Football shirt launches tend to follow a familiar formula: a dramatic video, a few close-up shots of the fabric, players walking through tunnels looking serious. So, when Crewe Alexandra F.C. began planning the reveal of its new 2026 - 2027 home kit, the club wanted to do something with a bit more personality.

Working with official printer partner and Mimaki distributor, Hybrid Services, the idea quickly turned into something far more unusual - creating a miniature version of club captain Mickey Demetriou using high fidelity 3D scanning and full colour 3D printing technology.



The concept came from Crewe Alexandra’s Head of Commercial, James Beckett, who was keen to involve Hybrid in the launch in a way that felt authentic to the partnership between the two organisations. “We’re constantly amazed at the capabilities of the various Mimaki technologies, and ever since we first saw the full colour 3D printer in action, we had an idea to somehow include it in a big production for the club,” he commented.

Demetriou was scanned at the club using an Artec Leo 3D Scanner from Europac 3D, first in the outgoing shirt and then again in the new home kit. The process itself drew plenty of interest from players and staff, with the handheld scanner capturing everything from the texture of the shirt to fine facial detail and the intricate branding elements of the new Puma kit in a matter of minutes.

Once the scan data had been processed and colour balanced by the Europac 3D team, the files were sent to Hybrid for production on the Mimaki 3DUJ-2207 3D printer at the company’s headquarters, located just a short walk from the football club’s stadium.



3D Print in 10 million colours

Unlike conventional 3D printers that produce single colour parts, the Mimaki system can reproduce more than 10 million colours, allowing realistic skin tones, subtle gradients and fine details to be recreated directly within the print itself. The finished result was a 20cm tall model of the Alex’s captain that looked uncannily lifelike - particularly once placed alongside the real Mickey during filming.

That contrast became the centrepiece of the club’s launch video, which followed the journey from scanning through to the finished print before revealing both player and model together on the pitch at the Mornflake Stadium. The finished film quickly gained traction online, generating nearly 40,000 Instagram views and plenty of comments from supporters enjoying the “mini Mickey” reveal.

For Demetriou and his family, the project also left something a little more permanent behind. Alongside the main print used in filming, Hybrid produced smaller commemorative models for his children. His wife, Aimee, later posted on social media that their “new pocket sized Daddy” had been inseparable from their boys all week.

New creative opportunities from 3D Printing

Beyond the football angle, the project offered a strong example of how 3D scanning and full colour additive manufacturing are starting to move into wider marketing and promotional campaigns. Whether for sport, entertainment, retail or live events, the ability to create accurate, personalised models opens up creative opportunities that simply did not exist a few years ago.
In Crewe Alexandra’s case, the project turned a standard kit launch into something supporters continued to talk about afterwards – and long queues formed at the club shop the following morning, as loyal fans eagerly waited to purchase their new season’s shirts.

“Kit launches are always popular with our fans on social media, but this one has done incredibly well,” Beckett concluded. “No pun intended but the 3D print from the Mimaki added another dimension to it, making it all the more intriguing and memorable.”

www.hybridservices.co.uk