Sentul, Bogor - When you look at a Football jersey, most people first think about the player wearing it, the club it represents, or the match currently unfolding. You notice the colours, crest, patterns, sponsor logos, and immediately picture how that jersey will look out on the pitch when worn by an athlete.
But have you ever stopped for a moment to wonder: who actually designs all of this? Who translates a club's history, a nation's identity, even the raw emotion of its supporters, into a single garment that players will step onto the field wearing?
Today we are joined by one of the people working behind the scenes on these very jerseys. His name is Fajar Ramadhan, better known across social media as Fajarrusalem.
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This podcast was recorded at Sentul Studio, Bogor on 3 September 2026. This conversation with Fajar Ramadhan is hosted by Raisha and Syafira.
Fajar is a professional football apparel designer. His creative journey began with an Industrial Product Design education at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya.
Following his studies, he launched his professional career as Junior Apparel Designer at Riors, then moved to League, before taking up the position of Lead Apparel Designer at Mills in 2020.
Over ten years working in the apparel industry means Fajar has created designs for far more than just one or two clubs.
His portfolio spans domestic sides Persija Jakarta and Persela Lamongan, the Indonesia National Men's Football Team, plus international clubs Tranmere Rovers in England and FCV Dender in Belgium.
And perhaps most surprisingly: the job of a football apparel designer is never just about drawing a good-looking jersey.
Behind every design you might only glance at for a few seconds on television lies an extensive, layered process. It starts with deep research, unearthing the narrative of a club or nation, understanding their core identity, before translating that Story into tangible visual elements.
After that comes rounds of consultation with multiple stakeholders, repeated revisions, prototype development, until the design is finally approved for mass production and makes its way onto players on match day.
This means when you look at an Indonesia National Team jersey for example, every line, colour, pattern and tiny detail carries a far longer, unseen story. There are deliberate design decisions made along the way that casual viewers and supporters will never even know existed.
Fajar's work has also expanded far beyond the world of football.
After more than a decade creating professionally, his creative explorations have grown much broader. He has collaborated with musicians including Barasuara and the StandupIndo collective, worked on diverse apparel projects, and even created a special custom jersey for Jogokariyan Mosque.
2025 marked a major milestone in his career path.
Fajar celebrated 10 years of professional work with a dedicated project and public exhibition, created as a reflection on everything he had built up to that point. Ten years is no small stretch: starting out as a junior designer in Indonesia, creating kits for local clubs and the national team, right through to landing international commissions for European clubs.
Which brings us to the core question of this conversation.
After a journey this far, what actually goes through Fajar Ramadhan's mind? Does he still see himself as just a jersey designer? Or is there a much larger vision he is building towards?
That is why today we will not only be talking about Indonesia National Team jerseys. We are pulling back the curtain on the entire hidden world behind football kit design. How does a designer find their inspiration?
How do you translate history and collective identity into a wearable design? How long is the journey from a rough sketch on paper to a jersey being worn by a player mid-match? And what does it feel like to watch the national team, or a club on the other side of the world, walk out wearing something you created?
We will also explore the human side of Fajar's journey: about passion, the messy unglamorous parts of the creative process, failure, the courage to take chances, and how someone can build an entire career out of something that started as nothing more than a hobby and a love of football.
Because behind every single jersey you ever own or cheer for, there is always a story. And today, right here at Sentul Studio Bogor with hosts Raisha and Syafira, we are going to hear that story directly from the person who made those jerseys possible.
Fajar Ramadhan, Fajarrusalem, welcome to the podcast.
