In our last story about One Knox’s crest, managing partner Drew McKenna teased that the upcoming away kit would be “the prettiest we’ve dropped so far.”
On Wednesday night at an event in the Knoxville Sunsphere, the team dropped the new kit, and he wasn’t kidding.
Image Provided by One Knox SC
While we weren’t able to be there, we got a look at it, along with the story behind its development.
For this one, the team went with local Knoxville designer Evan Ford, already well known for his work on past One Knox kits and with the outrageously popular University of Tennessee’s athletic branding.
Ford said he “wanted to reflect how the sunset appears on the Sunsphere,” and “how each row of panels becomes a gradient when that time hits.”
In 2021, crest designer Matthew Wolff went with the same concept when selecting the color of the iconic sunrise and top layer of the crest. The color was pulled directly from the sun hitting the Sunsphere.
McKenna repeated his feeling that this is the One Knox prettiest kit yet, touting Ford’s “unique ability to take something ubiquitous like the Sunsphere and give it a unique spin.”
The iconic Knoxville landmark was built in 1982 as part of the World’s Fair, and is the centerpiece of what is now the World’s Fair park, as well as the Knoxville skyline.
“The Sunsphere is having a moment,” said McKenna in the team’s press release. After years of neglect and failed reuse proposals following the World’s Fair, it re-opened in its current form in 2007. It currently features an observation deck, event space (where the unveiling of the kit took place), and office space.
Its supporting structure recently got a fresh coat of blue paint, indicating that it will be part of the Knoxville experience for years to come. This comes with the continued growth of Downtown Knoxville, and according to McKenna, it is no longer just a reminder of the World’s Fair.
“It’s an iconic feature of where Knoxville is headed.”
One Knox will debut the Hummel branded kit on March 16th on the road at Charlotte Independence.
Correction: an earlier version of this story captioned Sean Lewis in the main photo instead of Charlie Machell.