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Adidas colours in the All Blacks jersey, gets freaky for promo video

Planned obsolescence and apparel manufacturers go together like chimichurri and steak, with small changes to jerseys requiring true fans to buy new ones regularly. But, at a launch event in London ahead of its northern tour, Adidas claims to have made some big changes to the fancy new hi-tech All Blacks jersey by getting rid of the white collar, adding gun-metal grey lettering and, after player feedback, making two versions: one for the forwards and one for the backs. 

Augusto was behind the promo video, which features a few fearsome teeth-baring All Blacks running towards the camera and seems to borrow a few tricks from the horror genre. And there’s also a typically deep, quite earnest voiceover (“out of the shadows comes the unknown, a merciless storm. It exerts power and control. It’s intimidating, uncompromising and relentless. It is black and we’ve just made it blacker”). 

  • Check out the behind-the-scenes clip here
The jerseys took more than two years to develop and are made from woven carbon fabric. And, as Richie McCaw told the Herald: “The boys love it. I think it looks awesome. I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to a rugby jersey, but it looks like a rugby jersey, and it’s black, the blackest we’ve ever had in fact, and it feels pretty good on.”

When Adidas took over from Canterbury as sponsor in 1999 (it has extended its sponsorship until 2019), it introduced the jersey with the black collar, which was worn for the 2007 World Cup. Not surprisingly, given the team’s performance in that one, it went back to the old school and the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand featured a white collar. 

Stuff.co.nz says Adidas is promoting pre-sales of the high-performance jersey for $200 plus shipping, with replicas going for $150 and a cotton-based supporters’ version (only available in New Zealand) $120. And, for the deal-hunters and those who don’t suffer from FOMO, just like every launch of a new iPhone, the old version is going cheap. 

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