Hen’s Teeth are reimagining classic jerseys for Amnesty International
Image: Hen's Teeth
Hen’s Teeth are reimagining classic jerseys for Amnesty International
Words: Ellen Kenny
The newest line of reinvented football jerseys by Hen’s Teeth and artists from around the world. They aim to raise money for Amnesty International’s Campaign for Migrant Workers in Qatar.
Hen’s Teeth have launched their latest collection to celebrate the true goodness behind the beautiful game Goalissimo is a collection of 11 national soccer jerseys, transformed by artists from those countries using the jersey as their blank canvas.
Goalissimo is live now and is available to purchase online until December 17.
Reimagining football
Goalissimo offers a broad line of jerseys so you can find a team to support. The featured jerseys are Mexico, England, the USA, Brazil, Cameroon, Argentina, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and South Korea.
And over on the bench, you can get an Irish jersey by Dublin-based graphic designer and illustrator Gav Connell, who is also leading the exhibition launch. We may not be at the World Cup, but we can still treat ourselves. You can also get a special Hen’s Teeth World Cup ball and a Goalissimo scarf by German artist Yeye Weller.
Artists invited to collaborate with Hen’s Teeth include the USA designer Vlad Sepetov, known for designing some of the most loved album covers in music for Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock. Other artists include award-winning German artist Eike Konig, Hola Lou, a Mexican artist who has designed for the likes of Spotify, Apple and Nike, and British athelete-turned-fashion-illustrator Kelly Anna London.
Several studios abroad have also got involved with Goalissimo, from We Are Out of Office in the Netherlands to Monga Design in Brazil. A labour of love, Goalissimo has brought artists from across the world to celebrate the beautiful game.
Hen’s Teeth and the World Cup
In light of this year’s FIFA World Cup, Hen’s Teeth have announced that all profits from sales of the jerseys will be donated to Amnesty International’s Campaign for Migrant Workers in Qatar.
For several years, Amnesty International has documented and exposed the labour abuse and exploitation of low-paid migrant workers in Qatar constructing the World Cup stadium. Their campaigners and researchers have documented cases involving wage theft, with thousands of workers going months or even years at a time without pay, and forced labour, with some workers having to work 12-hour days in the most extreme of climates without a day off.
Thousands of workers in Qatar have suddenly died since 2010, and despite the link between unsafe working conditions and these deaths, the Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the underlying causes of these deaths themselves.
“The World Cup is one of those few events that genuinely brings folks together in a positive way, but we can’t ignore the incredibly dark side of this year’s event and what has happened in the build up to the competition in Qatar,” Hen’s Teeth creative director Greg Spring explained, “So it felt like the right time to do a show like this with some of our favourite artists from around the globe and hopefully raise some much needed funds for Amnesty’s campaign for compensation for the migrant workers who have been impacted.”
If you want to order a jersey before December 17, click here to see the full collection of jerseys and artists involved in Goalissimo.
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