Trippy Nigeria World Cup gear wins over fans
Some hits and misses among national jerseys
NEW YORK — Spain, your asymmetry is showing. Nigeria, you’re so bright I need shades! Croatia, Russia’s fresh out of Big Boy restaurants.
No worries, though, your party duds will be just the ticket once the World Cup begins Thursday.
Those countries are among several of the more festive standouts in jerseys for the global soccer showcase, with loads of sentimental touches in the designs of the 32 teams.
With millions in exposure and retail sales at stake, the World Cup kits of 2018 can be categorized as Team Plain, Team Retro and Team Cool Kid on the Pitch.
“We didn’t used to care so much,” said Roger Bennett of the Men in Blazers soccer show on NBC Sports.
“What’s changed is the fusion of the World Cup and the Premier League and the Champions League and television as a global platform, and advertising, which has essentially transformed them from being just functional garments, nothing to see here, just polyester, everybody move along, to the single-most lucrative billboard in the world,” he said. “They may as well be spun from gold in terms of the impact that they have on the sports manufacturing brands that propel them.”
Or, in the case of Australia, gold with a riot of jagged lines on shoulders and sleeves of home jerseys. The algae green lines celebrate waves and the country’s proximity to various oceans and seas, said Nike football apparel senior design director Pete Hoppins.
Soccer fans have been buzzing for weeks about Nigeria’s shirts, to the delight of supplier Nike but not so much among folks back home who consider the US$85 price tag out of reach. The away shirts are a screeching bright green, white and black with trippy jagged edging on a chevron pattern.
The “we have arrived” look is a modern reinvention of Nigeria’s 1994 kits, the first time the country qualified for the World Cup. The new shirts sold out in minutes on the first day of sales in some spots, including Nike’s flagship store in London and online, Hoppins said.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before in terms of excitement, in terms of people queuing around the block,” Hoppins said. “It’s something that Nike has never really done before, which is going all out and having fun with it. We want Nigeria to be everyone’s second team.”
To Simon Doonan, soccer nut and creative ambassador at large for Barneys New York, when it comes to out-there World Cup shirts, you’re either in or you’re out.
“The ones you remember are the ones that are crazy, but some leagues are risk averse,” said Doonan, author of the new book Soccer Style: The Magic and Madness. “The World Cup is a carnival. It’s not supposed to be a beacon of restraint and good taste.”
Doonan’s favourites on the flamboyant front: Croatia’s red-and-white checkerboard, reminiscent of the country’s flag and medieval coat of arms (Nike); Colombia’s redand-blue lightning bolts coming out of the armpits against a bright yellow background (Adidas); and Belgium’s horizontal dash of red-and-yellow Argyle, like the socks (also Adidas).
Doonan is also a fan of vertical stripes (hello, Argentina).
There are some jerseys he’s not hugely fond of.
“I’m very obsessed with symmetry, in life and in my work, so the Spain shirt, even though I’m a big fan of the Spanish team, the asymmetry of those shirts and that sort of folkloric zigzag only on one side, completely freaks me out,” Doonan said of the dash of yellow, blue and red against, well, red.
Then there’s Nigeria, the social media and retail king heading into the World Cup.
“They’re fabulous,” Doonan said.
Bennett agreed: “You could wear it to a rave in Manchester in the 1990s and fit right in. It’s a great way to live a life.”
As for the upside down Vs in the Nigeria design, Hoppins said it’s a nod to eagles — as in the team’s Super Eagles nickname.
Other nationals also have ’90s throwback designs. Germany’s black-and-white shirts are an update of the jerseys won by Die Mannschaft’s 1990 champions.
In the clash of sports company titans behind the parade of shirts, Adidas “has the wind behind them,” as Bennett said, with 12 countries that include some powerhouse players, followed by Nike with 10, Puma with three and New Balance with two. Brands with one include Errea (Iceland), Hummel (Denmark), Uhlsport (Tunisia), Romai (Senegal) and Umbro (Peru).
While acknowledging the deep pride and symbolism behind Croatia’s ever-present checkerboard, Bennett isn’t a fan: “I find it fairly terrifying. It’s a tablecloth.”
Among the uniforms on Bennett’s not-so-much list: Iceland.
“For whatever reason they’ve decided to clad their footballers in shirts so tight they’re like sausage casings,” Bennett said. “It’s all nipples.”
He was all praise for the Japan jersey, a rich blue that references the ancient Japanese technique of sashiko hand stitching in a pattern of rows of tracks down the front.
“It’s utterly captivating and everything that’s beautiful about a national football jersey,” he said. “That’s what we should aspire to.”
The World Cup is a carnival. It’s not supposed to be a beacon of restraint and good taste.”
Simon Doonan