A kit for all of Utah -- This mantra of the Real Salt Lake creative team throughout the entire conceptualization of the 2023 Beehive State kit. From every thread to every stitch, the Real Salt Lake away kit seeks to piece together the Club and the state’s history in one unifying jersey.
The journey of the Beehive State Kit begins at Capitol Hill and flows out throughout to the rest of the state -- Actually quite literally.
“I was out walking the dogs around at the Capitol and noticed all these statues with the beehive,” VP of Marketing and Game Production Tyler Gibbons, said. “The design process was taking place when the flag was being redone, which now features the beehive, and Utah is nicknamed “the Beehive State,” so we decided to lean into it.”
Besides the gold shade, the details in the kit include a hexagonal pattern that represents a beehive, an updated badge, and Claret-and-Cobalt trim.
Former RSL Art Director, David Dryden who was heavily involved in the design of the kit, also referenced what he heard from the fans as inspiration.
“One of the big pieces of feedback that I've seen from fans is that they were sick of white secondary jerseys,” said Dryden. “I really took that to heart because as a fan myself, I was also sick of white jerseys.”
For Dryden, gold seemed like a perfect fit. Not only because of the reference to the beehive, but the general vibe of the state.
“When you think of Utah, it's not a dark place. It's a bright, beautiful, sunny state,” Dryden said.
Gibbons, who coined the kit’s tagline, “Be Bold. Go Gold.” was in full agreement.
“On the secondary side, we're always gonna take some risks,” Gibbons said. “We're always gonna have some fun because it's not our primary.”
Gibbons hails his relationship with the Club’s Adidas representative, former Utah Royals player Mandy Laddish, for helping the kit supplier and the Club be on the same page.
“She understands our market and I understand what our fans want,” Gibbons said. “Just like last year’s Believe kit, this is for Utah, for the people that live and represent this state and call it home. The Beehive State is industrious, hardworking, and together which is what I think this Club stands for.”
Besides just taking inspiration from the state, the design team also wanted to draw in concepts from the Club’s history, specifically the 2010-11 “Victory Gold” third kit.
“When you walk down the hall at America First Field, you see all our past jerseys, so we also wanted to draw on our heritage,” said Gibbons.
Unlike the “Victory Gold” kit, the new Beehive State kit doesn’t use the Club’s primary colors. The jersey incorporates a new shade of blue, and instead of a banana yellow, gold. The Club will also be able to choose between using blue or gold shorts to pair with the new kit.
Working with Laddish, the kit design process begins with an eight page document that the Club creates that spells out the vision, idea, market for the Adidas team in Germany. Adidas responds to the document with a few design ideas. The design team then discussed with the team in Germany the final details of the kit. Then once everyone is on board, the final version of the kit is created.
Once those inside the Club saw the new Beehive State kit for the first time, the reception was overwhelmingly positive.
“I absolutely fell in love with it,” said Sr. Digital Director, Emma Kramer. “I thought it would easily become one of the best kits in MLS.”
Now that the kit was finalized, it was time to begin planning its release.
The groundwork for the kit launch began last November. The logistics behind a kit launch are many. The digital team had to plan media day with the new kit, plan the location and storyline behind the launch video and photoshoot, coordinate all the different ideas between the creatives and then align how those ideas would tell a story through social media, email, site, and graphics.
“I think there are a lot of brainstorming processes you've gotta go through and make sure everyone who's being a part of the launch understands the vision which is that this is Utah's kit,” said Kramer.
“It's a kit for this state and for the people who live here. So we wanted to tie in downtown Salt Lake, the stadium, the mountains that are so prevalent here and make sure we can tell the story from top to bottom with our video, having all of those different elements play out.”
Kramer also wanted to make sure the right person did the voice over for the video was someone who the fans could connect back to Utah. Who better than former RSL player and commentator, Brian Dunseth.
Then for the video itself, the digital team wanted to make sure there were elements tied to both the story of the Beehive State kit and the story of those who live here. Locations include the likes of the beehives at the state capitol, the Beehive Pub, Nick Rimando’s Beer Bar, the Tracks, Vivint Arena and more.
Over months of planning, and many long nights, the Beehive Kit was finally released on February 16.
“It's probably one of the most stressful things that I do throughout the entire year, up there with schedule release and playoffs, but it's so fun to see it all come to life and see,” Kramer said.
“We have such a creative staff, from the video, photo and graphics that were established and then how we launched it on the website, email and social. All of these people have put so much hard work to make it the best launch. I'm really proud to witness it all come to life.”
