South African designer Thebe Magugu has opened up about how he felt when he was criticised for the Orlando Pirats 2023/2024 kit. Picture: thebetsilem/Instagram
World renowned South African designer Thebe Magugu has opened up about being hurt by the barrage of criticism he received for designing the Orlando Pirates 2023/2024 kit in collaboration with Adidas.
“I received thousands of attacks from Orlando Pirates fans who told me how ugly the kit was and how I had cursed the club,” said Magugu.
Just prior the beginning of the current season in July last year, the fashion designer who could also be described as a contemporary artist together with Adidas, shared the home and away kit which is adorned with the Buccaneers’ skull and bones with fans on social media.
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“I poured months of research and work into the project and created a set of imagery that stuck so true to my own creative and aesthetic direction,” said Magugu in the recent interview with US online publication, Brené Brown.
The conversation touched on his vulnerability and inner conflicts that come with spearheading a global brand.
“It hurt, but I know that I couldn’t have been prouder of that jersey design.”
The German sports brand has been Pirates’ technical sponsor since 1997, while they began working with Magugu in 2022 through the Finding Beauty collaboration.
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It has been some months since the kit was revealed to mixed reaction and the kit has seemingly grown on Pirates fans.
“Ironically, the same fans are beginning to send me apology messages now that they have seen the kit in person; with most saying they had not expected it. People had simply experienced the shock of the new, which was valuable insight for me,” averred Magugu.
The Kimberly-born fashion designer was answering a question about how he deals with criticism and he said he finds contentment if his work is honest and informed.
“If I am creating from a place that is honest and informed and the only person I am inherently trying to impress is myself, then I always feel safe releasing work because I know it wasn’t incepted from a place of malice or to cause controversy.”
When asked about the role vulnerability plays in his work, Magugu said: “Through my work, I present all my dreams, my fears, my ego, my insecurity, and it takes a level of being OK with being ‘seen’ like that to really create work that speaks to the human condition.”
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