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Football might have already come home after the Lionesses’ historic Euros win in the summer, but the men’s team have a chance of making it back-to-back successes for England with the World Cup happening in under two months.
Having reached the final of Euro 2020 and the semis at the last World Cup in 2018, England will be hoping to go all the way in Qatar and if they do, at least Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Declan Rice et al will look the part.
Today, Nike unveil the England World Cup 2022 kit – or should that be fit? – and with nods to Euro ‘96 and Italia ‘90, plus a few Easter eggs, there's plenty to discuss. Here we get the exclusive run down.
Or so Aaron Barnett, Nike’s Senior Director of Product Apparel, says. The Lebron James Innovation Centre on Nike’s Portland campus is where the magic happens, and there are all kinds of motion capture used to inform kits. “We always map all our kits on athletes’ bodies for heat maps and sweat maps, and this year the fourth dimension is our that our team was able to design against the body in motion. It's very different than if you're mapping something to a static figure. So if we need to add more structure in the shoulder, more airflow on the chest, we’re able to design at the yarn level.”
If that sounds technical, it’s because it is. Dri-FIT advanced is Nike’s pinnacle level of apparel product and while you’ll have seen it popping up within other sports, the 2022 World Cup will be the first time it’s ever been used in football kits. The England World Cup 2022 kit is two years in the making and Barnett says it's amazing how many decisions are now data-based.
“Sustainability is one of the things that's always top of mind,” says Barnett. About 70 per cent of Nike’s carbon footprint comes from raw materials so over the past few years the team has been focusing on the materials used to ensure its products are the best on the market. “Our goal has always been to create products that are best for players and also best for the planet,” adds Barnett. “The total collection is made from over 75 per cent recycled materials, which is a big move forward. And we also had 75 per cent fewer prototypes from start to finish.”
For Lee Murphy, the Design Director for Nike Football, his mission is all about injecting newness into the coveted white jersey. Think football, but make it fashion. “How can we move things on every season?” he ponders. Nike’s mantra for the season is to reimagine iconic icons and in doing so, represent the youthful energy of the England team, some of whom are new, others who’ve been in Three Lions squad for a while. “I remember looking at players like Sterling, who were coming through, they were the young guns. Now they’re in the twilight of their career and we're getting younger players [like Jude Bellingham] coming through. So how do we keep our finger on the pulse and inject that energy?”
The answer is represented in the new home and away strips. The lighter blue in the home kit has echoes of '96, a retro look that brings something very familiar back to England fans. “With the silhouettes that we had this year, we see a lot of shoulder real estate so we really wanted to take advantage of that for England and bring a print onto the home kit of this coveted white jersey for one of the first times,” Murphy tells GQ.
For the away kit, it was all about reimagining another icon. “Everyone has visions of players in a red jersey with a blue collar,” Murphy says. “We have an agreement with the FA that we can test new colours in other competitions but for a World Cup, it has to be red.” So whether it’s David Beckham from France ‘98 or Gary Lineker from Italia ’90, the 2022 version injects newness to this colour.
On closer inspection of the home kit, “you'll see there's a distorted Three Lions graphic on the shoulders and within the print more of the abstract lion coming alive, the energy of the claw marks”. Previously, it’s all been about the crest but “now putting these lines into motion with speed and attitude and a bit more aggression” is a game changer. You have to look for it, but when Jack Grealish belts the ball into the back of the net against USA on 25 November (he’s hoping), you’ll see more than Three Lions roaring.
There’s also a little easter egg hidden under the collar – ‘Three Lions’ is knitted in and is a little bit of pride added to the shirt if you’re a fan of the Eric Cantona popped collar look. And another way of bringing new energy to the new kit is through the name and number fonts – with inspiration coming from music mixtapes the players are listening to. Namely, heavy metal-inspired fun.
Throughout the design process, there's a lot of digital data to hone in on the science, which is great, as it narrows down the prototypes to the best possible version desired. “But nothing replaces that human touch,” says Murphy. “So we get the jerseys in front of players, they still do the regular drills and warm-ups trialling the kits and giving that human touch back to us.” Murphy gives examples of feedback – a neckline doesn't work or the material feels different to what a player is used to – but in terms of aesthetics, Nike is always thinking about what’s next. “We're really interested in speaking to the younger players coming through to feel what their version of an England kit feels like and how we bring that energy,” Murphy says. “And we also look at what the players are wearing away from the pitch too – we see the footballer fits and try to inject these new styles into the collection.”
