An inside look into how Inisaya brought local heritage and fan-powered creativity to two custom-made jackets for Scuderia Ferrari HP drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
In the high-octane world of motorsport, sometimes the most memorable moments are made outside the track. When Formula 1 returned to Sepang after nine long years, Inisaya happily found itself in the thick of one of them. For the Malaysian fashion label’s founder and creative director Jeffery Goh, the road to designing two bespoke jackets for Scuderia Ferrari HP drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc began with an intriguing proposition: what happens when batik, one of the most recognisable cultural art forms in our country, meets the fast lane?
Commissioned by Shell Malaysia as part of its 2026 race weekend campaign to bring fans closer to Scuderia Ferrari HP, the project brought together textile design, garment construction, fan participation, and cultural identity through a contemporary lens. The outcome was a pair of custom-made jackets that transformed familiar local references and heartfelt messages from the public into wearable expressions of national pride—with a playful twist.
Thinking outside the track
Approached by Shell’s creative agency partner, GrowthOps, back in February 2026, Goh was tasked with incorporating Malaysian fans’ messages into batik. Over 1,000 fans responded to Shell Malaysia’s invitation to leave messages for Hamilton and Leclerc, with almost 600 comments incorporated into the two jackets. No longer confined to social media, these individual expressions of support were ready to be turned into a collective tribute that’ll give fan participation a most precious tangible form.
Following this brief, he developed five original print concepts before one was eventually selected for production. The central motif of the chosen one was the hibiscus, our national flower. But its composition featured an unexpected twist: kuih bahulu, the traditional sponge cake, as a flower bud.
“I wanted to bring something recognisably Malaysian into the design, but I also wanted to have fun with it. I liked the idea of bringing these two familiar things [batik and kuih bahulu] together in a way that felt playful rather than too literal,” Goh explained. The pairing captures the spirit of Inisaya’s design approach, which conveys an appreciation of heritage without being bound by convention.
From sketch to stitch
Once the final print was selected, GrowthOps digitised Goh’s artwork and incorporated the fan messages into the designs. Goh then sourced a supplier capable of printing the artwork onto nylon, translating the digital design into a material suitable for the jackets.
If that isn’t challenging enough, after the printed fabric arrived, Goh had just two days to sew the finished garments. “It was a very tight turnaround, but seeing the designs come together as actual pieces was incredibly rewarding,” he said.
Ready for the Paddock
After months of hard work, the jackets were finally presented to Ferrari’s two speedsters during a special appearance for contest winners before being displayed throughout the three-day race weekend at Sepang from 2 to 4 October 2026. Visitors to Shell’s V-Power activation space could also see how the supporters’ words had been integrated into the designs.
From the first sketch to the final stitch, this ambitious concept that’s been turned into a wearable expression of our culture demonstrates just how much a designer’s distinct creative vision can lend a campaign concept its own visual identity, bridging cultural heritage with contemporary storytelling. For the homegrown label that’s been reinterpreting traditional textiles and visual references for modern wardrobes since 2021, this collaboration with Shell Malaysia represents a golden opportunity to bring local heritage into a setting beyond the fashion realm, while highlighting the limitless creative possibilities of batik-inspired design.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
