click to enlarge Cole Bassett, who grew up in Colorado, is familiar with the state’s skies that inspired these jerseys. Colorado Rapids
click to enlarge “With Love From Denver,” at 2314 Broadway, was where Milbery’s relationship with the Rapids first formed. Pat Milbery, Pat McKinney, Jason Graves and Remington Robinson
The signoff on the back of the new Colorado Rapids jersey is 100 percent Pat Milbery. Colorado Rapids
click to enlarge Pat Milbery and the Colorado Rapids teamed up to produce accessories, too. Catie Cheshire
Even Denver’s less artsy residents will recognize Pat Milbery ’s iconic “Love This City” campaign that saw colorful, geometric hearts painted across Denver in Five Points, the Art District on Santa Fe, LoHi, Congress Park, the Golden Triangle and Bear Valley.Now the artist has a new type of canvas.In a first for Major League Soccer, the Colorado Rapids collaborated with Milbery on the team’s new secondary jersey, or kit, which it will use for the 2023 and 2024 MLS seasons. It’s called the New Day Kit , to remind those who wear it that each day is a new chance to be positive. Inspired by the Colorado sky, the jersey also has an underlying message that sheds light on mental health and reduces the stigma for seeking help.The Rapids first touted Milbery in 2018, when the team introduced athletes Edgar Castillo and Jack Price — who is still with the club and now serves as its captain — in front of one of Milbery’s murals on Broadway. “They really wanted the players to feel the warmth and welcoming energy,” Milbery recalls. “They really felt a unique element of a press conference and a good vibe from Denver. In general…Colorado is such a welcoming state.”Milbery played soccer growing up and enjoys watching the Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City; he feels the experience is more communal than at other sporting events, with young kids in the stadium. The Rapids games are “a little more affordable,” Milbery says. “It’s more accessible. I really do my best with making art accessible, so I think we share that in common.”Milbery got to make his own mark on the stadium last May, creating an original mural in the northeast corner of the venue. He painted a heart in his signature style to symbolize the team and the community coming together to form something powerful; the mural also includes design elements meant to mimic the movement of river rapids, the team’s namesake. When players pass by the piece, Milberry says that he hopes “they take in all their strength, their visualization of what they’re going to that day at that match, and then connect that together as a motivation. Connect it as a little pop of clean energy, but also spirit.”The heart from the mural is printed on the bottom corner of the new jersey, so the players carry a piece of home with them whenever they wear it.When it came time to design a new kit in 2020, Rapids creative director Jordan Rothrock knew he wanted to do something exceptional. His inspiration came from looking at the sunset between openings in the stadium’s structure. “I started to work on mockups, and I was like, ‘This could be cooler,” Rothrock admits.Given his past relationship with the team, Milbery was a natural choice to make the kit cooler, and he agreed to help. Rothrock told him about the sunset inspiration and color palette, and then met with Adidas, which makes MLS uniforms, to make sure the company was also interested in the first-of-its-kind partnership. The resulting jerseys showcase Milbery’s signature geometric designs, with the light blue background augmented by an orange stripe along the side that alludes to the way the sky changes at sunrise and sunset.“The blue is a very much a Rapids brand color,” Rothrock explains, noting that fans wanted a new blue jersey. “It’s the bluebird sky days of Colorado mixed with the sunset hues and the mountains.”Though Adidas supported the collaboration, the company had some creative limitations, primarily to ensure that the jersey would work during competition. Milbery says his original design was a bit “crazier” than the final product, but he recognized the importance of collaborating with Adidas and creating something that would honor MLS and the Rapids, while still being original. “Sometimes making too much of a statement is not the best route,” Milbery says. “Definitely have to be respectful of all the legacy and the heritage that the Rapids have, rather than just coming in with a different agenda.”Milbery also treasured the chance to be part of the New Day Kit because of its focus on mental health. The Rapids are partnering with Mental Health Colorado and UC Health to bring attention to resources for improving mental health; UC Health is emblazoned on the front of the jersey. The club will also donate $25,000 to mental health-related nonprofits, including Mental Health Colorado, and support initiatives to combat the stigma around getting help.“Why don’t we think about this as a canvas that can bring change and break stigmas and can be way more than something just cool?” Milbery suggests. “There’s something really loving about Colorado if you allow it to love you. We’re so fortunate to have the sunshine, and the sunsets, and the sunrises that are pretty fantastic. And then you throw the mountains in the mix, and it’s just amazing.”Milbery, who has lived in Colorado for more than twenty years, says that the natural environment, including those blue skies, has helped his own mental health improve. It also inspired the sign-off on the back of the jersey; the design sets mountains atop an orange circle, with colorful shapes that symbolize the flow of a river. According to Rothrock, that insignia and the heart at the bottom of the jersey were entirely up to the club, so Milbery had full artistic freedom on that end.“There’s something about the flow of rapids and rivers and being out in nature that’s really powerful, but it’s also super-clean and grounding because you realize — not to get too metaphorically deep — that you kind of have to flow like a river,” Milbery says. “It’s just going with the ebbs and flows of life, but also realizing the power that nature can teach us.”In addition to jerseys, fans can also purchase socks and a scarf that Milbery designed to go with the kit. You can shop for the items now on the Rapids website , and get them customized for free with numbers designed by Milbery at the Rapids Season Kickoff Party on March 1 The New Day Kits “allow people to get a piece of the mural,” Milbery says. “All these pieces are kind of a piece of art, a piece of the mural, which also suggests the feeling that everyone’s part of this. It’s not just a piece of art. Everyone can feel proud to be a part of how love unites us, and how the Rapids are allowing the club to unite us as well.”