‘You’re not just a fan; it’s your livelihood!’ KC makers’ work featured in Chiefs’ playoffs trailer
January 27, 2024 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
The NFL playoffs tease a new season of creativity for Kansas City makers like Johnny and Michele Dawbarn — especially when the Chiefs’ success starts the clock on new opportunities.
Johnny and Michele Dawbarn, Collective EX, sewKC, HITIDES Coffee; photo courtesy of sewKC
The couple behind Collective EX, sewKC, and HITIDES Coffee (all within their symbiotic studio space in the East Crossroads) recently helped design several items featured in the sets of the Kansas City Chiefs’ “Falling for Football” mock trailer — released for the playoffs; now they’re launching new colorblock KC sweatshirts with a vintage feel just in time for another history-making Super Bowl run.
“It’s inspiring to us,” Michele said.
JUST RELEASED: Click here to check out sewKC’s newest Chiefs-inspired apparel as the team heads to Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII.
The Dawbarns noted it’s not easy to spot their handiwork in the tongue-in-cheek, Hallmark movie-style trailer— which features two well-known Hallmark Channel actors as the leads (Tyler Hynes and Janel Parrish), plus Chiefs mom Donna Kelce, players Tommy Townsend, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith, announcer Mitch Holthus, KC Wolf, singer and Kansas City native Melissa Ethridge and hometown rapper Tech N9ne.
But members of the artist collective at 519 E. 18th St. designed several items for the set, including wallpaper for a salon scene, the menu and logo for “Lenny’s diner,” and an 8713 address number (one of the Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift Easter eggs) for one of the locations. Johnny also designed several mock magazine covers for the salon scene that didn’t make it into the final cut.
RELATED: Married to collaboration: sewKC couple stitches meaning into each hand-sewn design
Chiefs offensive lineman Creed Humphrey stands in a mock diner in “Falling for Football” with restaurant details designed by local creatives at Collective Ex; photo still courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs
“It’s a really fun way of expanding the normal daily work that we do and just kind of taking it out of the norm and doing something way outside the box,” Johnny continued, “which we love here at the Collective. That’s our favorite stuff.”
“We love any opportunity we have to do anything like that,” added Michele, who says she’s the bigger football fan in the relationship. “To know there’s football players — and who they are — that are involved with this is pretty fun.”
Actor Tyler Hynes in a pivot scene from “Falling for Football”; photo still courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs
In one scene within the trailer, Parrish confronts Hynes’ character after discovering his secret love for the Chiefs (and his entrepreneurial work at a fictional “Kingdom Keepsakes” storefront selling team-inspired merchandise).
“You’re not just a fan!” Parrish yells. “It’s your livelihood!”
The Dawbarns credited longtime friend Emily Moore — who does photo styling and prop design — with hooking them up with the opportunity for the trailer, which they said used a lot of local creatives.
“What’s so great about Kansas City and the creative community is it’s so intertwined,” Johnny added. “It’s like, ‘Oh, this is cool. Kansas City doing what it does best again and really leaning into all the talent throughout.’ So I think that’s just the exciting part and we just feel fortunate to be a part of that.”
Watch the “Falling for Football” trailer below, then keep reading.
Kingdom creations
While the sewKC apparel brand has been around for 12 years, Michele shared, it’s recently taken a step back as the market for clothing and accessories from local makers has become heavily saturated.
Michele Dawbarn, sewKC, hand sews a colorblock sweatshirt; photo courtesy of sewKC
“Let’s reboot and retool and think about what our strengths are and then see what we can do to put something out that’s a little bit different, unexpected,” Johnny explained. “So if someone who owns a dozen Kansas City shirts already — when we put something out — hopefully it’s in a way that’s like, ‘Oh, well, I haven’t seen that before. That’s super different.’”
Just in time for the playoffs, Michele has something new up her sleeve — colorblock KC sweatshirts in Chiefs colors with a vintage feel, similar to the IOU brand she loved growing up — she noted. They are partnering with local embroidery expert Patricia Ramona on the project.
“It’s more fashion forward,” she continued. “I’ve taken these sweatshirts and I literally hand cut each one and then I put them back together in different designs. We’re gonna embroider on the front, instead of printing. We’ve always printed, but we’re just trying to elevate it.”
“I think one of the biggest strengths with Michelle and her seamstress abilities is being able to deconstruct and construct stuff and do some unexpected things,” Johnny added.
sewKC launched the sweatshirts on its website Thursday night, and by Friday, Michele said they were already a hit.
Kingdom KC Embroidered Colorblock Crewneck from sewKC
“I feel like Taylor Swift has been a big part of pushing the envelope for what we do as a brand,” she noted, “because fashion forward pieces are important right now. So I wanted to do something that was different and unique.”
“Michele is taking something from her youth, applying what’s currently happening right now in KC and then crashing those together to create something new and different,” Johnny continued.
Michele could see Swift — and even Kelce — wearing the new Kingdom KC crewneck, she said.
“I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan and an even bigger (Travis) Kelce fan,” Michele added.
In true Swift fashion, sewKC has also re-released a few shirts featuring embroidery from its vault — now available on its website.
Johnny and Michele Dawbarn, SewKC, HITIDES Coffee; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Stitched with authenticity
Whatever new designs she comes up with, Michele shared, she’s proud that they are her original, authentic designs.
“It has a meaning and a purpose behind it,” she explained.
sewKC is no stranger to having its designs knocked off, the couple noted. And Michele recently expressed frustration on social media after seeing designers advertise copies of the NFL jersey puffer jackets designed by Kristin Juszczyk — pieces that became a national social media hit after fans saw Swift and Brittany Mahomes.
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“The thing that I get frustrated with is when they put something out there that’s identical,” Michele explained. “They don’t differentiate the fact that they did not make that and they’re selling it to people that don’t know that there is an original designer.”
Even though it’s frustrating, knockoffs inevitably happen, Johnny continued. But it’s important as a small business to continue to inspire yourself.
“You’re always pushing yourself and not worrying about what others are necessarily doing,” he added.
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