One of the things we’ve discovered while covering grassroots soccer is the amazing designers and entrepreneurs who help contribute to the colorful tapestry of the lower league aesthetic. In Protagonist Soccer’s ongoing efforts to highlight brands that are in the business of helping make soccer go in our country, we reached out to relative newcomers Ginga, who caught our eye recently with their fantastic work on the Agema FC kits. We wanted to know more about them and who else they’ve been working with – Diego Hurtago, CEO of Ginga Sportswear, LLC was kind enough to answer our call.

What got Ginga Sportsear started - who got it all going and why?

The idea of a sports clothing brand specifically soccer came years ago when I used to live in a really humble place, in the city of Bogota Colombia. We had no clothes on our birthdays, we had no clothes on Christmas so we basically always had to wear the same pair of jeans and jerseys. My mom used to have a sewing machine and she used to make babies’ clothes for a living. One day there was a piece of fabric hanging and I asked my mom if she could make me a certain type of jersey, I drew the jersey and she made it exactly like the one I pictured. From that day on I started selling jerseys and different apparel to my friends for a very good price. We always bought the fabrics that were on sale and make some sick clothing. One day we made this compression long sleeve shirts and I had so many orders my mom couldn’t handle it anymore and we had to stop because she was earning no money from making my clothes the little money I charged was for my lunch at school and some soccer cleats and stuff, have in mind that I was 13-14 years old at the time. However, I knew that I wanted to have my own clothing line, with my own name and logo, something that it had to do with my main passion, soccer. Back in the day while I was living in Colombia, I knew that dream was impossible, I grew up from a place where dreams don’t really come true unless you’re really talented or you’re really lucky. My only way out was my only real talent which is playing soccer, soccer got me out of that place and brought me to the United States. Soccer gave me a college education; it gave me many reasons to keep fighting for those dreams that at the time seemed impossible. Now that I’ve played at every level possible in this country it was time to bring that old wish back and make reality my two biggest desires which were creating my own clothing line and playing pro soccer.

Recently we’ve seen your work with Agema, what other soccer clubs have you worked with? Any teams or organizations outside of soccer?

Even though we are pretty new in the industry we have partnered with great teams and organizations some that are extremely professional such as MARYLAND BOBCATS FC who were recently crowned as UPSL NATIONAL CHAMPION, we also take pride in being an official provider for the soccer arena Colombian National team in which we worked in many events in California, we also were there with them in the 2019 Minifutbol World Cup in Australia. We work with many UPSL teams such as LOKO FC, THE PALM BEACH SPARTANS, DEPORTIVO ALACRANES, MIAMI ACES, and our most recently SPORTING CLUB VERDUGOS. Our work has cough the attention to many NPSL teams, pro soccer arena teams from the MASL and we are finalizing those as of now. Sadly, the pandemic put a pause in all our projects, but we are getting deals little by little, we know the teams that were working with us are still there, and at the right time they will become part of this great family. To keep mentioning other few teams, we have worked with ASA COLLEGE from Miami and many amateur teams from south Florida, Colorado, California, New York, some of the very known as GAM UNITED FOOTBAL CLUB and FOOTBAL CLUB DIABLOS. We also work with many other teams in Colombia. We have our own little store in Colombia. Our main focus with the company right now is soccer but we are actually developing new products for other sports at this moment.

Some clients may have a sense of what they want, while others might not be so fashion forward; do you offer in house design? If so, what inspires and informs Ginga’s design aesthetic?

Honestly, I taught myself how to design and learn everything on Illustrator, photoshop and all these programs, but I knew I had to find one person that only focused on our designs, so I could have more time and reach more people, so I stopped designing and I find a fantastic designer (another pro soccer player) that is very creative and comes up with many ideas. I think us being soccer players give us the sense and the knowledge to get on the players head and know exactly what they want. For every club that we want to work with we study the team’s culture, city, and community and we try to put that picture in the jersey. Just like you say some clubs already know what they want and we go with their guidelines and some others don’t really know and that’s when our ideas come into play. If you do not have any ideas of the design you want for your team, logo, or name we will find and create what fits the most for their organization. We can make classic designs, artistic design, crazy designs, and crazier designs. We always start between artistic and crazy. We can also make your team’s logo as we have done before or even find your own team’s identity. Even if you do not become a part of the GINGA FAMILY our motto is always for you to leave with your own identity.

Aside from shirts, do you offer any other apparel pieces or do you have plans to?

Yes, we most definitely do have an extended catalog where we offer different apparel such as training jerseys, track suits, jackets, joggers, hoodies, training bags, wind runners, polos, scarfs, and socks THE WHOLE PACKAGE. We even sell big flags for any team or supporters, many times we provide them for free with any order. We were planning on launching our online store this month, but we are going to hold for a little bit and do it at the right time. Because a lot of people have been asking how can they buy individual apparel, therefore this online store is going to be perfect for them. We will have women clothing, casual/street clothing, and much more, we are working to bring something really good. So, if you go to our website right now, don’t judge us so quickly, we are working on it and soon everyone will be able to buy different products.

What’s the future of the company - where do you see the business in five years?

I see my company growing and growing every day and that makes me extremely happy. One of the reasons we created this company was to support and give jobs to my family in Colombia because they have been around in this business for years. Watching them with a new factory and calling it our own makes me realize that I have come far but I know there is so much more that I need to keep striving for, mostly because of them back home. In 5 years, I am planning to being a well-known brand in the soccer world working in many states. Working with many pro teams here and abroad and finding a way to give back to kids like me who once had that vision and help them realize that there is something better out there and even though it’s hard you still can achieve it.

To Contact Ginga Sportswear: https://gingasportswear.wixsite.com/gingasportswear

TO check out more of their work: https://www.facebook.com/Gingazone/