Adidas has teamed up with Amsterdam-based brand Daily Paper to create the Ajax football club’s third kit for the 22/23 season. It’s the first time the streetwear brand has stepped up to sport, but a collaboration that makes sense given that the brand has become an integral part of the Dutch capital’s fashion scene.
“It has always been a dream of ours to collaborate with them in some way,” Daily Paper told us. “The relationship with AJAX is not only rooted in the city that inspires us, but in the mutual understanding of inspiring youth, celebrating culture and connecting different generations.”
The ball started rolling on the collaboration just under two years ago when sportswear giant Adidas approached the brand about featuring designs. Finding inspiration was easy: “We wanted to celebrate the unique culture of Amsterdam street football and its golden generation. The t-shirt design portrays the infamous ‘pleintjes’ of Amsterdam. [street football courts in Dutch], which has been and continues to be a breeding ground for football talent from the city. To this day, it’s where future stars find inspiration from previous generations.”
The kit features a gold jersey with red and black vertical bars, and white Ajax crests and sponsor logos, reflecting the colors of the city flag. It also mirrors the vertical red bar of Ajax’s iconic home jersey.
The collaboration marks an important milestone for Daily Paper, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary. Founded by friends Jefferson Osei, Abderrahmane Trabsini and Hussein Suleiman, the brand began as a personal blog in 2008 and quickly grew to become one of the most popular global cult brands in the industry after the collective produced its own merchandise in 2012. “Collaborating with our favorite football club and with a culturally relevant brand like Adidas allows us to further push the message of third culture kids dreaming big,” they told us.
In conjunction with the launch, Ajax, Adidas and Daily Paper produced a short film, shot by Rogier Smalhout, featuring current and former Ajax players paying tribute to Amsterdam and its football community. Look it here.
Source: www.gq-magazine.co.uk