Italy’s football team has become almost synonymous with sportswear manufacturers Puma. This is because the German company has been making kits for the Italians for as long as we can remember.
The iconic association started back in 2002, with many major tournaments like World Cup 2006 and Euros 2020 featuring the Puma X Italy threads.
Before this, Italy also had a short stint with their home brand Kappa.
Now, earlier this year, it was announced by Puma that they would be ending the almost two-decade relationship with the Italians, leaving many to wonder where the national team will go next for this kit manufacturing.
In came another Germany-based manufacturing firm, Adidas.
Adidas have come to be known as an organization that designs beautiful shirts, as was evident in the 2022 World Cup.
The announcement of the partnership, therefore, would have been exciting for the fans of the Italian national team, with expectations of kits that would be the envy of many around the globe.
However, if leaks are to be believed, expectations best are tempered.
First came images of the blue home shirt, and dare we say, Twitter was not impressed, calling the design bland and weird.
Yesterday, more images surfaced online, this time of the alleged white away kit.
The kit draws inspiration from the same source as the blue home version â a marble top. However, the white one is much more pronounced than the blue.
Look carefully and you can also see gold flashes between the blue waves on the kit.
While it may look okayish, even pretty, at first glance, it certainly appears to be a copy of some of the previous kits released by Adidas.
The Italian kit is eerily similar to the 2022 Montreal Impact away jersey, as can be seen from the tweet above.
And itâs not just this.
The 20/21 away jersey of English club Arsenal was also inspired by Marble, only this time, the waves were red in colour and not blue.
The apparent copy-pasting of design has been heavily criticised, with people calling out Adidas for putting in the minimal effort for a national team of the calibre and reputation of Italy.
Some others have asked why the national team is not using brands from Italy itself, a country known for its fashion sense and style, and instead going for manufacturers from Germany, who are more rigid and template-y.
With this being only the first attempt at designing the kit for the international behemoths, we maybe understand why Adidas have gone for a simplistic approach and not tried anything outlandish.
We know that Adidas can up the level of the kits when required and Italian fans would indeed be hoping that is the case when the next set of jerseys are released.
As for these ones, well, they will still sell, but they may not be happily worn.
