By Les Motherby
As the clock tick-tocks towards the end of the 72-year partnership between adidas and the German national team, the brand with the three stripes are refusing to go gentle into that good night.
Recently, they announced that the ‘Bringback’ 1990 away kit would be worn for Jürgen Klopp’s first game in charge, against the Netherlands on Thursday, and a last adidas kit for some time was revealed the day beforehand [Update: Now it seems that Uefa’s strict rules precluded the use of the green, meaning the final shirt’s quick call-up]. It features a black shirt with gold pinstripes formed from connected diamonds, loosely echoing the negative space on the legendary 1988-91 Ina Franzmann-designed primary kit.
Despite this late flurry of activity, which is sure to stir the loins of kit geeks and collectors, I remain disappointed that the away kit released in March has, it seems, been dispensed with after just six months. Perhaps using it again would reopen the psychological wounds of a devastatingly disappointing World Cup finals campaign, in which Die Nationalelf lost to Ecuador in it, the first of back-to-back defeats that saw them tumble out of the tournament at the round-of-32 stage. If the DFB won’t show it some love, then I will…
For an epoch-ending change kit, including the last trefoil-stamped shirt to be worn in a major tournament for at least the next decade, there was perhaps surprise that the DFB’s green wasn’t being used, if nothing else to echo the green adidas shirt greats of 1986, 1990, 1994.
But after an abridged Kübler-Ross consideration of change, which started with shock, I moved to acceptance fairly quickly and now have nothing but wholehearted love of a kit that doesn’t seek to recreate a past outfit so much as form a polyester love letter to past Germany non-matchwear through aggregated references and a never-before-seen colourway.
The base colour of navy blue is a homage to the anthem jackets worn in several tournaments including ahead of the 1974 WC final. West Germany also played in navy shirts and white shorts against a local side in Mexico in 1985, a year before the Mexico ’86 Copa Mundial.
The shorts and socks, as well as the shirt’s contrast trim are in aqua, seemingly a reference to the shell-pants worn by the trainers and physios at Italia ’90, seen when Rudi Völler hobbled off against England in the semi-final and when those same staff piled onto the pitch to mob ‘keeper Bodo Illgner after his shoot-out heroics.
Stacked aqua diamonds run throughout the shirt, placed between a zig-zag jacquard weave that recalls not only the pattern on the home shirt but also Ina Franzmann’s legendary design that clothed Die Mannschaft at both Euro ’88 and the triumphant Italia ’90.
The perceived need to tell a story can lead to mawkish over-design, but every element of this kit seems meticulously thought through and tastefully executed to create a final three striped Germany change kit that is both tasteful and vibrant.
The use of a trefoil seems most appropriate and is applied in white, as is the federation crest. A final sign-off is a hem tag on the right side that celebrates the long standing relationship between adidas and the DFB, it features a pre-trefoil brand logo of a three striped boot contained by lines that are extended stems from the two dees of the wordmark, with ‘SEIT 1954 PARTNER DEN DEUTSCHEN MANNSCHAFT above and DESIGNED IN HERZOGENAURACH GERMANY’ underneath.
This is magnificent work by Jürgen Rank and his team, and frankly it deserved more than a few friendlies and one World Cup group game.
So the often referred to 72 year partnership actually only started with a boot deal?
The actual playing kit deal is only 46 to 50 years, as they did not start wearing adidas shirts till the Euro Final of 1980 – though adidas had actually owned Erima (their previous kit supplier) since 1976.
Digging back further, I think that the earliest use of a pre match adidas tracksuit by West Germany is against Belgium in March 1968