How to rebrand Venezia FC, the “world’s most fashionable club”? Call in Bureau Borsche

Football aside, Venezia FC has established a, connected, but divergent legacy lately. In 2021, GQ called it the “world’s most fashionable football club”, a term which firmly stuck. In only May this year, the subject of Venezia FC’s style was at the centre of a mini BBC documentary. So, for a club already branded by its culture, coveted football shirts and winning orange and green palette, how do you mix up its design successfully? The answer is Bureau Borsche.

Never one to shy away from pressurised tasks, in the past Mirko Borsche has redesigned The Face, and bought in a wild look for the Bavarian State Opera. Also no stranger to fashion, in 2017 the studio devised a “normcore” web design for Balenciaga. The studio has a history with Venice too; it designed Venezia FC’s very own website last year and the Venice Pavilion identity for La Biennale di Venezia two years before. So with this fresh undertaking, the club seems in safe hands, though not pedestrian ones.

Bureau Borsche kicks things off by digging into the club’s heritage, so as not to completely disrupt its culture-led branding thus far. For example, the Lion of Saint Mark – the winged lion symbol of the city of Venice – is kept, having always been at the heart of the Venezia FC brand. The Munich-based studio adds more historic flourishes to the emblem; “the horizontal lines representing the lion’s wings are a clear reference to the Venetian gondola’s traditional iron prow with its protruding blades”, explains a press release from Venezia.

However, that’s not to say Bureau Borsche hasn’t taken dynamic steps forward. The historic lion emblem has been integrated into a minimal “V” crest. Its abstract new form, the release adds, produces “a fresh lion that feels more sleek, fierce, and stylish than the one it replaces”.

Capped by the club’s classic orange and green, the letterform on the logo has been split to resemble two flags. Meanwhile, in a significant move for the club, the lion itself has returned to its original gold, after previous introductions of a white logo throughout its 114-year history (from 1997-2005, in 2013, and in 2015, remaining though last season). The gold iteration, Bureau Borsches reason, is “the most authentic and refers to the old heritage”.

A new set of 22/23 pre-match shirts also launch with the new identity. Having released its shirts to much fanfare in the past, Venezia FC rings in this season with “a streetwear sensibility”, says the release. The Bureau Borsche shirts feature an orange, black, and green checker design and the new crest in total gold. The accompanying campaign for the 22/23 pre-match shirts is shot by Alessandro Simonetti.

Venezia FC pre-match shirts are available for pre-order here; the rest of the 22/23 Venezia FC kit collection includes three kits to be released on 7 July, 14 July, and 21 July.