LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Many of the world's top players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Robinho and Ji-sung Park, will be wearing this summer The greenest and most technologically advanced jersey in football history appears on the South African stadium. All national teams sponsored by Nike (including Brazil, Portugal, and the Netherlands) will for the first time wear jerseys made entirely of recycled polyester, using up to eight recycled plastic bottles for each jersey. Nike launched a new national team jersey with several football players at a global media event held at the Battersea Power Station in London.
Nike Brand President Charlie Denson said: "This summer, Nike will provide an advantage for football players by providing the latest and most innovative products to the greatest players participating in the World Cup in South Africa. According to today's announcement, we are equipping athletes with new designs. The garments, which are not only attractive in appearance and superior in performance, but also made of recycled materials, reduce the impact on the environment."
In order to make the 2010 national team clothing, Nike fabric suppliers collected waste plastic bottles from the garbage dumps in Japan and Taiwan, and then melted them to produce new yarns. Eventually these new yarns were converted into jersey fabrics.
This process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30% compared to the production of new polyesters. By using recycled polyester to produce its latest series of national team jerseys, Nike prevented nearly 13 million plastic bottles (approximately 254,000 kilograms of polyester waste total) from entering the dump. These bottles are enough to cover more than 29 football fields. If the recycled bottles used to make jerseys are connected end to end, they will be able to be more than 3,000 kilometers long, which is longer than the entire coastline in South Africa.
This series of national team apparel is an important step in making Nike's products more sustainable.
In addition, the design of all national team costumes takes into account the culture and characteristics of each country. Nike understands the proud experience of athletes for the national competition, so each jersey design embodies the tradition and unique football culture of the nine national teams.
Jersey innovation
Taking care of the environment does not mean sacrificing the innovative performance elements of Nike apparel. For this summer's finals, these jerseys are designed to make the players' body more dry and comfortable, so that they can maintain the best body temperature and perform best on the court.
The modified Nike Dri-Fit fabric now weighs 15% less than previous Nike apparel fabrics and helps keep players dry by draining sweat and evaporating. Each side of the jersey is provided with a ventilation zone to enhance air permeability, and the jersey also incorporates a fabric that allows air flow to increase by up to 7% over previous clothing. Today, air flow can pass through the player's entire body, making it more dry. These vented areas consist of up to 200 tiny laser cut holes that are supported by Nike's innovative halo applications. This treatment prevents tearing and does not reduce air flow.
The Nike shorts will also have more ventilation zones underneath the belt and near the bottom of the spine, so this area, which is often sweaty, will now dry much more.
The jersey's new double-knit structure not only looks more stylish, it has 10% more stretch than the previous Nike national team, and the new dynamic cut fits the body's natural contours while still maximizing airflow and movement.
The players will also incorporate the unique strengths of Nike roombat into their respective national team costumes. Pro ombat has a clothing design system that includes Slider and Impact shorts that enhance protection against light impact and wear, as well as a warm Mock that protects the player's neck from adverse conditions.
Teams wearing Nike's new national team jersey at the South African stadium include: Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United States, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia.
National team away jerseys and home jerseys will be listed on February 25 and May 1 respectively. They will be available through local Nike stores as well as nike.com and nikefootball.com.