Adidas unveils Portland-made jerseys
German sportswear company adidas has created a jersey for US football team, the Portland Timbers’ Darlington Nagbe, which was designed and manufactured the in the Portland area using 100% recycled material; a first for adidas.
The white, retro-inspired jersey also marks the first time the brand has produced an on-field athletic jersey made entirely from recycled materials. The idea to design and manufacture the jerseys in the US came from the brand’s North American headquarters in Portland, which designs and develops the kits for all 19 Major League Soccer clubs.
“It was very much in the spirit of Portland being very local,” said Antonio Zea, director of soccer at Adidas America. “‘Made in Portland’ we felt carried something that would be of value to the fan.”
Mr Zea said adidas worked with a factory in Clackamas, called Spade, that it typically uses to produce low-volume prototypes. In this case, the factory produced 2,012 of the jerseys being sold for $175 as part of a limited-edition box set.
It will produce more of the jerseys, including for on-field wear, the volume of which will be determined by the Timbers’ needs.
The Portland jerseys, the third for the Timbers, were a one-off for Adidas, which sources much of its product out of Asia. The company, for example, will use its Asian suppliers to make the lower-priced replica Timbers third jerseys that will be released in early 2012.
“This is really just something that was unique to Portland,” Mr Zea said. “We’ve got no plans to do anything like it in the future.”
