Epoch scores with JJB and England’s Umbro shirt

Epoch Design has created a ‘destination area’ within sports retailer JJB Sports for the new official England football shirts from Umbro, which go on sale in stores on 2 April.

The in-store ‘shop-in-shop’ will be rolled out from this week nationwide across 101 JJB stores prior to the kit going on sale next week, says Epoch sales director Graham Peace.

The sports chain is the official retailer for England team products.

‘Our brief was to make the England shirt area the focal point of the shop, and use the England team colours to build association with the Football Association,’ says Peace. The group designed a flexible wall system as well as ‘gondolas’ to take the product range.

Umbro , which designs the England kit in-house, has produced women’s shirts for the first time, and Epoch was also briefed to design a bust-form to show off the shirts and to differentiate them clearly from the men’s ranges, says Umbro marketing manager Simon Jobson.

Epoch won the work last summer after a three-way, unpaid creative pitch against Greenroom Retail and Oakley Young. It was approached on the strength of previous work for Umbro on point-of-sale for the Xai football boot, according to Peace.