Project

Drie

Merch

Apparel graphics

Launch campaign

2025

Client

Drie, a summer 3x3 basketball league in Ghent

1,240

pieces sold from June to September 2025; the summer before, 300 T-shirts were given away

€8,700

spent from the proceeds on new nets, rims and line paint at four of the six courts by the end of the 2025 season

Live site

Visit live site

The brief

Drie has run a summer 3x3 league since 2019 on six outdoor courts in Dampoort, Brugse Poort, Rabot, Ledeberg, Muide and the Blaarmeersen, with 48 teams of four playing from June to September. The merch had always been a T-shirt with the logo on the chest, handed out at registration and worn once. This year the league wanted merch people would pay for and wear away from the court, with the money going to nets and paint. There were six weeks before the opening games on 7 June.

The idea

Weekday games at Drie have no referee. Players call their own fouls, and most arguments are about the same few rules. So we printed the house rules on the merch, one rule per piece, huge across the back: call your own, first to 21, make it take it. Settling an argument now means pointing at someone’s back, and the drop explains the league to anyone walking past the fence.

The charcoal drop

A hoodie, a crewneck and a T-shirt in one charcoal, each with its rule in off-white across the back and the ball and wordmark small on the chest. Screen printed in Dampoort with water-based ink on heavy organic cotton.

A folded charcoal Drie hoodie on a blue court beside a white line

A charcoal Drie crewneck printed First to 21. on a green court

A charcoal Drie T-shirt printed Make it, take it. on a hanger on a fence

A charcoal Drie crewneck draped over a green courtside bench

Bucket hats and totes

Charcoal bucket hats with the ball and wordmark on the front, and a tote cut to hold the size 6 ball that 3x3 is played with, plus a towel.

A charcoal Drie bucket hat resting on a basketball

A charcoal Drie tote with a ball and towel against a street barrier

A Drie bucket hat hanging on a red and white barrier

Players’ tees

White tees for all 192 registered players, printed with the team number huge and the wordmark small. Each one comes folded in a clear bag with a size sticker.

A folded white Drie players’ tee with number 07 in a clear bag

A stack of white Drie players’ tees on a courtside bench

A white Drie players’ tee with 07 laid flat beside a ball

The finals tee

Only the sixteen teams that reached finals night got this one: dip-dyed by hand from magenta to violet in a Dampoort workshop, so no two match.

A magenta to violet dip-dyed Drie finals tee on a grey court

A Drie finals tee hanging over the rim of a basketball hoop

What changed

The drop went on sale at the opening games and on the league’s site the same evening, and the shots taken on the courts became the season’s posters. By August, players were turning up at away courts wearing the rule they planned to argue about.

Credits

Okapi: Duarte Neves (lead designer), Marta Lobo (wording of the rules), Ana Pires (garments and print)
Drie: Bruno Tavares (founder and organiser), Kiara Gomes (teams and registration)
With: screen printing and dyeing in Dampoort; photography by Rafael Costa on the league’s courts

Client

Drie, a summer 3x3 basketball league in Ghent