Kings Reverse Retro Resto
Intro
It’s no secret that I love the Kings Reverse Retro Jersey. It’s one of the best in the class, and I’d love to see it make a regular appearance.
It’s also one of the rarest and most expensive of the class. So when I saw one pop up on eBay for around MSRP, I grabbed it without thinking!
It had Doughty with the “A” and everything on the front - meaning it wasn’t Adidas factory customization. That means it’s better, right?
Right?
right?
Wrong.
This is where today’s story begins, with some of the worst customization I’ve had the (mis)pleasure of dealing with.
How it was
Upon receiving the jersey, I immediately checked out the customization and was aghast.
Heat-pressed, sublimated single-layer twill with a nameplate.
This isn’t what the Kings use, not even close! And it’s heat pressed? Yikes.
Maybe it’ll strip well. Maybe I can get it cleaned up enough that it can have a new, proper kit applied.
Cleanup
I started with my standard kit removal process, starting with the rear of the jersey.
Coat the inside of the kit with some chemicals, and peel. Usually this results in the number letting go a little bit, and pulling away.
The nameplate came off mostly clean. Unfortunately, the back number decided that it had other plans.
To quote Alice Cooper, welcome to my nightmare.
I spent the next few hours slowly chipping away at the residue. Multiple layers of glue and fabric fragments made this tedious, painful, and slow. Chemcials, scrub, wipe, repeat. I worked in 2” segments, and each segment needed multiple passes to remove all the residue. By then end, I was covered in sweat…but it was done.
Arms and Chest
The arms and chest had the same problem - the lettering basically separated when it was lifted, leaving a giant gross misshapen imprint behind.
Repeating the previous process, I cleaned these up too.
Post residue removal
Stucksville.
The jersey was mostly cleaned, but due to how heinous the kit application was and the amount of work and scrubbing required, I didn’t want to take this for yet another round of chemicals, as I’d be worried I’d damage the jersey beyond a state of repair.
I figured it would be destined to forever be a Doughty jersey. That’s fine, I guess.
The next question was in terms of getting a kit to cover the ghosting. Stitching is not my forte, nor do I pretend for it to be.
Enter Liam.
Liam is a pretty popular guy on the Hockey Jersey Discord, and he’s known for doing his own font designs. He offered to take a crack at this jersey and see if he couldn’t make a design that would cover up the ghosting while still looking good.
Turns out, the kit that was used was not even close to on-ice accurate in terms of sizing. Liam did some font work and worked with Customize Sports (CS) to craft the new kit materials.
We then had to figure out stitch pattern. Fortunately, another user (Oscar) had a game-issued Kings Reverse Retro we could base the project on, and I definitely referenced his mail day post to find the correct stitching pattern for the back and arms.
After a little back and forth with CS to get the layers correct, Liam stitched it up and sent it home.
The Finished Product
Conclusion
I love the way this came out. Liam did an amazing job with the kit, and while it might not be 100% on-ice specs perfect, it does its job - covering up that ghosting left over from the original customization.
I love this jersey, and it will be in my collection for a very long time. Blood, sweat, and tears went into getting this jersey into good shape, and I’m happy with how it came out.