The future of
football kit design

In the past, you might have associated the word “knit” with the heavy jumpers your favourite aunt made you – now, it more often describes a light-weight technology innovation used anywhere from the uppers of running shoes to sock liners.

We’ve now used the technology to develop a brand new type of football kit. Named evoKNIT, it makes for lightweight, form-fitting comfort whilst also offering good temperature regulation and a performance advantage to the wearer. It also allows us to create a seamless torso never before seen on pitch.

But how can a knit fabric regulate temperature and moisture? The answer is the push-pull effect created by two yarns. The yarn closest to the skin rapidly removes sweat from the athlete’s body, while the top layer yarn then pushes the moisture away and completely removes it. To achieve this, we worked with highly technical machinery that until now has never been used in the football industry.

The first footballers to wear the kits featuring this nifty fabric are players from our partnered African football teams. PUMA has dedicated its boldest designs to African federations in the past – just think of the one-piece “Unikit” from 2004 or the sleeveless jerseys sported by Cameroon in 2002 – and the same is true for the evoKNIT kit.

Our partnered teams Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are already trying out the new design in games, essentially making the matches a real life testing ground for the future of our football performance technologies in kit design. These Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Ghana shirts reinforce power, regulate temperature, allow for freedom of movement… and may just make a big difference in a close match. After running shoes and football jerseys, what do you think will use knitted fabrics next?