“GREEN GAME” DELIVERS ENHANCED PERFORMANCE AND REDUCED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Brazil and Holland to Wear National Team Kit Jerseys Made Entirely From Recycled Polyester for Friday’s Showdown in South Africa
When Brazil play Holland in Port Elizabeth on Friday afternoon, players on both teams will take to the pitch wearing the most environmentally-friendly and technologically advanced kit in football history. The jerseys are made entirely from recycled polyester, each one directly produced from up to eight recycled plastic bottles.
The plastic bottles are diverted from Asian landfills, then chopped into flakes and melted down to a solution from which yarn is produced. This is then knitted into the fabric used to make the shirts. All national team shirts created by Nike for summer 2010 (whether worn by players or available for fans) use this process.
The kits are part of Nike’s ‘Considered Design’ programme, which aims to reduce or eliminate toxics and waste, increase the use of environmentally preferred materials and use Nike innovation to create more sustainable products.
Nike National Team Kit Highlights:
- • Nearly 13 million plastic bottles have been diverted from landfill by using recycled polyester for Nike-sponsored national team jerseys, preventing a total of around 254,000 kg of polyester waste, from being buried at landfill sites.
- • This would be enough to cover more than 29 football pitches, and if each recycled bottle used to make these jerseys was laid end to end they would cover over 3,000 kilometres, more than the entire coastline of South Africa.
- • This saves precious raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30% compared to manufacturing virgin polyester.
While reducing the environmental impact of production, Nike’s national team jersey delivers the best performance on pitch. The improved Nike Dri-FIT fabric, now 13% lighter than previous Nike kits fabrications, keeps players dry by drawing sweat to the outside of the garment. The innovative ventilation zones along each side of the jersey and below the waistband on the shorts significantly increases air passing through the fabric to keep players cooler.
NIKE KITS: NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands have long been hailed as the artists of the game, revered for their unique brand of stylish and innovative football.
From the inventors of ‘Total Football’ to today’s richly talented squad headed to South Africa the Dutch have always sought to perform with freedom, intelligence and originality.
Twice finalists, in 1974 and 1978, the Netherlands will now seek to win football’s ultimate prize for the first time wearing stylish new home and away kits, which reflect both the history and inherent values of Dutch football.
The new home jersey is in traditional orange with a thin white stripe along each side to emphasize the speed with which the Dutch play.
The jersey also features more black details than in recent years in the form of a modern round-neck collar and silicone flashes near the hem of each sleeve, to give the jersey a bolder and more formidable appearance, while also echoing the same style worn by some of the great Dutch sides in history.
On the back of the jersey’s neck is a graphic that reads ‘Nederland’ while inside the neck is a small Dutch flag.
Inside the jersey, on the back of the Dutch federation’s crest, and symbolically above the heart, is a graphic with the inspirational message ‘Oranje Leeuwen’ (Orange Lions). It has been written in a font specially designed by a Dutch artist to replicate the head and mane of lions.
The unique numbers on the back of the jersey have been inspired by the shape and flow of the canals in Amsterdam and the angular and rigid style of much of Dutch architecture.
For the first time ever the jersey has been made entirely from recycled polyester, with each one directly produced from up to eight plastic water bottles.
The kits have also been designed to enhance the performance of players by keeping them drier, cooler and more comfortable.
The improved Nike Dri-FIT fabric, now 13% lighter than previous Nike kits, helps to quickly evaporate moisture and keep players dry, while the innovative ventilation zones along each side of the jersey and below the waistband on the shorts significantly increases air penetration to help keep players cooler.
The home shorts revert to black once again, a change from the white shorts of recent years, to give the kit an overall bolder appearance and replicate the same style worn by some of the great Dutch sides of the past. There is a white stripe along each side of the shorts, while on the back of the waistband is a graphic containing the colours of the Dutch flag.
The home socks are orange with a black band at the top and ‘Nederland’ on the back of each calf.
The new away jersey boasts the same distinctive details as the home jersey, but is white with a modern varsity royal blue round-neck collar and a bold chevron consisting of a thin red and blue line to replicate the colours of the Dutch flag, and placed on the torso, it aims to give the players a more imposing presence on the pitch.
It also skillfully pays homage to the first ever jersey the Netherlands wore in 1905, a white jersey with a sash of the Dutch flag.
The away shorts are traditional varsity royal blue with a white stripe along each side, while on the back of the waistband is a graphic with the colours of the Dutch flag. The away socks are white with a small chevron consisting of a red and blue line, a mini version of the design on the torso of the jersey, on the back of each calf.