Manchester Central x Ink King
- Christian Paris
- Feb 6, 2023
- 4 min read
Manchester Central are delighted to announce their partnership with a now former player's clothing brand. Ruben Abreu’s ‘Ink King’ has officially brought out the 2022/23 travel wear for Central this season, whilst also sponsoring the matchday shorts.
When speaking with us, Ruben explained how his brand came to be and why he began ‘Ink King’ stating ‘at first I started designing a few caps for my friends' brand and joined as an ambassador, I then wanted to progress within the brand and asked if I could buy into it.’
‘Unfortunately, he didn’t want to so I thought I could design my own logo and start my own brand. I literally designed my own logo in work, came up with the name Ink King, and ordered 100 caps from Pakistan to start the brand.’
‘I started the brand because I love wearing hats and love urban fashion, so I thought why not design and make my own. At first it wasn’t something I took seriously, but it took off way quicker than I expected it to.’
Ruben also added when he began his brand and what some of the challenges have been so far, adding ‘I started Ink King in 2017 and just like any business there have been ups and downs, so at the moment I’m just trying to push it forward as much as possible.’
‘I try to the best of my ability to find progress with this brand, and you never know where it could end up, but it's something that I have a love for so luckily it doesn’t feel like work to me.’
He also mentioned where Ink King is based in, adding ‘Ink King UK is based in Ancoats in a place called Pollard Yard on Pollard Street, which is on the same street as Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing.’
‘It’s based in a small business community, so we are surrounded by a bunch of different businesses including radio stations to nail shops. It’s a wonderful place to be and it’s open to the public from 8am to 6pm daily.’
Speaking on the partnership with Central, Ruben said ‘the partnership came up as a suggestion from me to the gaffer. I thought it would be good to sponsor the team that I play for and create something a bit different and stylish for the team.’
‘The process was a bit complicated including finding the right sizes but creating the logo as well as the Ink King one to match is something I love doing, and it was made much easier with the help of my partner who helped the process go much smoother than expected.’
‘Fortunately, at the end of the process it was nice and easy and fun to make knowing the team would be wearing tracksuits designed by my brand. I loved doing it and I’m sure there will be many more collaborations to come with the club.’
‘I’ve always wanted to sponsor a football club. My brother is a professional footballer playing for a team in Dubai, and because one side of my family is Portuguese and the other side it Angolan, he knew he had the chance to play for Angola considering the difficulty of getting into the Portugal team.’
‘He actually managed to get a few caps for Angola, and I got close to sponsoring the National team but unfortunately the deal wasn’t worth it and didn’t work out, but I’m hoping more opportunities like that do come along.’
When asked about what his teammates thought of the new travel wear, he said ‘all the lads loved their tracksuits, they all loved the material. The feedback was great, and they loved all the details like the logo and their initials.’
‘It’s a great feeling that to be honest I couldn’t even describe to you, especially to do it for the team and teammates I play with. It was a great moment for me personally.’
To finish Ruben added ‘I am hoping to take the brand to another level, I want to own a bigger shop and a massive warehouse. I’m currently in talks with a manufacturer from Pakistan to go into partnership with his brand.’
‘Hopefully together we can provide all sportswear from football kits, to boxing clothes. Any type of sportswear possible. In the future I will be providing football kits for many clubs in many leagues all over the UK.’
We also managed to get a word from Central manager Chris Tomkinson, who added ‘it’s great to have Ruben’s company link with us as a club. He has been very kind to sponsor the lads with new tracksuits which is something the club has never had.’
‘The lads will start to look smarter and more professional going forward, and it’s great to build links with new sponsors. We are grateful for Ruben’s help, and we are always on the lookout for new partners.’
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