Taking the World One Game at a Time: The PSG Kit

1. Taking the World One Game at a Time: The PSG Kit The Early Days of Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-German (PSG), the professional football club that came to life due to the unification of Paris Football Club and Stade Saint-Germain in 1970, is one of France’s most prominent football teams, also home of the iconic PSG kit. The need for this merger rose due to the fact that Paris did not have a strong football team at the time, while worldwide football was continually growing into a big sport. The newly created team was not always in an ascending line, but managed to recover from fallbacks, pretty quickly winning major championships, including Coupe de France in 1982. On their way to success and even bigger wins, the team went through many changes, not only of players and strategies, but also in what concerns their kits, being determined to find the most suitable colors, lines and materials. This still applies to the way the team and its management work nowadays, being on the quest of performance and continually evolving. The Changes Football Kits Have Seen Throughout the Years When football begun to take over the world becoming a very sought after type of game, the shirts and shorts used were made of natural fabrics such as wool and cotton. As the game advanced, so

2. did the performance of the players, bringing a lot of work and sweat to it. Therefore, in order to improve the process, the need for lighter and more breathable kits became emergent. Many materials were tested and the one that really stood out was polyester, a synthetic one, ultimately blended with spandex (a very elastic type of material that can stretch up to almost five times its length). Some of the most relevant properties of this kind of blend are: •Breathability; •Durability; •A lightweight feature; •Flexibility; •Easy maintenance; •Color and shape retention; •A moisture-wicking ability. These features make polyester the chosen material when it comes to most games that require a lot of movement, especially football; it is also found in the kids’ PSG kit, thus creating a valuable story for children, invigorating them with the values and many qualities that the team stands for. The PSG kit: A Story for the Ages After the unification of the two teams and the concoction of Paris Saint-Germain, giving life to the identity of the team (as a creation of the PSG kit) was still a step that needed to be taken. Therefore, in order to preserve the history of both teams, the president at the time (Daniel Hechter, a fashion designer who is known as the inventor of prêt-à-porter) took it upon himself to design the PSG kit. The chosen colors – navy, red and white - have profound meaning: the red and blue are deeply rooted to the Parisian revolutionary figures Lafayette and Jean Sylvain Bailly, while white is representative for Saint-Germain-en-Laye and for the French royalty. The graphic design, represented by the club’s crest, shows a blue background lime lighting the Eiffel Tower in red and a white fleur de lys at its base. The famous fleur de lys (an evocation to the birth of King Louis XIV being born in Paris) has been an emblematic figure, managing to keep its grounds (alongside the Eiffel Tower) the many changes that the shirt has been under during the last decades. When trying to keep up with the evolution that took over football, PSG kept an open mind when it came to innovation, while trying very hard to preserve the traditional background that put the team on the map as one of the best in France. One of the most relevant and transformative moments was the takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, which brought a relevant financial shift to the team, giving it a greater worldwide recognition with the acquisition of famous players and making it a renowned global powerhouse.

3. Making a Statement in a PSG Fashion Considering that PSG was a team profoundly marked by a fashion sense from the very beginning, it seemed only right to continue down this path and nowadays are setting examples for other football clubs regarding apparel. When the partnerships with streetwear and luxury brands started, the kit took a great leap, becoming popular with people that were not even football fans. Moreover, the collaborations open new paths to kits resembling the basketball ones (e.g. the Jordan brand), thus entering a new niche and attaining to a fast growing different crowd. Nevertheless, this kind of shift also led to various debates, as the French fan base was rather dissatisfied with this kind of global approach. With reference to the more luxurious side, PSG truly managed to stand out when they partnered with Dior (one of the biggest French designer, specialized in luxury goods), creating an outstanding off-pitch garment, thus securely attaching to the high-fashion industry. As far as the aesthetic appeal is concerned, the team remained faithful to the primary color palette, sometimes adding distinctive elements such as pink and purple lines in order to give a heightened sense of charisma to the whole picture. Standing the test of time, the Parisian elegance is often found in the lines and hems of the PSG kit, executing a worthwhile combination of both classical and futuristic aspects.

4. Maintaining an Emblematic Appearance Throughout Time Paris’s most acclaimed football team has managed to maintain such a title by keeping tradition to a high standard, while also being close to the touch of innovation that has taken over the world. Being able to keep such a combination alive and correctly drifting has proven to be a skill that brought the team up whenever facing the threat of going down under. The path to maintaining a genuine legacy has been long and often times challenging, but given the strong foundation, it has helped the team thrive and achieve great success throughout time. Even though their identity had different shifting points, their core values and qualities made the team an inspiring one, giving their supporters many reasons to continue on cheering them and proudly wear the PSG kit.