to be able to see it. You will only be able to vote once.

Once we tally the votes, if we get a majority vote for a new design we will follow this up with a design competition.

The final design will be voted on at a meeting in August.

Whatever the design, the plan would be to retain it for a three year minimum to allow members certainty over buying club kit for the seasons ahead.

We understand that the poll vote is a bit restrictive. Feel free to add additional comments or suggestions in this thread.

Personally, I'd rather not have a new kit - only finished buying everything in the current design.
If more people vote for a new kit however, please no beige, brown, sludge green, purple or grey.
These colours kill the Irish skin tone, especially in harsh morning light.
Reds should be more yellow then blue, for the same reason.
Shorts should not be all white, all yellow or all pink, as puddle splashes look awful on them.
Pistachio green goes with absolutely nothing, except metallic silver.
Finally, no sequins, tassles, or leopard print.
I hope this helps.

Couple of questions:

1. Are the sponsors staying the same?

2. Do sponsors have any say in the kit design, e.g. if we were being sponsored by someone whose branding is blue and white, could they ask for blue and white kit? (Or does it depend on how much they're willing to fork out?)

3. I'm only familiar with the current kit. If the answer to the last question is "no", are there traditional Orwell colours, i.e. white and green? And would these expected to be incorporated into a new kit?

My two cents? I would love something that involved white or pink shorts.

Another point. There is a bit of devil you know/devil you don't about the process as outlined. For example, you could vote for a change and then find that the new kit is a bit skanky.

Would it not make more sense to hold a design competition and then ask people to vote on whether to adopt the new kit or keep the old? That way people would know what they're voting for.

Ruth Collier wrote:
Damn.

I would agree with a lot of what Dick was saying. Before a vote could be carried out the decision on the sponsors would have to be made as they may want one design and a particular colour - beige shorts and leopard print top.
However I do think that the current colour scheme does work as I feel it stands out in group photo's at the races etc.

I think basically the kit has become very dated , and it is due a overhaul . In saying that its a race jersey , not casual clothing clothing and the design and color should reflect this .

I agree Enda, a club kit should be a bit fun and eye catching. Far too many irish clubs have drab, Aldi-store looking kits.

Having said that I am a fan of the current kit and the 6-pack, I think Dick is right in that some designs should be put forward by members to give people an idea of the direction we might be headed in. I can't really vote until I know if we are going for "update" or "overhaul".

Hi there

Just to respond to some of the questions raised so far:

1. Are the sponsors remaining the same?
I think we need to look at sponsorship as a separate issue to a possible redesign. We have managed to incorporate several different sponsors into the current design without any difficulty over the last few years.

2. Do sponsors have any say in the kit design?
If some company throws us lots of money and dictates certain colours for the jersey I'm sure we'd have to consider this, however given the economic climate I'd say the chance of this is rather slim!

3. Are there traditional Orwell colours? Our club colours have been traditionally green/white/yellow or versions of this over the last 25 years. At one stage the club jersey was actually blue.

4. Would these colours be expected to be incorporated into a new kit?
If the membership vote for a change we will clearly look at all options for redesign,(complete redesign/small tweaks/colours) and the members will decide which one they want to go for, at a club meeting in August, assuming we can get moving quickly on a vote as to whether we want a change or not.

If some of the members have the artistic ability when it comes to kit design, they can of course be put in the mix too.

So to conclude:
Step 1: We need your votes to see if we should kick off the project or not
Step 2: If the members want a change we will look at all the various options
Step 3: The members will be asked for their opinion on the final choice of design.

I really like the current kit but I have had my gear for a few years so i'd be a fan of changing kit

My only objection is the committee - 5 of the most unstylish individuals in the peleton. I think we need to get a woman on there!

Can someone give me a valid reason for redesigning the club gear and handing members a completely unnecessary expense. Change for the sake of change is not a reason.

Ian, I think that is why I would be in favour of an update rather than a complete design change. You could still wear the old kit and be recognized as a (retro) Orwellian. I'm not sure what the story is with racing, do you have to have the most recent club kit?

Like I said I like the current jersey, but it could use a few tweaks and updates. I don't think we need to switch to a pink and blue kit just yet.

I'd love something like this:



Yes, I'm serious

But if that doesn't win approval, then I think an update of the current kit would be good. What we have is pretty smart and I'm quite fond of it, but is perhaps getting a bit dated. The fake abs would have to go for a start. Also more white in the shorts would look really well I think, perhaps along these lines?



I also think it might be a good idea to follow on from what we did with the last winter jacket by making winter gear predominantly black, while keeping summer gear mostly white.

How about a Sleek Rapha Condor type kit ;-)

I'd put all these in one post if I knew how. this is my first time posting..

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I like the second one Liam. First one is nice, but a bit too Rapha like.

Cracking designs Liam, I'd love to wear them.

I think Liam did a great job there - nice, simple and black. I'd wear that :)

I like the current kit and wouldn't be keen on changing it. It's difficult to come up with good designs (witness plenty other club gear) so once you hit on a good idea, why change?

If anything, just an update as opposed to a complete change.