Nike revealed "new home and away uniforms for 14 out of 24 competing teams" in this year's FIFA Women's World Cup, and for the first time since Nike began working with the WWC in '95, "each one of them was made specifically for the women's teams, not as derivations or extensions of kits made for men," according to Vanessa Friedman of the N.Y. TIMES. The kits "rely on the color palettes of national flags," but the "difference is often in the pixelated details." The U.S. jerseys have a "throwback patriotism with (in the home kit) direct references to the jerseys worn" by the '99 team that "transformed the profile of women's soccer in America." The names of all 50 states are "printed in gray on the back, and three stars over the crest nod to the three championships the United States has won." Meanwhile, the away kit has "tonal abstractions of stars and stripes on red." Other kits unveiled include England's "roses and assorted other florals on the four burgundy-red quadrants" of the jersey, France's hexagonal blue polka dots on white and Norway's "snowflake pattern that fades from red to blue." By "athlete request," Chile, Nigeria, South Africa and Korea all have the "same pattern that the men's teams wore" in the '18 World Cup (N.Y. TIMES, 3/12).
GATHERING MOMENTUM: WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY's Foreman & Hamanaka noted sales of women's products are "outpacing men's at Nike." Women's sales for the FY ending June '18 totaled $6.9B, making up 22.8% of total business, and there was "double-digit growth in the women's business" for Q2 of the current FY. Nike VP & GM/Global Categories Amy Montagne said the new WWC jerseys are the "next chapter" in the company's partnership with female athletes. Montagne: "We've been seeing this incredible momentum around women's sport" (WWD.com, 3/11).
YOU'RE UP, EUROPE: REUTERS' Balu & Sridhar reported Nike has signed a three-year deal with UEFA Women’s Football as part of its "growing focus on women’s sport." Nike will supply the "match ball for exclusive use in women’s competitions including the Women’s Champions League, Women’s Euro and junior tournaments." The deal comes three months after Visa signed a seven-year deal with UEFA and coincides with UEFA's plans to "increase its funding" for women’s soccer development projects across Europe by 50% from '20 (REUTERS, 3/11).
