About
HISTORY
JERSEY
ON THE FIELD
OFF THE FIELD

ADIDAS

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Humanrace

Just as kit culture seemed to have peaked, Adidas and Humanrace unveiled their collaborative football jerseys for Arsenal,  Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester United & Real Madrid. Adidas collaborator and Humanrace Creative Director, Pharrell Williams, drew inspiration from the adidas archives to honor each football club’s history with reimagined jersey designs.

Each jersey is unified by the hand-painted aesthetic, which was central to the process led by Pharrell, with each of the iconic shirts redesigned in a traditional artistic format. Starting out on a simple cotton t-shirt, the reverse engineered design process was centered around a raw, human and expressive hand-drawn technique on a simple piece of canvas. All the intricate details were reimagined in paint format, from club crest to partner logos, to create a look unified by style.

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Crest

The hand painted effect has also been applied to the retro crest, which last appeared on a jersey in the 2002 season.

Logo

The Adidas trefoil logo makes the return to a football kit for the first time since the 90’s, treated this time in the same hand painted style as the rest of the kit.

Pattern

The distinct zig zag pattern is pulled from one of the most recognizable Arsenal kits, the iconic "bruised banana" jersey from the 1991-93 seasons.

Stripes

Pharrell and Adidas took inspiration from Bayern's 1991-93 home jersey which stood out due to its bold 3-stripe print across the shoulders and shorts.

Pattern

The background of the jersey is re-imagined in thick acrylic paint as well as their sponsor and crest.

Collar

The collar is inspired by Bayern's 1991-93 jersey and features an unaltered Adidas logo at the center.

Crest

The Madrid jersey is the only one in the collection to feature an unaltered crest after the club expressed discontent with the original hand painted version.

Graphic

The wispy dragon illustration is pulled from Yohji Yamamoto’s striking design for Madrid's 2014/15 jersey, redone with a hand drawn water technique.

Logo

The Adidas trefoil logo makes the return to a football kit for the first time since the 90’s, treated this time in the same hand painted style as the rest of the kit.

Pattern

Pharrell and co. drew inspiration from club's iconic snowflake blue and white print, first seen on the 1990-92 away kit, using a tie dye effect to get the new pattern.

Crest

For the first time since 2017, Juventus' old crest appeared on a game jersey, give that same hand painted treatment as the rest of the collection.

Color

The Humanrace team pulled 2015/16 jersey from the archives, a kit which became an instant icon of modern football culture because of its color.

On the

Pitch—

For the Premier League sides Arsenal and Manchester United, the Humanrace jerseys were worn only as warmups before switching into their regular kits for their respective matches in which United played to a scoreless draw against Chelsea and Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Leicester City.

Bayern, Real Madrid and Juventus went one better though, each wearing theirs in competition. Juventus debuted the kit in their Serie A match against Hellas Verona, but would settle for a disappointing 1-1-draw. Bayern fared even worse, wearing the kit in their German Cup match against second division Holstein Kiel and suffering a shock loss in penalties. Madrid were only team to wear the kit multiple times, beating Sevilla 1-0 and drawing against Villareal 1-1.

Pitch—

Off the

Pharrell and co. managed to give each of the jerseys a unique hand-painted look not commonly seen on athletic uniforms, a bold choice that gave a feeling of imperfection while recalling the game's earlier era. In a sport in which precision and performance are often valued above all, the Humanrace collaboration brought an artistic and natural quality, marking an entirely new approach to kit design.

The jerseys helped further blur the line between on field athletic wear and fashion apparel. By going to town on icons of the past in a completely new way, Pharrell Williams took things a step further than any collection or kit before, fusing the concept of art and football beyond anything else.