Venezia x NOCTA: A Failure, Success, or Too Early to Tell? | OneFootball

Taking over from Kappa’s iconic run was never going to be an easy task.

Venezia’s rocket to the top of football culture has been a source of inspiration for countless other clubs, as well as a discussion topic amongst those in both the football and fashion spaces.

The Italian side’s rebrand and change in creative direction cemented it as one of the “coolest” football clubs in the world.

While on the pitch, it hasn’t gone to plan for the American-owned club as it yo-yos between Serie B and Serie A, off the pitch has been a huge success. So much so, it led to Drake investing in the team, saving it from financial disaster in the process. The move brought Venezia to an even higher peak in terms of lifestyle and culture.

With the new investment came a new kit manufacturer, too. Part of Venezia’s rise to cultural fame was thanks to their collaboration with Kappa, the brand renowned for beautiful football kits across many different leagues and eras. Kappa played a significant part in creating a portfolio of kits in Venice that created some of the most hype we’ve seen since that Nigeria shirt. They flew off the shelves. Everyone was talking about Venezia.

As Drake moved in, Kappa moved out and was replaced with NOCTA, the Drizzy-owned subsidiary of Nike. NOCTA’s first foray into professional football was met with hostility, not necessarily over the aesthetic qualities of the new jersey designs, but rather at the ousting of Kappa, which had created classic after classic in its three-year run with the club. Alongside that, the conversation focused a lot on the ownership issues in Italian football, but that is a can of worms we can open another day.

From a design perspective, NOCTA’s first kits were as divisive as Marmite. Drake-heads backed their man while those who grew fond of Kappa in Venice were hesitant to adjust — me included. I did not like the kits initially. But that wasn’t purely because of NOCTA, the kits were a noticeable step down from years past.

The 2024-25 home shirt was leaked, and like most kit leaks, the photos were not flattering. They depicted an awful pattern on the shirt’s upper, combined with NOCTA’s somewhat bold and offensive logo and orange stripes down the side of the torso. It got hounded, and rightly so. The saving grace was that, when it came out officially with professional photography and creative direction, it looked a lot better. But I, and many others, still weren’t sold.

After the home shirt, Venezia released the away kit alongside the third and a collection of training and lifestyle gear. Now, this is what really caused a stir — the puzzling introduction of a collegiate font.

The font, most synonymous with brands like Gap or, as its name suggests, various United States college-affiliated apparel, came across as a clear Americanization of the club, using Drake and NOCTA’s background as an influence rather than tapping into the cultural phenomenon that is the city of Venice.

Luckily, Cynar Spritz was the Venezia sponsor, so the collegiate wordmarks never featured on the pitch, and were only available to those silly enough to specifically seek them out.

The first NOCTA collection, with its bold colors, massive logos, and modern streetwear-inspired design, was such a stark departure from the Kappa era that was defined by class and minimalist details. The 180-degree turn was perhaps most evident in the NOCTA pre-match shirt: a bright and busy number with a dizzying amount of logos. I can imagine the traditionalist Venezia fans would be happy to see them burned and erased from the history books.

While I am making this collaboration sound disastrous, it isn’t all bad. A kit in the release creative looks a lot different than when on pitch, in my opinion. And to fully judge a kit, you should wait to see it in action. The 2024-25 away shirt grew on me over the season, I must say. Not worn often, it looked good on the pitch, and I am a sucker for central badges. That being said, it still comes nowhere near what Kappa did, and it probably didn’t help that the club got relegated in NOCTA shirts.

Fast forward to the 2025-26 season, back in Serie B, and Venezia revealed their latest NOCTA shirts. Did year two bring any improvements? Not really. The home shirt is a huge step backwards again, and looks rather amateurish in its design. Gone is the collegiate font. Phew. But for some reason, the home shirt misses the mark massively. The green and orange accents ruin what is a nice base color and sublimated pattern.

The saving grace for Venezia and NOCTA, though, is the away shirt. A beauty, and the closest they have come to the levels of the Kappa years. It’s a classy shirt for a club that should always be classy, given its location. A nice collar, combined with nice colors. Overall, this is a hit in a portfolio of misses.

With this season’s releases, it raises the question: has NOCTA at Venezia been a success? My answer: No.

It’s a small sample size, but for a club that is at the forefront of football and fashion in a city so renowned for art and style to have so many misses so quickly, it’s enough to deem it a big failure.

The away shirts keep it from being a disaster, but they’re going to have to up their game. I will say, though, that maybe the heights the club reached under Kappa have distorted reality. The bar was so high, that anyone succeeding the brand was never to reach it. I’ll give NOCTA more time to win me over, but unfortunately, I don’t see it being likely.