BTS of the Cherry Blossom Collection & Our Schedule Is Released
Our 2022 Schedule is Released
Tickets to the our watch parties are available here.
Behind the scenes of the ‘22 Cherry Blossom Collection
The blossoming of the Japanese cherry trees in DC represent some of the most beautiful scenery in the city. Every year, hundreds of thousands flock to the nation’s capital to experience this truly special welcome into the Spring season.
To commemorate this iconic imagery in all of its wonderful Spring splendor — the first iteration of the Cherry Blossom merch collection was released in 2021, to incredible support from Justice fans, Overwatch League fans, and DC natives alike.
“When we originally made the choice to release a Spring Cherry Blossom collection, we never expected to receive as warm of a response as we did,” said MerchGuyChris, one of the primary driving forces behind the creation of the collection at the Justice.
The overwhelming consensus was that the original collection was a no-brainer for DC-based sports teams. It was one of those things you saw that just made sense and made you ask, “why has no one else thought to do this?” I posed this question to Chris, to get an idea of what the creative process looked like going in to creating the initial designs.
“Each time we start to work on these collections the task is always to create something new. We generally start from scratch to see what ideas come to us top of mind, then we start to work in some inspiration and references of past designs to feel out what could work. Whether it is a color combination, a style of garment, specific icons, or something requested by fans, I feel that is how we manage to create a collection that both establishes a familiarity to it, while also providing something original and distinct.”
The creative process of the design paid off, allowing the collection to stand out amongst the rest — it was then, that Chris knew they were onto something: “since the collection became such a fan favorite, we knew it had to be one of our staple collections that we’d release every year moving forward.”
The challenge now, with a design as enigmatic and distinct as the ones they produced in the first year, is how they could ensure that the new catalogue still felt fresh enough for fans to latch onto it and get excited about what had been created. I asked Chris if this was something they were cognizant of, how they planned to account for it, and if they achieved their goals of differentiation with this new collection:
“Coming into this year, our conversations were focused primarily on what apparel styles and designs the fans seemed to like the most from our collection last year, which design elements we liked and felt we should reference, and how we would go about creating something different. Yes, in my opinion, we set out with these goals in mind and we released a collection that is bright, fun and new while keeping a very similar feel to last years drop.”
The flagship peace, the jersey, is where fans will likely notice the largest change from last year. This was an intentional move on the part of the design team, as they felt this would then dictate the tone for all of the other pieces. Here’s what Chris had to say about their approach to the design of the jersey this year:
“Our commemorative jerseys are very different from what they were last year, which helps set the tone for how this collection looks and feels. The jerseys last year were subtle with hints of cherry blossoms and DC landmarks and we also had two color variations for fans to choose from. Going into this year I knew I wanted only one jersey that stood out a little more than the previous, and I think we achieved that with the vibrant and dynamic pattern of the cherry blossom flowers in full bloom.”
I’m writing as an intern, but since seeing this collection drop last year, I’ve been anticipating this new release as a fan. Like many others, I was encapsulated by the initial release, and was incredibly excited to have an opportunity to take a peek behind the curtain and see the hard work that goes into creating something so special for us, the fans.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this year’s collection!
Biggest of thank yous to Chris for taking the time to answer all my intern-ly questions on top of his already incredibly busy schedule, and to Jake for helping me get this all put together. Be sure to take a look at this year’s collection before it’s gone, and if you’ve read this far, take this as a reward: Cherryblossom5