Adidas Product Designer for Licensed Apparel James Webb has talked about the design process behind all three Arsenal Adidas 19-20 kits at the launch event for the third kit in London. He also revealed that Adidas has something very interesting in the pipeline for fans...
Adidas Arsenal 19-20 Fourth Kit
In the interview, Webb confirmed that an Arsenal 2019-20 fourth kit is on the way.
Are there any plans for a fourth jersey this season?
"Yeah, there’s something in the pipeline. I don’t want to give anything away. Clubs are signing different sponsorships with FIFA or Konami for instance and we have to respect the partnerships there. The collection of jerseys that were released last season, they all fit under the FIFA umbrella, but now you see teams like Juventus stepping out. So there is something in the pipeline, but it’s geared towards Arsenal, not FIFA."
So, we know very little about said Arsenal fourth kit 2019-20 and can only speculate at this point. We expect to see it released between fall and the end of the year, which would allow it to take full beneit of the holiday season. Design-wise, the Arsenal fourth kit from Adidas should introduce a new and fresh design in a color not seen on the three kits that were released so far. We might see Adidas bring back another of its classics, as the brand so successfully did with the 'Bruised Banana' away.
NO EA Sports Digital 4th Kit As Arsenal Is Sponsored By Konami
While Adidas of course collaborated with EA Sports on a series of 'digital' fourth kits over the last few years, this is not possible in the case of Arsenal as the club has an exclusive deal with Konami's PES.
The same applies to Bayern, Juventus and Manchester United, who all signed deals with Konami this year. With just Real Madrid remaining from the lineup last year, it's likely that we will not see a collection of Adidas x EA Sports 'Digital Fourth Kits' this year.
Beyond confirming the existence of a fourth kit, Webb also talked about the design inspiration of each kit and challenges when designing jerseys in general.
How long does the design process take?
Usually the process of producing a shirt takes around two years, from when we sit down and do the seasonal creation through to when the products start dropping. So now we’ve already finished season two and we’re going into season three. When you’re actually involved with the product, you forget the process and then when it actually starts to drop it’s an awe inspiring moment. You forget about the impact that it’s going to have.
What challenges are there when designing a new kit?
There are so many things that we have to factor in in the modern day, from club sponsors, which now appear on the sleeves as well, to UEFA regulations. In the modern day we have to have light kits and dark kits, so for Arsenal you’d never imagine them in red shorts, but you have to have backup red shorts, and when they played Napoli last season, the red kit was adopted. There are cases where you have to think about playability.
Do you look forward to see what Adidas has prepared as fourth jersey for Arsenal in the 2019-2020 season? Let us know in the comments below and check out the full interview on Soccerbible.