Portland Timbers lost 2-0 to Atlanta United in the 2018 MLS Cup Final on December 8 in Atlanta, Georgia courtesy of goals from Josef Martinez and Franco Escobar. The Portland Timbers, who defeated Columbus Crew 2-1 to win the MLS Cup in 2015 under Caleb Porter, beat rivals Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City in the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs to book their place in the final against Atlanta United.
However, Giovanni Savarese’s Timbers, who finished 5th in the MLS Western Conference in 2018, also reached the Quarter-finals of the U.S Open Cup and finished third place in the Cascadia Cup this term. The Timbers sensational Argentinean midfield tandem comprised of 2018 MLS All-Star Diego Valeri and Sebastián Blanco scored 14 goals each in the 2018 MLS season to ignite Timbers, whereas Savarese’s Timbers side recorded 15 wins and scored 54 goals, whilst conceding 48 throughout the season.
Elsewhere, FOX Sports Radio 96.9 FM/1340 AM’s Dean Perretta briefly caught up with Portland Timbers defender, Liam Ridgewell, formerly of West
Portland Timbers lost 2-0 to Atlanta United in the 2018 MLS Cup Final on December 8 in Atlanta, Georgia courtesy of goals from Josef Martinez and Franco Escobar. The Portland Timbers, who defeated Columbus Crew 2-1 to win the MLS Cup in 2015 under Caleb Porter, beat rivals Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City in the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs to book their place in the final against Atlanta United.
However, Giovanni Savarese’s Timbers, who finished 5th in the MLS Western Conference in 2018, also reached the Quarter-finals of the U.S Open Cup and finished third place in the Cascadia Cup this term. The Timbers sensational Argentinean midfield tandem comprised of 2018 MLS All-Star Diego Valeri and Sebastián Blanco scored 14 goals each in the 2018 MLS season to ignite Timbers, whereas Savarese’s Timbers side recorded 15 wins and scored 54 goals, whilst conceding 48 throughout the season.
Elsewhere, FOX Sports Radio 96.9 FM/1340 AM’s Dean Perretta briefly caught up with Portland Timbers defender, Liam Ridgewell, formerly of West Bromich Albion and Birmingham City, to discuss the Englishman’s widely acclaimed Thomas Royall fashion brand and, of course, the latest collection within the Thomas Royall clothing range.
Dean Perretta: Firstly Liam, can you touch on Thomas Royall’s new season range, and ultimately, which particular items from the latest range you would highly recommend?
Liam Ridgewell: Our new season range is one of my personal favourite collections we’ve designed so far and I’ve been really excited to showcase it to everyone. Here at Thomas Royall, we’re very well known for our vibrant and unique prints that has really helped our brand stand out from the rest of the swimwear market. The new range has been created to make a splash to offer swimwear for all the family with matching sets and products. This season our ‘Tropical Butterfly’ design has been one of our best sellers and I’ve loved seeing people wearing them this summer along with ‘Zambia Zebra’ design which is also one of my personal favourites.
Dean Perretta: Thomas Royall’s women’s collection has a very elegant wealth of variety and stylish quality. Which particular items from the women’s collection have proven to be very popular and why?
Liam Ridgewell:As this is the first season of introducing our women’s bikini collection to the market; we’ve really enjoyed watching what our customers have gone for so far. One of the popular designs that has seemed to work well this season has been the ‘Montego’ bikini set with a fun, contrasting repeat pineapple design. As this is a fun and colourful design that works well in the sun, we decided to make this into a matching design for all the family to wear.
Dean Perretta: The diverse kids collection from Thomas Royall also has a chic decadent design, notably for the summer. How important was it for the brand to also have a collection for kids?
Liam Ridgewell: As Thomas Royall has grown over the past couple of years, we’ve listened to what our customers want to see from our brand and this has ultimately led us into our children’s collections. We had a lot of requests for matching father and son designs which followed on by requests for mother and daughter creations, too.
The matching mens shorts and boy shorts have been a great success for us with some of our iconic prints becoming some of our customers favorites in which we’ve developed on throughout the seasons. Iconically, the kids collections have added a real twist to our product range allowing us to be even more eye-catching with designs.
Dean Perretta: Thomas Royall’s men’s collection has a plethora of designs to tailor universally. With that being said, how vital and challenging has it been for the brand to establish, recognize and innovate trends in the contemporary market?
Liam Ridgewell: As a brand, Thomas Royall has grown from strength to strength in previous years and we’re continuing to develop from season to season. I would like to say its been an easy ride and I’ve enjoyed every minute of growing our business. However, I’m an honest guy, and can admit that things have been hard from time to time.
We’re very fortunate to have a very close, hard working team who go the extra mile on making Thomas Royall a success together. It’s always been crucial for our brand to have a team of collectives and creatives who are as dedicated to making our swimwear brand flourish. The hard work has been worth the blood, sweat and tears over the years and ultimately has created results in knowing where we are in the current market and recognizing what our customers want to see from us.
The key aspect of standing out from the crowd has been thinking outside the box when it comes to trends and actually creating a handwriting of our own in the sense of our prints, leading us to our own innovative style that’s different from the rest. The style has given us the stepping stone and real push, especially online, being to able to attract the customer and fan based we desired.
Luckily, I’ve have been very fortunate with our own social media appearances and profiles with my soccer profile and interactions that have allowed us to really shout about Thomas Royall and continue to make sure we keep up to date with our customers but most importantly showcasing what we’re passionate about.
Dean Perretta: Lastly, where can the audience find out more information on social media and, of course, purchase the latest items from Thomas Royall?
Liam Ridgewell: As we’re super savvy online, you’ll be able to find out all about Thomas Royall, including new arrivals and all collections available for purchase at: www.thomasroyall.com
The main point of call to find out more would be to head over to our website and our social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using our tag @thomasroyall
Be sure to stay up to date daily and show Thomas Royall some support as we realize new collections and post customer designer giveaways throughout the year.
