Have you ever wanted to design your own band or guard uniforms? Or pick out your own flags? While much of this process is usually controlled by instructors and directors, the Band Shoppe Design Contest gave anyone the chance to submit uniform or flag designs.
“The next big trend could come from a variety of places, and that’s what we are excited about showing off with this contest—displaying creativity and talent that may have otherwise not had a voice or platform to show off,” says Joe Martinez, Band Shoppe creative director.
Designers of any age or experience level submitted designs by email and Facebook and were encouraged to self-promote and get more “likes” on their design.
“We had close to 40 entrants—everything from all over the country, middle school age to adults that are current designers in the activity,” Martinez says. “It was interesting seeing different people’s perspectives. We’ve seen some of the latest trends reflected in these sketches. It was fun seeing people do their own marketing for it too.”
Band Shoppe chose three winners in each category based on the popular Facebook vote, the votes of the company’s staff members and their evaluations of what could feasibly be mass-produced. “The people we chose as winners did a really good job of combining fantasy art and something that can actually be produced and appeal to a mass audience,” Martinez says.
The winners were Elyse Wooster, Thomas Thawley and Joshua Menken for uniforms and Francesca de Wied (design pictured), Thomas Thawley and Copper Atwood for flags. They each received a $50 Band Shoppe gift certificate, a design contest T-shirt and an Adidas Bolt Sackpack filled with Band Shoppe swag. Everyone who entered also received a design contest T-shirt. All the winners’ names and sketches will be featured in the next catalog.
“We’re in discussions with the designers to go over their sketches and start talking about fabrication and getting samples going,” Martinez says. “I think we’re going to be able to produce some of these and show them off in the catalog and give that designer credit. So it’s going to be great exposure for them.”
To view all the winning designs, go to www.facebook.com/BandShoppe.
