Motherland’s new drop is a nostalgic take on Test cricket

Cricket fever continues to soar with the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and in tow is a fashionable limited-edition clothing capsule themed on the gentleman’s game. It transports the sport’s diehard fans, donning their favourite team’s jerseys at stadiums, to the era of test cricket. Motherland’s cricket collection, which is inspired by the cricket fashion of the 1970s, embraces nostalgia with whites, off-whites and deep navy blues. The recurring pattern on the edit’s pullovers, sweatshirts, T-shirts and caps is the seam of a cricket ball, which underlines its design vocabulary, as is the insignia that reads ‘Eye On The Ball’.

Cricket fever continues to soar with the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and in tow is a fashionable limited-edition clothing capsule themed on the gentleman’s game. It transports the sport’s diehard fans,donning their favourite team’s jerseys at stadiums, to the era of test cricket. Motherland’s cricket collection, which is inspired by the cricket fashion of the 1970s, embraces nostalgia with whites, off-whites and deep navy blues. The recurring pattern on the edit’s pullovers, sweatshirts, T-shirts and caps is the seam of a cricket ball, which underlines its design vocabulary, as is the insignia that reads ‘Eye On The Ball’.

“From the ’70s through’90s, Test cricket had great style. The image of Kapil Dev and the boys holding the (limited overs) world cup is so iconic. Our symbology of the spin ball and ‘eye on the ball’ typography at the first glance looks like a protest symbol which is very much part of street fashion vocabulary,” says the founder, principal designer and creative director of Motherland, V Sunil, who started his career in advertising, catapulting it to hit campaigns like Make in India, and is also the founder trustee of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

Sunil shares that the collection was curated over nearly six months, from design to production, but the brand had been planning it for more than a year. “The collection is made up of 100% cotton knitwear and 100% cotton twill fabric for caps. Cotton’s hygroscopicity and breathability makes it ideal for everyday wear as well as for sports,” he notes.

Many brands, including global sportswear giant Adidas and Indian fashion designer duo Shantanu and Nikhil, have dabbled in cricket fashion. The former collaborated with New York based fashion and footwear brand Extra Butter (now also in India) for a cricket-inspired collection, while the latter launched casual-wear brand Shantnu Nikhil Cricket Club last year. So, when asked what lends an edge to Motherland’s collection on the sport, Sunil bats for its classic collars, colour combination of off-white, navy and maroon and “most importantly, our symbology, cricket-ball stitch and double-colour polo really stand out from regular sports brands”.

He admits to the growing popularity of sportswear, with international ramps speckled with the design vocabulary of street fashion evolving as athleisure and activewear. “Street fashion and culture around it were looked down upon by the so-called luxury brands, but now the tables have turned. People like Kanye West, [late] Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams have shown the world how cool and deep street fashion can be,” he says. His brand taps into the segment as an ode to cricketing heritage, designed to serve as a reminder of the values it represents — teamwork, discipline and fair play. “A tribute to the meritocratic spirit of cricket, this collection is about creating products with style, energy and character at accessible prices, a philosophy that we call sportocracy,” he adds.

Motherland, which is primarily an online brand, will soon have a store in Gurugram. “We have a design studio in Delhi and have manufactured these garments from factories based in Bangalore and Ludhiana,” states Sunil, while adding that the collection’s raw material was sourced locally. “So much embroidery detailing that is included in the collection made us repeat the sampling process a lot many times before perfect embroidery was achieved. All the styles are designed and made in India,” he says.

So, what are you wearing to the next IPL match?