The Tuskegee Airmen Red Tails Historical Sports Jersey

I find inspiration in unusual places, as is the case with the Tuskegee Airmen Red Tails jersey.

It was while driving through North Minneapolis that I saw a full sized mural of the famed WW2 fighter squadron made up of black pilots.

I graduated college with a degree in history so I am always keen to create historical items that celebrate greatness. 

In this case, the first thing is subject research to help build the colors, graphics, copy, and more.

For the Airmen, many of these choices were simple. For example, for color, they were known as the "Red Tails" because they're fighter planes had bright red tails. The blue arms with a single white star represent a very common symbol fond on all war planes of the era.

For some copy, I adopted the motto of the Tuskegee Airmen, "Spit Fire" while the number '27' is the number of planes in a TA squadron. The font used is a nod to the design styles of the 40's and 50's.

And although there were many amazing figures to put on the back, I chose to honor them all by going with their nickname instead, "Red Tails."

The intent here is of course to explain all the various aspects of this historical jersey but it is also meant illuminate the process.

And as you can see, I don't take the process lightly, so you can be sure that each jersey is more than a jersey.

It's a story in apparel form.