Orient Look To The Past For Clues To The Future

Football and fashion aren't always easy partners, as anyone observing a matchday crowd at an EFL game over recent years could tell you. You could certainly never seriously accuse Os fans of being fashionable, but that is starting to change -- even if many of us have mixed feelings about Leyton itself being described at the world's 24th "coolest" neighbourhood, and attracting glowing reviews from the likes of Condé Nast.

It is into this emerging milieu that Orient have chosen to break with tradition and partner with an insurgent brand to produce their apparel. Although Meyba claim a long history, including a decade of work with FC Barcelona, the name is the only link that the current iteration of this company has with the one which went into receivership shortly after its work with Barça ended in 1992.

Nevertheless, working with a partner that is smaller and hungrier than Puma and the other established brands presents an opportunity to do something different, and more tailored to the particular culture and character of the Os. After the second kit launched to largely positive reviews (and record sales: no-one has yet gone bankrupt over-estimating the appetite for Somme-related merchandise), the event held to launch the home kit was another, even bigger test of whether this partnership would work for Orient as well as it obviously works for Meyba.

Holding an event of this nature was itself another big departure for Orient, although it was clear from very early on that it was at least as much by and about the club's technical kit partner, whose logo takes pride of place on the new home shirt, above Orient's own crest.

Big Penny Social is one of the larger and more adaptable venues on the Blackhorse Road "Beer Mile", which has seen a spate of closures recently due to increasing pressures on the hospitality industry. The space chosen for the event can accommodate 1,100 people, although only 700 tickets were put on sale, and had not sold out as the event began.

Online, the reaction to the event, and to the new kit, was decidedly mixed, but at Big Penny Social itself the mood was much more agreeable, with many expressing the view that the club should be commended for stepping out of its comfort zone.

Compared to the typical matchday crowd, those turning out to the launch were decidedly younger, more female, and more diverse in all sorts of other ways. Indeed the crowd more closely reflected the demographics of 2020s Walthamstow than of the Orient fanbase, although the overlap between these groups is clearly growing.

A few nano-influencers and local dignitaries were in evidence alongside the usual highly engaged "buy anything with an Orient badge on it" types, although the Ear was not invited into the VIP area so can't comment on how well behaved everyone was when brought into close contact with the players and with Mr Wellens himself, who made a brief appearance on stage. Sadly, little of what was said there could be heard from more than a few feet away.

Meyba's style is certainly distinctive, although the decisions to lean into Orient's history (braces, the chevron and "if in doubt press the Somme button") present a unique set of challenges for their designers, who are clearly not steeped in club culture. The design of the kits is rich in detail for sure, although perhaps a little fussy in parts, and of course the main audience for this is not the professional athletes who have to perform in it, but the often less than shapely older men who comprise the majority of the potential customers.

Which brings us to one of the main disadvantages of the decision to partner with Meyba, which has been the failure thus far to provide kit for women and girls. Although the club and Meyba have been extremely keen to push women forward when promoting the new product, somehow they forgot to ensure that any was available for them.

Thanks to the tireless work of HerOs (Os Official Female Supporters Group), Meyba have now undertaken to produce some, although anyone interested in buying one is required to fill out an expression of interest first. This is a clear step backwards from last season, and another regrettable example of how women are often required to work harder to receive the same treatment and respect as men in football. It remains to be seen whether there will be suitable kit available for Orient's women's team when their season begins (Ed: since publication we have learnt that LOFCW agreed directly with Meyba that they will wear the standard men's fit this season).

Live music for the evening was provided by The Bracknall, although their third-generation Oasis tribute was not strong enough to overcome the lack of an authentic connection with Orient, and the fact that hardly anyone had heard of them. The advertised Q&A did not take place, so there was no opportunity to ask why a band made up of men from East London and Essex should end up becoming fervent Spurs supporters.

And so the music, just like the kit - and indeed the whole event - raised interesting questions about what's required for Leyton Orient to escape its "littleness". An evening that broke some boundaries and looked forward with considerable success still struggled to escape the gravity of the past or to reach deeply into the hearts of the fanbase.

Whether or not the clothes or the Meyba brand have longevity only time will tell. After all, this is just a kit -- and it will only ever be remembered as fondly as the players who wear it and as the season in which it was worn.

Orient CEO Mark Devlin recently said he'd been told Meyba was a "cool" brand. Cool is an extremely elusive quality of course, and perhaps the only immutable law of "cool" is that if you think you have it, then you most certainly don't. There is still plenty of work left to do to articulate what makes this club truly special.