Pentagram creates posters for new brand set up by US women’s football stars

Pentagram partner Eddie Opara and his New York-based team have created a series of black and white typographic posters for re—inc, a new lifestyle brand set up by US Women’s National Team footballers Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press, Tobin Heath and Meghan Klingenberg.

The three prints were created by Opara collaboratively with the sports stars through a number of co-design sessions. “The overall approach was to design a poster series that empowers content in an unexpected way,” said Pentagram partner Eddie Opara in a release about the project. “Bold, yet sophisticated. Strong, yet sensitive. But talking about design can get tiring – so we sketched – a lot.”

The posters feature the words reimagine, reinvent and redefine playfully disassembled in a sans serif typeface. The goal, Opara says, was to “inspire people to reimagine the status quo.” Each has been screen-printed by a female-owned studio in New York and will be the first in a line of printed materials that re—inc is due to publish.

The brand itself was launched in June 2019 to offer its customers what it calls a “reinterpretation of fashion, gatherings, content, art, and tools for living.” The debut collection featured a capsule range of gender-inclusive streetwear including T-shirts made in collaboration with photographer Charlie Williams. Footballer Tobin Heath, who is also an artist, created a series of collage works for the brand, and auctioned them off to raise money for Brooklyn-based nonprofit A Blade of Grass.

“The co-founders have challenged the paradigm of celebrity athlete endorsements, capitalised on their own success, and established their own purposeful brand that champions equity, creativity, art, and originality,” said Opara. “The players’ names are not plastered across the products; rather, the line invites fans to express themselves through a system of customisable fashion and experiences. They’re not just selling wares because of who they are or because they’re a status symbol. It’s because of what they’ve gone through and seen others going through.”